By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
Gagan Thapa is now the president of the Nepali Congress, the grand old party that was instrumental in introducing democracy in a country that had just thrown off the shackles of feudalism.
Sher Bahadur Deuba is still trying all his tricks to get back to power at the helm of affairs, but the rear-guard action is hopeless.
Gagan Thapa has demonstrated that he has the guts to ward off all challenges.
He has himself said that the country needs a fresh political culture and he will now be judged by his actions, not words.
Political Culture of Nepal
The political culture of the country comprises all the attitudes, beliefs, and values which underpin the operation of the Nepali political system.
These are also seen as including knowledge and skills about the operation of our particular system, positive and negative emotional feelings toward it, and evaluative judgements about the system.
Gagan Thapa has demonstrated that he is very cognizant of the workings of his own party, the Nepali Congress.
He has now to reform the Nepali Congress from within to make it acceptable to the general public.
He must also realize that after the Gen Z revolt the Nepalese people are desperate for change.
But this must be change by not throwing the baby with the bath water.
Of course, he must abandon any notion of cooperating or even fraternizing with the old, so-called main parties – the former Maoists and the Unified Marxists-Leninists.
He must build up his own party anew – a kind of reformed Social Democrats.
And given the numbers in the House of Representatives, he must work closely with other really democratic parties to build a strong opposition to the ruling Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP).
In fact, given the overwhelming majority of the RSP in the house, it must become the Opposition to be the guardian of democracy in Nepal.
Democracy in the Himalayan Republic can and must be strengthened by protecting the division of powers and here too, the Nepali Congress has an important role to play.
Let us now hope that the Young Turk has now blossomed into a mature politician.
The writer can be reached at: shashimalla125@gmail.com
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