By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
The ruling party, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP), with a nearly two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament, has now laid down the ideological foundations of its policy programmes.
Ideology may be defined as any comprehensive and mutually consistent set of ideas by which a social group – in this case a political party or the nation itself — makes sense of the world.
The RSP claims this ideology is based on the socialist orientation of the country’s Constitution.
This does not make it per se the right path for modern Nepal of the new era – after the Gen Z revolution.
Socialism as such is a political and economic theory or system of social organization based on collective or state ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the German protagonists of the new ideas laid emphasis on the need to transform capitalist industrial society into a much more egalitarian system in which collective well-being for all became a reality, and in which the pursuit of individual self-interest became subordinate to such values as association, community, and co-operation.
There was thus an explicit emphasis on solidarity, mutual interdependence, and the possibility of achieving genuine harmony in society to replace conflict, instability, and upheaval.
The issue of transforming Nepal into a socialist society is problematic as it has not reached a capitalist-industrial base, nor has it completely overcome the hurdles of a feudal, land-owning society.
The socialism of Marx and Engels later became corrupted into Marxism-Leninism and even Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and was synonymous with the autocratic and repressive Communist regimes in the Soviet Union, China
And other countries.
Obviously, these are not role models for Nepal.
Democratic Socialism is, therefore, a contradiction in itself. As socialism has become corrupted, how can it have democratic elements?
Social Democracy does attempt to combine the most progressive elements of socialism and democracy and is functioning in the Nordic countries and Germany.
It may be defined as being left of centre in its political orientation.
This was also the ideology of the Nepali Congress until it became totally corrupted under Girija Prasad Koirala and Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Among mass electorates in Nepal, there is increasing unpopularity of purely socialist/communist ideology, and the RSP must tread carefully.
Regardless of the ideological brand, good governance and eradicating endemic corruption is paramount.
Eradicating poverty must be high on the list of priorities, as well as, increasing the sheer mass of the middle class.
This will only be possible by revamping the educational and health systems and fully funding the welfare state.
The writer can be reached at: shashimalla125@gmail.com
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