FUTURE OF NEPALI CONGRESS

The Kathmandu Post

19 January 2018

FUTURE OF NEPALI CONGRESS

Nepal has passed through much political turmoil in the last 70 years due to the internal and external political environment. Democratically elected governments have been thrown out of power citing its poor governance and undemocratic acts. People had to pass through 10 years of ‘people’s war’ with much difficulty. Many people sacrificed their lives in the name of bringing political changes in the country. The Maoists joined mainstream politics. The King was dethroned by the first Constitutional Assembly (CA), which also declared the transformation of the country into a Republic. A second CA was able to draft and promulgate the new constitution. 

Three tiers of elections were held in accordance with the new constitution. The left alliance comprising the CPN-UML and the CPN- (Maoist Centre) was able to capture majority seats in the provincial and federal elections. Madhes based parties also performed well in Province 2. The Nepali Congress’s (NC) performance in all three elections remained dismal for a number of reasons. Intra-party feuds, factional politics, misuse of power, corrupt leaders, poor organisational structure at the grass level and deviation from BP’s political philosophy were the main reasons among others for its political debacle. However, people have voted for them to play a strong opposition role over the next five years.

Now, the NC is struggling to maintain its political image in the coming days. Second-rung leaders are blaming the party leadership and demanding party chief’s resignation for the NC’s poor performance. It seems that not only the party chief but the other senior leaders are equally responsible for the party’s miserable performance. In fact, once the late Girija P. Koiral decided to abandon BP’s two pillar political principle, the NC’s political image started going down the drain. The NC then should have played the role of a facilitator, leaving the people to decide about the fate of monarchism and secularism rather than following one man’s unilateral decision. Nonetheless, it is encouraging to know that three Koiralas- Shashank, Sujata and Shekhar- are taking initiatives to revive the NC (‘Koiralas in bid to revive Congress’, January 17, Page 1). It remains to be seen whether their political remedy will rectify the NC’s future political course.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj

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