Pushpa Kamal Dahal visited Bangalore as our PM. I did so as a Nepali commoner. Going there after a gap of one year, I got a taste of what real democracy can do.

Bangalore’s new international airport can compare with any in the west; also the airport-city road which is part of the highway leading to Hyderabad and Nagpur. With three lanes on each side of the central barrier, “cat’s eyes" to shine in the night, and brilliant street lights, the road could compare to those from the Heathrow airport to the London city. The taxi driver was jetting at 120 kilometres an hour, but the absence of pot-holes made one oblivious to the speed.

Still, Bangaloreans clamour for more. They claim that the airport in Hyderabad beats theirs; and thus have been urging Albert Brunner, boss of the Bangalore International Airport Ltd, to make the airport even better.

Having studied in that country when "be Indian, buy Indian" inspired the average citizen there, I marvelled that the Karnataka government could have hired Albert Brunner, a Swiss, for Bangalore’s airport. Naturally, Hisila Yami’s ousting of UK’s Severn Trent offering to manage Kathmandu’s water supply came to mind. Karnataka has no dearth of engineers, yet the state could humbly seek a foreigner’s expertise for its airport.

India fortunately had sagacious leaders like Pandit Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri as its first prime ministers. Nehru advocated socialism and the parliamentary system of government for his country right from the beginning. The constitution took about three years to write. India went through ups and downs, war and peace, even a period of "emergency" when Indira Gandhi ruled; but no one dared experiment with the parliamentary system the country had advocated. That provided stability for the country to launch forward.

Three years after India found independence from the British, Nepal overthrew the Rana rule (1950). Given relatively the same political atmosphere, Nepal too could have developed like India. What made the difference? Kings subjected the Nepalese to unwarranted experiments.

Tribhuvan deliberately steered Nepal away from the CA election he had promised. People like Matrika Prasad Koirala helped him. Tribhuvan’s "experiment" started the process for the eventual downfall of monarchy in 2008.

Like his father Tribhuvan, Mahendra never allowed elections for the CA; but in 1962, gave his own constitution to the people. Mahendra’s document was a hodgepodge from the constitutions of Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Yugoslavia, none of them democracies at the time. From then began the notorious Panchayat regime which was to last till 1990.

Birendra simply continued his father’s experiment until the people rose up in revolt, forcing him to accept multi-party democracy. Before Gyanendra’s imposition of dictatorship on February 1, 2005, Girijababu had declared, "I told the king to stop experimenting with the people."

Still, the Nepalese will now have to remain guinea pigs for the Maoist experiment. PM Dahal has said in front of the CA that he doesn’t believe in the Westminster type of parliamentary government. A few days later, UML’s Jhallubabu also echoed the same opinion although he would not allow the dissolution of the parliament. Obviously, Khanal fears that such abolition would mean one party Maoist rule and the end of UML as well.

Many countries, including India, have opted for the parliamentary system of government; and are thriving, while communism has failed worldwide. So, what experiment do the Maoists have in mind? PM Dahal and the Maoist leader Kiran Baidya have advocated communism with multi-party rule. Unless the Nepalese resist, they have to endure this "historic", "unique" experiment, retarding our progress again. Will it be for another 30 years like the detested Panchayat system?

We should suspect even the Maoist advocacy of multi-party rule. In his book, "Nepal’s Maoist Movement and Implications for India and China", Nishchal Nath Pandey outlines common guerrilla warfare strategy of communists revolutionaries like Vo Nguyen Giap, Che Guevara, Gonzalo, and Mao Tse-tung. The Nepali Maoists have followed their mentors to the letter. I just cite three, glaring Maoist policies we notice.

(1) Revolutionaries should establish themselves in the country-side where the government fares the weakest, and run parallel governments. Thus, expect the Maoist kangaroo courts and the YCL antics to continue. Both will never fully renounce violence. The out-numbered security forces in remote areas will remain spectators. After the rural administration suffers a total breakdown, the Maoists will have the excuse to justify one party communist rule.

(2) Revolutionaries should use terror regularly as a psychological weapon to overthrow their opponents and nullify government authority. Maoist kidnappings, extortions have not ceased. Now, the Maoists insist on taking their armed comrades into the parliament building, and Top Bahadur Raimajhi has even challenged the UML Home Minister Gautam. Don’t expect the Maoists to permanently part with terrorism.

(3) Revolutionaries should preserve themselves but annihilate the enemy. This partly occurred just before the CA poll, when the Maoist leadership issued 11 point directives with this goal. Thus, the Maoists won the most votes. In the longer term, their aim will be to make members of the ruling coalition (the UML, MPRF and others) obedient vassals while trying to destroy the NC and other non-ruling democratic parties.

Of course, no one can stop Dahal and his comrades in pursuing their experiment. However, our kings have already tired the Nepalese people with theirs. Further experimentation by the Maoists in trying to impose communism will certainly incite the people to revolt; and make Maoism, like monarchy, a subject of history books. PM Dahal should fully embrace the parliamentary system that has worked in many countries/places worldwide, including the Bangalore he visited; and stop experimenting with us.

• Towards a cultural revolution? (2008/11/15)
• Honeymoon, sweet and sour (2008/11/06)
• Whither secularity? (2008/10/18)

• Bam Dev: reform or resign! (2008/09/22)
• Political symbolism (2008/08/31)
• Happy honeymoon (2008/08/21)
• The sky won’t fall! (2008/08/09)
• Another backdoor bonus? (2008/07/19)

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