By P Kharel
Undoubtedly, the chips are down for the “top three”, who are but a faint shadow of even their pre-Gen Z uprising star power held respectively in the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist). Their decision to stay put as organisational heads underscores the black absurdity whose destiny is the certainty of a steeply deeper and faster fall for not only the leaders but the political parties, too.
Refusing to play by the rules of owning responsibility for organisational defeat and setbacks, they brook no demand for change in the leadership. That is the price party members pay for never daring to critically assess their leaders. Inner-party democracy is never a culture put in practice—something typical of most organisations in the developing world, particularly in South Asia.
They not only impede change but eat into the vitals of whatever if left of their parties.
Latest signs of previously loyalists and peer stalwarts loosening their previous rigid support for the “indispensable” figures are clear indications of the changed dynamics within and outside.
A series of small missteps together with his disregard for traditional parliamentary practices now and then bring in winds of criticism that shake Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s star power a bit, but not to the extent of pushing him out of the seats he holds at the helm of the state affairs. This is because of deep public disappointment with the previously major parties, now shrunk heavily, because of their leaderships defying public sentiments and trying to revile the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party and Balen.
EARLY & PREMATURE: It is too early to throw too many brickbats at a leader who had surprised all parties by contesting and winning the all-important mayoral reins of the Kathmandu metropolitan city as an independent candidate. Intriguing as the rollercoaster speed with which Belen and RSP rode the crest of electoral success last spring, the fact sticks: popularity of all the older parties had dipped rock bottom to enable their recently emerged rival group to obtain what previously was thought to be virtually impossible in the existing constitutional electoral conditions and candidacies—winning an outright majority.
Public indifference to the yesterday-leaders gets entrenched by the day for frittering away the decades of public trust and mandate given and now refusing to learn the lessons from their long list of misuse of power to the core. The trio’s sidekicks and beneficiaries of dubious benefits accrued from their proximity to the powerful pump in illusions nursing their benefactors who would like to believe they alone can drive their organisations effectively in this grave hour of crisis created by “foreign forces”. Mahesh Basnets, Prakash Sharan Mahats and Barsha Man Puns are aberrations bent on proving their loyalty to the jaded leaders whose days are gone. The three parties in discussion are in for nuanced twists and turns from new leaders set to indisputably hold the reins. For good or bad, they all are set to ring in the new and flush out the old.
Anyone with a modicum of sense notes that time and tide do not wait for anyone. Oli, Deuba and Dahal, flanked by their dwindling number of workers and fast thinning supporters, want to defy it not only at the expense of their personal dignity and, more importantly, the organisations they swore by so vociferously throughout their lifelong political career.
SHARP CONTRAST: In contrast, RSP leader Rabi Lamichhane and CPN (UML) alternative leader and former President Bidya Devi Bhandari present calm and sober images as a fresh breath of air to the national political firmament. The strategy fror the duo has worked thus far. That is the only way they can hope to keep the flock calm and offset the unseemly position of their former party stalwarts.
While Bhandari’s silence and moderate public posture amidst hectic game of creating a power equation in the communist party, Thapa leaves no opportunity tol publicly exhort his “senior leaders” like Deuba to join his flock and strengthen Nepali Congress which has the legacy of having led “so many” successful movements for political change. He understandably does not mention the 2025 autumn’s Gen Z movement that swept the old parties and leaders in the subsequent general election six months later.
Gagan is well positioned now, having developed maturity when tossed onto the organizational seat of decision but not without a hard-fought struggle. He maintains an amicable posture of moderation and accommodation for party unity. He also does not fall in the grip of being overly critical of the ruling party or the prime minister in a display of pragmatism and public sentiments. The power of patience will pay off, perhaps earlier than is generally thought of.
OUTDATED OUTLOOK: The outdated trio of former prime ministers, who between them drew the prime minister’s hat 11 times while Deuba was preparing for yet another round at the top this year, but last year’s Gen Z rebellion shredded that hope to be humiliating pieces. In emulation of their predecessors through their organisational history, they inspired fear against party members falling out of line or positioning out of with the leadership’s rhetoric for praise or defence. They brooked no criticism or activity that remotely threated leadership challenge.
Oblivious of today’s public psyche and the mindset of party rank and file, the fossilised trio cling to outdated practices that no longer work. Confining themselves to cubicles that do not reach out the new and fresh for carrying the organisational baton, they desperately believe that theirs is a staying power no can beat.
Delay in changing the guards means a debilitating disease that will hasten the collapse of an edifice already on the verge of collapse. As the saying goes, one can take a horse to a pond but cannot force it to drink. With leaders wearing such blinds, no party needs powerful detractors. The fall comes from within.
As for the RSP and Balen, people might not be fully satisfied at the pace of the government’s initiatives, but the ruling side wears a shield of newness and the banner proclaiming the decades of blatantly bad governance by the old parties trounced just over six months ago. Unless they shape up with pragmatic steps, the days of Oli, Deuba and Dahal will be disastrous to themselves as well as their parties root and branch.
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