Transition In Nepal, Micro-Politics In Jamal And The Doubts Of Nepali Fringe-Cadres

A recent change in Prime Ministers in Nepal occurred smoothly, without protest in the streets, even as we have come to expect protests around political events of some magnitude. This smooth transition does not speak of order and discipline, but rather suggests that what looked like a transfer of power was in fact nothing but the change of personnel precisely in order to leave the same power in place: there is an outward change in leadership but problematically Nepal will remain the same, there is predictability with regards to the important steps and decisions the new leader will take, and hence he has been accepted without protest from the major elements. In the major level of national politics in Nepal, there is no vacuum and chaos after one leader steps down and before another one has to be sought. Rather, the transition has been planned and calculated in advance so that the needs of unchanging core power are quietly met.

It is when there is such a smooth transition at high levels of power that a micro-politics must become active. This micro-political whim could have posited a new party with a new leader, simply as a disruption and not as participatory in filling the vacuum after one leader has left. An important goal of disruptive micro-politics in Nepal is to show that any action in the vacuum between the major two or three parties is interpreted as disruptive, regardless of its content, and thereby dismissed or actively suppressed, so that no place remains for the general population to act without participation and support to the major political parties or interests.

One could raise oneself as a candidate for Prime Minister out on a busy street in Jamal, cause confusion in the fringe-cadres walking to or from a political event, and thereby mobilize the major political parties' resources to reflect on whether their own candidate is worthy, or to cause them to become more alert and prepared for the planning of a rapid election campaign, so that their own party can win against this new political element that announced its candidacy quite randomly out on the street.

But the goal of disruptive micro-politics would not be to register one's micro-political event in the ears of the major elements and interests, but to make the few fringe-cadres around one more aware of how chaotic the fringes to their respective political parties are, where their very own beliefs and understandings of major political figures, events and processes are never fully certain. This roadside micro-politics is interested in enacting small and undetected chaos in the fringe-cadres' minds rather than initiating activity in the major political elements, organs and systems of Nepal.

The purpose of micro-politics is not to distance itself from the major national-level political events, but to position itself in-between major political events, in between major leaders who are orchestrating the transfer of power, precisely in those places/moments where major political elements least expect there to be resistance or disruption. The purpose is to show that the major elements and interests cannot decide on their own when politics is going to be smooth and when it is going to be volatile, but that a whim in some individual of the general populace, or from a small group of friends, can cause the fringe-cadres walking by to re-evaluate the biggest tenets, symbols and leaders of their parties.