Quality use of parliament

Parliamentarians in Nepal have a challenge today: how to use best the hung state of parliament for broad interest of people and the country. For this, they cannot afford to have the luxury of exploiting vulnerability of the HOR for self interest of parties or leaders. Understanding the reality produced by the people’s mandate of poll 2022, they have to be transparent, broad-minded and service-oriented in whatever they do under the roof of the supreme House of people’s representatives. If they focus on opening another serial of grabbing power by hook or by crook, they will be restoring political instability of the past five years; it will neither add to their glory nor earn them trust from people. If they use positively legislature-practices, they would be offering Nepal is a great opportunity for transformation-political, economic and social, so urgently needed in the country. Through the instruments of bills, policies and programmes, financial budget and other motions for the next fiscal year, they could jointly begin narrowing down the differences among the political parties represented in the House. Through the responsible opposition bench they could scrutinize the government, its actions and decisions in a constructive way besides exploring some common ground among them in the interest of the country and the people. All these will be lost if the parliamentarians continue what they have done in their initial steps of race for power, money and post to satiate ego and serve self-interest ignoring all values they so widely parroted while approaching voters just two months ago. All – the media and civil society along with other democratic institutions and new generational youths – had better stress this point to check exploitation of the hung nature of parliament. For this, their goal in pressuring political leaders should be: protection of sacredness of politics amidst hung parliament. They should remind all concerned: it is the fair politics through which Nepalis experienced freedom in 1951, restoration of multi-party parliamentary democracy in 1990, the taste of Comprehensive Peace Accord in 2006, entry into republicanism in 2008 and federalism under the governing constitution of 2015. All should remember: such mile-stone achievements cannot be sacrificed under any excuse. Doing responsible politics with a sense of service to people and the country’s democratic system is today’s duty of all in the parliament. The same will open ways for managing hung state of parliament to the best interest of the voters who glorified Nepal’s electoral process by participation in November 2022. Let the fresh parliament function well and in a politically hygienic way!