Sher Bahadur Deuba was alone when he came to Kathmandu from Dadeldhura, now he has a family, he is bound by the wishes and aspirations of his family members.
All kinds of leaders and workers of the Congress, big, medium and small, who are currently active in the political circle, have started to express their anger towards the Congress-UML coalition government formed under the leadership of UML President KP Sharma Oli. Their anger is not without reason. From time to time, anger is expressed by the workers belonging to various political groups present in the Congress.
After the power sharing agreement between Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML President Oli, the Congress workers, who were happy after the power sharing agreement, are not particularly enthusiastic about the current government. UML workers are more enthusiastic. Even the leading leaders of the Congress are not hopeful that the Congress-UML coalition government will do anything. However, there is more hope and enthusiasm in Chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba. Leader Deuba is the father of coalition culture in Nepali politics. Talking about Congress in the context of
politics requires a lot of thought. Congress is not the first political party in the country by date. However, Congress is the organization that directly intervened in the country's political scene to make the people independent and free. To be fair, the Congress as a strong political organization has not had enough time to advance its political and economic agenda, that too for its own reasons. This party, which led the people's revolution in 2007, remained in power for only one and a half years (2015-2017). Under the leadership of the visionary BP Koirala, the Congress secured more than two-thirds of the votes in the parliamentary elections. King Mahendra dissolved the government and parliament just as the Koirala-led government started developing plans and concepts based on the public trust gained by the Nepali Congress. Many leaders including BP Koirala, Ganeshman Singh, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai were imprisoned. Those who were not imprisoned went into exile.
The Congress spent the next thirty years in a relentless struggle to restore democracy. The struggle did not stop. The Jan Andolan of 2046 abolished the independent system of King Mahendra and restored the constitutional monarchy and multi-party democratic system. After this change, Congress president and leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai became the interim Prime Minister. Under his leadership, a multi-party democratic constitution with a constitutional monarchy was created for Nepal. Elections were held under that constitution. Nepali Congress won the majority. People thought that now the country's politics will be stable. But, it didn't happen.
Congress General Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Sher Bahadur Deuba led the government after the defeat of Congress president Krishna Prasad Bhattarai in the first parliamentary elections of the multi-party democratic system. Under the leadership of Koirala, the government adopted a liberal economy. Industrialists and businesses went on the path of privatization. However, with the initiation of the political and economic reform program, internal dissension began to emerge in the Congress. Finally, the first parliament to establish a multi-party democratic system was dissolved. The country is on the way to mid-term elections. Congress suffered an unexpected and unbelievable defeat in the elections. The main opposition party Nepal Communist Party (UML) formed a 'minority government' under the leadership of Manmohan Adhikari. However, that government reached the Supreme Court and was defeated.
At that time of political silence, Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba became the prime minister in alliance with the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party. Even after that there were many kinds of experiments within the Congress. Girija Prasad Koirala returned to power after a short-term retirement after the party's 'unthinkable' defeat in the elections. Krishnaprasad Bhattarai's victory in the third election and election as Prime Minister was a natural event. However, the leaders of the party, called Ghaghdan, started lamenting the 'dead peace' in Singha Darbar during Bhattarai's rule. The politics of the country started to get confused due to the small and big incidents of power struggle between Guru Koirala and Chela Deuba. The 'strict' discipline within the opposition UML was also broken. The leaders of both the parties began to fight each other.
After the success of the joint people's movement, the "people's war" of the Maoist communist group, which started "legally" on February 1, 2052, was organized and started to spread throughout the country. The impact of the People's War was on the rural society of Nepal, which was living a very poor life economically. The people's war was expanding from western to eastern hills.
Meanwhile, an unimaginable accident happened in the history of Nepal - King Birendra and his entire family were murdered in the Rajdarbar complex on the 19th of June 2058. It was an unbearable tragedy for Nepal and Nepali people. The people could not accept the ascension of Gyanendra Shah to the throne of Nepal as a natural process. His style of governance was also not organized and suited to modern times. As a king, Gyanendra Shah could not understand the steps of liberal and democratic times. World public opinion also took his leadership lightly. He presented himself in the style of a 'tyrant'. For the 'strength' of his rule, he did all the 'do's' and 'don'ts'. People could not accept his 'political' existence. Suspicion of his involvement in the demise of King Birendra became popular as a 'conspiracy theory'. King Gyanendra challenged the self-respect of the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. Since then, Koirala, who has been chanting slogans in defense of the constitutional monarchy since 2036 with the belief that 'the country does not exist without a king', decided that there is no justification for that slogan in the changing times.
That time was becoming very harsh for the people. On the one hand, the increasing pressure of the Maoist people's war and on the other hand, the harsh dictatorial rule of Gyanendra Shah as the king, the Nepalese society was under severe pressure. During that time of terror from Mechi to Mahakali, Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala showed courage to stand firmly against the dictatorial regime. Communists openly supported his courage.
The second mass movement started after the security baton rained down on the elderly leader Koirala. This movement was decisive for the Nepali monarchy. The royalists who are now marching in the streets do not have that passion, which was seen in the agitators who marched to remove Gyanendra Shah from the throne. The murder of King Birendra's family will always be etched in the minds of the Nepalese people. Sadly, the mystery of that horrific accident seems unlikely to be revealed.
The events that followed are well known. Girija Prasad Koirala was not in favor of displacing the monarchy even till the end. Gyanendra's retirement and Baby King's proposal was his idea. That hypothesis was not acceptable to the Nepali people who were on the path of radical change. People were in the mood of 'war ki par'.
The main factor in the elimination of monarchy from Nepal was the armed movement of the Maoists. What or who was the source of their power? This may be the subject of research. However, the awareness spread by the youths involved in the Maoist movement among the vulnerable and poor people of Nepal was wonderful for the political and social changes of Nepal. It is not unusual if the behavior of the Maoist leaders who are doing politics of convenience in the government circle is harshly criticized. The Maoist leaders who started the fight to remove the garbage from the pool of politics are rejoicing by diving into the same pool of garbage.
When discussing contemporary Nepali politics and political parties, the Nepali Congress occupies the main place. Nepali Congress iron man Ganeshman Singh played a leading role in negotiating with communist leaders Manmohan Adhikari and Madan Bhandari for the 2046 change. The history of Ganeshman Singh to bring the divided power of the Communists to a point of unity and make the 'Unified Marxist-Leninist' party participate in the mass movement is an open book.
It is not that Sher Bahadur Deuba's leadership in the Congress was ineffective. In the contemporary leadership of the Congress, he will be known as a shrewd player for a long time. Lately, he has created a very difficult time for himself by making UML President Oli as the Prime Minister. He is well aware of this matter – organizationally, the power of the Nepali Congress is not as strong as thought. Struggling Congress leaders are tired. All of them have an insatiable desire. Deuba is no longer in a position to fulfill their insatiable desire. They are also not in a position to encourage them to fulfill their aspirations. He was alone when he came to Kathmandu from Dadeldhura. Now he has a family. Family obligations. Willingly or not, he is bound by the will and aspirations of the family members.
But, as a living and militant political organization, the activists who have been associated with the Nepali Congress for a long time also have their own wishes and aspirations. They want this party to connect with everyone's talents equally. May the future of Nepal and Nepalese people be safe. For this, Speaker Deuba should secure the future of the Congress by holding a party convention before the election. Currently, the state of the party organization is not strong. As the chairman, the party has been regularized and secured. In politics, even the smallest things cause an outcry. Chairman Deuba may not want to fall into that cry.
