TKP, 13-May-10
By John Narayan Parajuli
In a country dominated by left-of-the-centre parties, it is hardly surprising that leaders from the left are some of the most outspoken ones. But there are a few members in non-left parties too who make many left leaders feel inadequate.
Among them is the Nepali Congress (NC) leader Ram Sharan Mahat, regarded by many as one of the best orators in parliament. On April 1, he mounted an eloquent attack on the government over the supplementary budget and resignation of the Finance Secretary. The strong opposition from the NC and Madhesi parties eventually forced the government to abandon its plan.
Mahat, who has been elected for the third consecutive time to the parliament—including his current tenure as a Constituent Assembly member—recalls vividly, with a sense of gratification, his stint in the opposition when the United Marxist-Leninist party (UML) had a minority government. “I gave them a hard time,” says Mahat. He would deliver long and loud speeches, offering substantial data to back his claims and the House would listen to him, enthralled. Journalists would rush back in from the parliament canteen the moment the Speaker announced the name of the new speaker at the Zero Hour: “Hon. Ram Sharan Mahat.”
“But I don’t enjoy it anymore. The assembly is big, chaotic and there is no quality in its deliberations,” he says.
Though his role in the government started at the National Planning Commission (NPC) and later, the Finance Ministry, he has become actively involved in a host of foreign policy and national security issues over the years. As one of the two Congress members in the Army Integration Special Committee, he remains thoroughly grounded on a crucial aspect of the peace process—the integration of former PLA combatants. But his foremost field of expertise is the economy.
As a five-time Finance Minister and one-time Foreign Minister, Mahat has helped shape and influence Nepal’s economic policies like no other. Although he is often credited for Nepal’s wave of liberalisation in the 90s, he has also been criticised—within his party and outside—for indulging in “excessive liberalisation.” Many inside NC hold him responsible for giving up on the socialist plank of the party. During the party’s General Convention last year, he was at the receiving end of introspection on the party’s economic policies.
In fact, the party’s programme and policies passed by the 12th Convention seeks to reclaim their founding ideals of democratic socialism, which demanded pro-poor and social welfare-oriented policies in the context of globalisation. Some within the party still remain critical of Mahat. According to NC leader and former Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola, Mahat’s capitalistic policies can be considered partly responsible for the Maoists problem.
Mahat, however, is dismissive of these attempts to paint the post-1990 dispensation as out and out problematic, although he admits that the NC government in the 90s failed to put significant emphasis on governance.
“In development, you need pragmatism more than anything. Pure capitalism hasn’t worked anywhere. There has to be convergence of different things,” he says.
Without a strong authority, market economy doesn’t work, and neither can social justice programmes be implemented, says Mahat. He believes that Nepal’s economy would certainly have flourished under a strong government coupled with the 90s liberalisation.
In his book In Defence of Democracy, published in 2005, he writes: “Regular attempts are being made to paint the period dark as if everything went wrong under democratic dispensation. Real and concrete socio-economic achievements are easily glossed over or taken for granted as natural developments.”
In fact, Mahat credits the period for creating an environment where people were free to express their preferences for different kinds of rule and rulers. In many ways, he seems to imply that the Maoists movement was an inherent outcome of the open political environment.
Mahat’s tryst with politics began when he was barely into his teens. At the age of 14, he threw himself into a student movement—without fully being aware of the consequences of his actions—and was soon at the receiving end of police brutality. He and his associates belonging to the Nepal Student Union, a student wing of the NC, were sent to Bhadragoal jail. One of the people he met there was Ramesh Nath Pandey, former Foreign Minister during the king’s direct rule.
After graduating in 1968, he went to teach in a school in Lamjung district along with Surya Nath Upadhyay, who later went on to become the Chief Commissioner of the CIAA. The two would apparently have fist-fights over their political ideologies.
In 1971, Mahat became the General Secretary of Nepal Students Union, the largest student body at the time.
Unlike many of his predecessors and contemporaries, he continued to pursue his studies with an undeterred passion alongside his involvement in politics. He was a gold medallist in both his Bachelor’s and Master’s levels and had several opportunities to study in the US and the UK, but then the regime prevented him. He later went to India to do his PhD in Economics on an Indian government scholarship and after the failed referendum in 1980, he joined UNDP Nepal as a programme officer.
In 1989, Mahat was appointed coordinator for UNDP’s Afghanistan cross-border programme based in Islamabad. The following year ushered in political change. Mahat had thus far maintained his contacts with party leaders and he was asked to return. He resigned from the UNDP in 1991 and was given a party ticket to compete in the Nuwakot parliamentary constituency No.1. Though Mahat lost the election, his party swept into power.
International exposure contributed to his decisions at the helm of Nepal’s economy. “Working at UNDP gave me a broad perspective. There I saw what works and what doesn’t,” he says.
Nearly 20 years later, he came close to competing for a coveted international job. In 2010, Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala and subsequently Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal encouraged him to compete for the Presidency of the UN General Assembly. “I never sought the job but Foreign Ministry officials were insisting that I stood a real chance of winning,” he says. He reluctantly agreed, on the condition that it would be beneficial for the country and wouldn’t hamper his political career. He had even consulted party President Sushil Koirala on the matter. Unfortunately, Mahat’s name never saw the light of day. Kul Chandra Gautam, former Executive Director of UNICEF, was chosen instead.
“Kul Chandra is a good friend and a highly qualified individual. I had no complaints,” says Mahat. “But this shows the quality of decision-making in Nepal.”
Mahat’s political career is on the ascendancy and he believes that destiny will one day land him the top job of the country. Though many of his contemporaries have been marginalised by the party leadership, he has continued to make himself relevant. But in a political environment where merit and contribution aren’t necessarily qualifiers for important government and party jobs, it remains to be seen if Mahat will prove to be an exception.
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