Ever since Prime Minister Balen Shah has taken over the reins of Nepal, he has been running the country as per his own. Balen Shah, who became a rapper-turned-politician and then directly reached the post of Prime Minister, is neither asking the President about anything nor following the traditions of the Nepalese Supreme Court. There is a lot of resentment among the opposition leaders regarding this. Apart from this, he is also accused of interfering in the Supreme Court and pressurizing three judges to resign. Human rights organizations have made these allegations against Balen Shah.
Distance from the President and ignoring traditions
Let us explain this entire matter one by one. In fact, in Nepal’s parliamentary democracy, constant communication between the Prime Minister and the President has been an old and constitutional tradition. But Balen Shah is ignoring it. Four months after assuming office, he has distanced himself from Sheetal Niwas (residence of Nepalese President Ramchandra Paudel).
Now the two meet only at official functions. Apart from this, Prime Minister Shah has not met the President directly. To take major decisions of the Cabinet directly to Rashtrapati Bhavan, instead of going there himself, he sends Chief Secretary level officers. Sheetal Niwas officials are considering this behavior as a clear violation of the traditions of democracy.
On the condition of anonymity, a senior official there said that since taking oath, Prime Minister Shah has not visited Sheetal Niwas even once to discuss governance, policy or important matters of the country with the President. Overall, the relationship and regular talks between the Prime Minister and the President have almost come to an end. This is being considered against the democratic tradition of Nepal.
However, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat has rejected the reports of differences. When asked about the growing distance between the two leaders through WhatsApp, Prime Minister’s political advisor Asim Shah said that it is not so at all. Not only this, Balen Shah has also changed Nepal’s decades-old foreign policy and diplomatic protocol.
Generally, there has been a tradition of meeting foreign ambassadors in private as soon as the Prime Minister becomes Prime Minister. Rejecting this tradition, Balen adopted a policy of holding mass meetings with ambassadors of all countries. During the all-party meeting held on Wednesday, Nepali Congress chief Gagan Kumar Thapa expressed strong objection to the absence of the Prime Minister from important discussions.
Interference in Supreme Court, pressure on judges to resign
Global human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have made serious allegations against him. These organizations allege that the Balen government is putting pressure on the independent judiciary of Nepal. The Prime Minister is pressurizing the judges to resign and influencing the court system. Balen Shah’s government has been accused of pressurizing three Supreme Court judges (Sapna Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi and Hari Phuyal) to resign. Apart from this, questions are also being raised regarding the appointment of Chief Justice of Nepalese Supreme Court. PM Balen Shah broke the 70 year old tradition in Nepal.
Actually, till now it used to happen in Nepal that the most senior judge was made the Chief Justice but this time it did not happen. After the retirement of Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut, Sapna Pradhan Malla was handling the responsibility of Acting Chief Justice. In this sense, his claim to become the Chief Justice was strong but he was not recommended by the Constitutional Council. There was a huge controversy on this also. Regarding this, Prime Minister Balen Shah had said that qualification is important and appointments should not be made only on the basis of tradition. Human rights organizations have also objected to the changes in the Constitutional Council.
The popularity of Nepalese Prime Minister Balen Shah is very high among the youth due to his tough and big decisions. As soon as he assumed office, he changed the entire politics of Nepal by getting former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli arrested under corruption and strict action. He eliminated VIP culture from offices. Photos of leaders were removed from government offices. Apart from this, he had also issued an order to completely ban student politics in educational institutions. Instead of media, social media was made a medium of conversation.
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