Why the SPA did not accept the royal offer?

We are frequently asked why the seven political parties alliance (SPA) declined the royal invitation to recommend the prime ministerial candidate, despite the wide international support for the king's announcement of 22nd April. This question has particularly been asked, not so much by the Nepalese intelligentsia but by the international community and well wishers who have consistently pleaded for a reapproachment between the king and parties for the restoration of democratic institutions and peace in Nepal . The international community including India , China , USA and the EU had welcomed the royal announcement as a step in the right direction and encouraged the SPA to grab the royal offer.The decision of the SPA should be understood in the light of the following reasons:

I.The offer came at a time when the people's movement was reaching the crescendo, both in scope and intensity, crossing all barriers imposed by the royal regime. About half a million people had gathered in the ring road of the Kathmandu Valley on 22 and 23 April.Practically every district and every town of the kingdom witnessed unprecedented public rallies from all sections of the society against the royal regime. People defied prohibitory orders, curfew and faced bullets and lathis. The governmnent resorted to brutal repression. About a dozen people were killed and thousands injured and many of them in critical conditions. Although these rallies were called by the SPA based on their agenda, the slogans had become increasingly radical and anti-monarch. The voices that that were coming from all over the country was against any midway compromise with the king for power.

II.The public have time and again expressed skepticism about the ability of the SPA to resist royal offer of power, given the past history of the king manipulating the political parties and leaders to serve his interest by offering chairs and ditching them after serving his interest. The political parties have hard time convincing the public that they have learnt their lessons. The SPA had given the firm commitment to the people that they would not compromise with the king unless he accepts the SPA Roadmap.

III.The king's offer came too late and too little. The SPA wanted the restoration of the House of Representatives(HOR), to be followed by an all-party government, negotiation with the Maoists and an election to the constituent assembly. What the king offered was a recommendation for the prime ministerial candidate to fulfill his mandate, e.g, to conduct election and deal with the Maoists, as if that were all they were demanding. There was a huge gap between the SPA agenda and the royal offer. There was no guarantee that even the new Prime Minister would not face the same fate as the previous nominated prime ministers - dismissal at wish. The king seemed unconcerned about the massive demonstration of condemnation to what he was doing and what the people wanted. He also looked insensitive to the killings and large scale suffering of the people not only in course of the public agitation, but also economic hardship the people faced due to two-week long nation wide strike and the city curfews clamped down by the government.

IV.The king misused Article 127 of the constitution in the past to make and unmake the Prime Minister. The most recent case was that of Sher Bahadur Deuba. As long as he invokes Article 127 to make the Prime Minister, in the absence of a functioning parliament the PM's natural accountability will be to the king. Therefore, the emphasis of the SPA was on the restoraration of the HOR which would constitutionally elect the PM and consequently ensure his accountability to the parliament. A functioning parliament is the only insurance against possible royal intervention. The king's reluctance to restore the HOR was to keep his upper hand in the governance.

V. A point is made by some people that the SPA should have accepted the offer and gone ahead with implementing its agenda. Given the support that the SPA enjoyed at popular and international levels, the king would not have dared to obstruct the government. This logic is hypothetical. The king has enough leverage to make the life difficult for the prime minister and to dismiss him at convenient time, in the absence of a parliament. Furthermore, after accepting the prime ministers's post to perform the mandate defined by the king, it would have been morally dificult for him to act against his will.

In light of the above, the SPA had no choice but to decline the royal offer. This was a natural reaction to the king's offer which was grossly inadequate to address the SPA agena and totally insensitive to the popular sentiment and the pain and agony the country is suffering. Accepting the offer would have been against the popular will of the millions who had come out in the streets with more and more radical and anti-monarch slogans. That would have created a situation most appropriate to the radical Maoists to jump and take the leadership of the volatile and angry mass towads attaining their objective.