If it is a crime to compete for a position in the party's congress where one's qualifications have been reached, then it must be accepted that democracy within the respective parties has become dilapidated. A party with a dilapidated system cannot make the state system healthy.
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Only those political parties can become the carriers of democracy which practice democracy within their own structures. Democracy is not only a lesson to be taught to others, but also an undertaking to practice yourself. However, on the basis of public opinion, Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal's largest party, UML, has been continuously weakening its own democratic ground.
By prohibiting criticism, UML has paid the price of division, instead of improving its own style, it has worsened. By expelling former Vice President Bhim Rawal from the party and suspending Standing Committee member Vinda Pandey and Central Member Ushakiran Timsena for 6 months, UML has sent a message that there is no place for different opinions within the party. .
The decision taken by the UML secretariat is not an internal matter of any particular party because in a democracy political parties are public institutions, their style and tendencies are subject to public scrutiny. The policy taken by the party in power of the democratic state to chase and expel its leaders and workers is a matter of public concern. This is the basis of the current criticism.
It is a legal right of political parties to receive financial donations, but any right carries a public and moral obligation. If the ruling party gets about 11 ropani land and a grand building to be built on it as a donation from a businessman, the question of what is the interest and agreement behind it automatically arises. The UML, which received about 2.8 million votes from the last election, has been claiming to have 500,000 organized workers.
While there is a way to collect money from organized members and well-wishers like this, why did UML take the policy of taking everything from one person, the way it was debated outside the party, before that the question should have been raised within the party. Rawal, Pandey and Timsena, who were not in the committee, criticized the decision taken by the secretariat to take such a large donation. UML also got an opportunity to self-evaluate by considering such criticism by its own leader/activist as a mirror. However, the leadership has taken the path of revenge underestimating the opportunity for improvement.
The news that UML President KP Sharma Oli and General Secretary Shankar Pokharel were in the lead in the decision to punish three leaders who expressed different expressions has now become public. As the president and general secretary are in executive role, questioning their role is not otherwise. But, what is surprising is that the majority of the leaders of the Secretariat were witnesses of Urdi driving away his fellow travelers? That they are also partial to the policy of collecting whatever donations the party can? Or are they in the mindset that the leadership's orders are divine, questioning them is a sin? Or, if they are going to criticize the leadership, they should also lead the way, have they been indoctrinated with the belief that their political future will be secured only by singing devotional songs? Regardless of these reasons, the silence of the UML leadership is political fate. Such self-defensive attitude cannot protect the democratic life of the party. Leaders who are on such a devotional path cannot even save their own leadership's reputation.
Congress or UML, Maoist or RSVP, RP or Samajwadi, JSP or Janmaat, LOSPA or Unmukti, there are many problems within our political parties. The leadership of every party seems to be intolerant towards people or groups who question the problem. Therefore, in all these parties, the practice of banning leaders/activists who criticize has been going on. The UML, which has come into the context now, has considered 'multi-party democracy' as its guiding principle.
Even in the internal life of the party, Oli has reached this position with a different opinion. Oli brought a proposal for a 'multi-member structure' in the seventh congress saying that the single leadership of the general secretary became autocratic. Although his proposal failed in the said congress, it was implemented from the eighth congress held in Butwal. It is disrespectful to one's own policy to prohibit pluralism within the party and within the party which advocates multi-party competition in the whole country. Oli has become strong in UML through this practice, but leaders like Madhav Nepal, Jhalnath Khanal, Vamdev Gautam, who have a historical background in the party, have been cut down.
Not all styles and expressions of Bhim Rawal or any other leader are acceptable to the entire society. The society has been supporting and criticizing Rawal's expression. However, Sauraha should reach the Congress when considering why the clause came to expel him from the party and send him to exile. It is clear that Rawal's natural step to compete with Oli for the post of president has been punished now as arrogance.
If it is a crime to compete for a position in the party's congress where one's qualifications have been reached, then it must be accepted that democracy within the respective party has become dilapidated. A party with a dilapidated system cannot make the state system healthy. That is why it is necessary for leaders at every level, including the president, vice president, general secretary, and secretary of UML, to conduct a 'comprehensive test' of the democratic system within their own party. The diagnosis and treatment will lead not only the UML party and its leaders, but also the country's political system to the path of purification.
