DNC-Democratic stance on strategic coalition
This universal realm is so illusive that what one sees actually does not happen; and that what is happening is not seen with naked eyes!
It is necessary to clarify that the so-highly talked about coalition is built on the individualistic basis and unrepresented of by the people, who subscribe to the organizations, whereby flutters a question mark on whether the individualistic based alliance would actually benefit the people. Besides, the so-called unification has come all of a sudden without consulting the people, who thus feel excluded, making it no more than what Bhutan declared its democracy in 2008.
Further, applauding or appreciating the emergence of coalition of the nature cannot be considered a successful accomplishment of unification given its nature of formation, which is on the basis of individualistic themes rather than on the policies of democracy, inclusiveness and principles of unification. Before commenting or appreciating such a process, one would require to backtrack into the annals of the Bhutanese movement, which has glaring experiences of building and collapsing of the coalitions perhaps for the reasons of weak governance or for the reasons best known to themselves, who are responsible for the demolition of alliances.
File photo: Penjore with Hari Bangaley Adhikari in Kathmandu in 2007
It will be premature of those with commitments towards accomplishment of the long struggling Bhutanese to perceive that the alliance of such a nature that has undermined the existing alliance bodies like the Bhutanese Movement Steering Committee (BMSC) and the National Front for Democracy (NFD) -Bhutan would shape up to an inclusive strength and work for the cause of national interest. It is high time to understand that we need to strengthen existing coalitions rather than bringing new alliances that only go to overshadow the existing coalitions, which are built with utmost care and holds worth applauding records of achievements rather than overriding or underestimating existing political and social alliances.
If the existing alliances are given strong supports from solidarity expressers, if necessary with improvements where ever necessary, Bhutanese movement could prove worthy of it, however, mushrooming alliances by sidelining existing alliances could be like that of making efforts to building a sand-dune.
It is unfortunate that the coalitions in the past lived no more than a caterpillar life for obvious reasons of leadership maturity in various aspects of experiences, academic backgrounds, awareness and required exposures. Whenever anybody attempted to clarify the position looking from the perspectives of long term benefits considering overall interest of the people, commentators branded us of being egoistic and failed to understand what exactly we wished to clarify about without taking little bit of pain to analyze the situation and giving justice to the stands of those being excluded. It is time for every one of us to understand the situation more clearly for the betterment of our own future.
I am by the way not measuring anybody’s height, but trying to express my own perceptions from the perspectives of what has been experienced in the past that has victimized several innocent people with many of them still languishing in the jails in Bhutan while those who were released languish outside camps awaiting registration in the camps. Except giving leadership to the movement by taking up positions, grievances of the needy people are not given proper attention until this day.
The Druk National Congress (DNC) – Democratic does not hesitate to proclaim that we are for inclusiveness and remain strongly committed towards building up a strong entity in the overall interest of the Bhutanese people in general and to bring about true and vibrant democracy in Bhutan looking into long term interest of the country and its diverse population irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, language, colour and sex.
In order to give collective efforts to any kind of coalition that are meant for the cause of the future of all the Bhutanese, whoever coordinates to build up such an anticipated strong and committed coalition, the so-described dispersed leaderships should be collected into a single “PITAKA” under leadership worthy of from the perspectives of leadership quality fulfilling basic requirements of this present era.
I am sorry, but I have to say so given the prevailing demand of the hour. I hope that this to some extent clarifies our stand in the current situation.
(Thinley is President of DNC-Democratic and can be reached at [email protected])