Recently, the political henchmen of Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, the leader of the communist-style UML party and the ethnic chief of the Khas Arya community, staged an artless play in Madhesh Province. Although the staging was not artistic, the script was full of drama. Province Chief Sumitra Subedi Bhandari will leave Janakpur for Kathmandu at 4 am on Monday, citing illness.

The then acting Chief Minister Jitendra Sonal bids him farewell, wishing him a speedy recovery. After reaching Panas Cottage in Bardibas, His Excellency feels that he has missed an important task. She calls Provincial Assembly member Saroj Kumar Yadav, who is following the ailing provincial chief of her mother party with devotion and devotion, to the hotel and hands over the appointment letter of the Chief Minister's post and hastily and without any fuss administers the oath of office and secrecy.

Then she finally remembers her deteriorating health and rushes towards the capital. Thus ends the first scene of the play. The performance does not seem to have reached its climax. It would not be surprising if after some time, Sharma Oli, a master director of political dramas, brings new actors on stage and creates more twists, turns and competitions in the script to make the presentation more exciting.

Meanwhile, Subedi Bhandari's physical health bulletin has not been made public yet, but everyone is already aware of the decision to remove her from the post due to her deteriorating political health. Apart from his involvement with the UML-named party and his unwavering loyalty to the party's supreme leader Sharma Oli, it is not yet clear what his qualifications were to be appointed as the provincial chief. One cannot fulfill the responsibilities of a respected position as a provincial chief without character traits such as commitment to the constitution, freedom from party affiliation, understanding of parliamentary traditions, sense of official responsibility, clean image, transparent work performance and high ethics.

After being relieved of his post due to controversial decisions, conduct contrary to the dignity of the post and inappropriate work performance, Subedi Bhandari will probably have ample opportunity to impart knowledge about high political ethics. Although the UML has broken ties with leftist ideologies such as Marxism and Leninism, it is not unusual for the politicians of the party, which has not been able to completely abandon them, to have dual characters—revolutionary in action, reactionary in intention—to be seen.

The concern is that if the UML continues to decline, the entire left will be discredited and even the idea of ​​posing a credible challenge to reactionary politics will weaken. The fact that the UML party, which is a political front of the majority upper and middle class Bahuns who are highly influential in religious, cultural, social, economic and educational terms, is slowly but surely moving from leftism to ‘Bardaliism’ is not good news even for the party’s staunchest critics.

The political group now called UML was born from the Naxalite embryo of Maoism in the 1970s. After the 1980 referendum, the then Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theory was coated with ‘Mahendraism’, which created a situation where the political pendulum of the Jhapali Naxalists swung from the extreme left to the radical right.

Girija Prasad Koirala’s much-quoted statement – ​​‘Male, Mandala and Masale are the same’ – was not only a symptom of his political despair at the time but also reflected the overall political scenario of Nepal. Despite having few numerical supporters, Ganeshman Singh saved the then ‘MLMA-Mahendravadis’ from parliamentary destruction by forcing them to unite with Marxists like Manmohan Adhikari, who had relatively high political character. Perhaps that is why, in an interview with Newsweek English weekly in 1991, Madan Bhandari claimed that ‘Marx is alive in Nepal’, without glorifying Lenin, Mao or Naxalism.

He named the ideological, theoretical and intellectual artifice done by Madan Bhandari to integrate the authoritarian ideology of the proletariat into the democratic mainstream of parliamentarism as People’s Multi-Party Democracy (JABAJ). After his untimely death in an unfortunate car accident in 1993, when none of the UML leaders showed the ability to transform the JABAJ concept from a chantable mantra into exemplary behavior, entrepreneurs who took the Maoist brand entered the political market in 1996 to fill the void left by the left. There is no trace of Marxism-Leninism left in the UML, nor are the Maoists material proletarians anywhere.

Ever since the then party chairman and incumbent Prime Minister Sushil Koirala took the Nepali Congress' ideological current to the 'Bardali of Balakot' in 2015 in the momentary frenzy of Mahendraism, the political character of that party has become inextricably linked with the UML. After all kinds of leftists completely vacated the economic and political stage, it was natural for the political elites who wanted to do politics as liberators, saviors or managers to get excited.

The twilight of the left

Nowadays, you don't have to wear the golden glasses of capitalism to see the sun of leftist politics setting. This is not just a problem in Nepal, but a long-term infection spreading all over the world. The collapse of the Soviet Union, which began with the collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe in 1989, ended in 1991, according to leftist thinker Eric Hobsbawm, with the collapse of the global application of communist economics and politics, ending the ‘short twentieth century (1914–1991).’ With the collapse of the bipolar structure of world geopolitics, there was no longer any power left to support alternative ideas.

The followers of Mahatma Marx believed that capitalism was carrying the seeds of its own end. But history does not always follow the path envisioned by the Mahatmas. Marxism attempted to replace traditional religions with a new universal creed. The neoliberal world order, on the other hand, has created an impenetrable structure of post-modern extremist sects in which profit is the only god, the free market is the common temple of all, brokers and merchants are the priests, and consumers are the religious community. 

At first, traditional leftist parties probably thought that neoliberalism was not a religion but a wave that would fade away on its own. The predictions of leftist scholars that ordinary people, tormented by the inequalities created by the free market, would return to class consciousness did not seem unbelievable even in 2001. But class consciousness had no chance of surviving in the face of the combined power of creativity in selling the dream of the market, economic capacity to bear immediate losses, and political activism. The beauty shown by television is more attractive and to a certain extent attainable than the heaven of traditional religion or the earthly paradise of communism.

When even wage earners begin to see salvation in fake ‘branded jeans’ and ‘chiffon’ that looks the same as an iPhone, then the idealistic cover of the left will tear itself apart. The British Labour Party, once considered the soft left, had already become market-oriented by the 1990s. In order to attract investors by providing more and more facilities, communists have been brought in from West Bengal, India, and today the political competition in that state is between right-wing and far-right currents. It has been seen time and again that if there is no left, the legitimacy of centrist politics automatically ends. The leftists of Nepal have not become ‘leftists’ just like that.

After 1990, content with the illusory belief that the ‘end of ideology’ had occurred, the leftist thinkers of the West also concluded that the core questions of political economy had been resolved and then began to focus their attention on social and cultural issues. The leftists of Nepal, on the other hand, adopted the strategy of going back to the old and being safe instead of challenging the expression ‘end of ideology’ in a new way, and neither ‘democratic socialism’ was thought about nor the concept of ‘socialist democracy’ could gain clarity. After the Maoist armed rebellion, the Narayanhiti massacre, and the royal-military coup of the then King Gyanendra, when the economic and political debate was overshadowed and all the energy of society was spent on achieving the previous order, what was bound to happen happened - the dominance of the dominant community was restored even stronger.

Nationalism, which encourages living within a specific political boundary and striving together for a common goal, is an inclusive concept in itself. Nationalism, on the other hand, erects a psychological wall between ‘us’ and ‘others’, creates the pride of majoritarian ethnicity, and dresses a culture of single hegemony with the adjective ‘national’. The more nationalistic the leftists in Nepal became, the more extreme ‘arms’ they became, losing the trust of Dalit, Janajati, Madhesi, and religious minority groups. After that, there was no other goal left for the leftist ideology except the ladder to power.

Even more terrible than cultural deviation is seen in the economic collapse of the Nepali left. Nepal has limited options for earning a living. Subsistence agriculture cannot bear the burden of consumerism. The contribution of industry to the national production system is minimal. Trade and business cannot create jobs according to demand. Even the tourism industry, which can provide significant job opportunities in proportion to the cost, has not spread much outside the Kathmandu Valley, the Golden Triangle of Pokhara-Chitwan-Lumbini and the Annapurna trekking route. Due to public pressure, the road that brings consumer goods to the villages and the media that creates attraction for it have reached every pocket. With the limitation of economic activities other than finance and trade, which are interconnected, it has become natural for all types of labor, both skilled and unskilled, to find ways to emigrate.

The remittance economy creates its own kind of consumerist structure - instead of sustainable growth that can be achieved through deferred desires, imports skyrocket due to the demand for instant gratification, government tax collection through customs increases, and public wasteful spending cannot be stopped. Then the middlemen who arrange things become stronger and politics turns into a looting regime. Due to the prevalence of looting, the institutions and structures of the state weaken and autocracy is established in politics.

The economic and political ideology formed by combining ‘Bahunpanth’ in culture and ‘Adhamtantra’ in politics can be called ‘Bardalism’ in the Nepali perspective, where the instructions from Bardali with infinite care from the all-powerful ‘Ba’ become an irrefutable divine message for the children standing in Patangini. Although Bardali Ba’s Balkot residence was set on fire, Bardali must also be in his safe fort at Gundu. The dim sun before sunset looks attractive from there now. But the decline of leftist economic politics is sure to be a warning bell for the moderates as well.

Players in the Dark

Since the 1990s, the deviation of leftist politics had created an ideological vacuum, which emboldened right-wing and populist forces. As leftist politics was discredited in Bangladesh, first military rule and then elected dictatorship became stronger.

Even those who disagree with the manner of Sheikh Hasina's removal must admit that within the 'development and stability' model of her rule, the nurturing of loyalists, control of the voice of the opposition, and brutal suppression of critics had become the norm. With the dominance of thoughtlessness in the administration of the state, the despotism of the populist ruler would gain the support of a significant number of people, although there is no guarantee that it would be sustainable. In a society without a vocal and strong opposition, it is not difficult to criminalize criticism of the government.

Since Pakistan was conceived and established on religious grounds, it was not easy to establish a leftist ideology there. But to shake the dominance of the ‘Four M’ establishment, made up of Maulana, Malik Zamindars, Military and millionaires who had become wealthy by exploiting the resources of East Pakistan, Sindh’s elite Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had to raise the slogan of socialism. After the independence of Bangladesh, his political stance led him to the gallows. Then, during the autocratic rule of General Zia ul Haq, the roots of the leftist movement were uprooted from Pakistan. The Islamization of politics has already captured the economy and politics of Pakistan, along with the widespread mentality there. In Pakistan, whether it is revolution or counter-revolution, the fundamental character of all changes is right-wing.

The example of India is more complex and frightening. The left there, especially in Bengal and Kerala, was once synonymous with class consciousness. Farmers in Punjab used to fight for their rights. In northern Bihar, red flags with a hammer and sickle were hoisted on the fields. The voice of the indigenous people used to resonate even beyond the Vindhyachal Mountains.

The first challenge to the Left was the caste consciousness of Mandal politics. The second blow has been considered fatal. Since the Left has lost the ability to survive in the face of the Hindutva majoritarianism that rests on the broad support base of the Hindutva network of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the strong financial support of the middleman, it seems that the competition to become a miniature version of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is becoming widespread among almost all Indian politicians, with no exception.

In fact, it may seem that the Left has been revived in Sri Lanka. The current ruling National Mandhari Bharati Grand Alliance is dominated by the Left Janata Vimukti Peramuna, and after the election of its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake as President, Buddhist majoritarianism and military control seem to have subsided to some extent. However, like Israel and Burma, ethnic nationalism, militarism and majoritarian democracy are inextricably linked in Sri Lanka.

The situation in Nepal is similar. Although it may seem paradoxical, if the left weakens, capitalism also becomes distorted and becomes trapped in the clutches of healthy anti-competitive mechanisms like cartels and syndicates and becomes hollow. In the subsequent politics, one of the three types of strongman politics (strongman politics) can emerge. The form of such power can be anything from a right-wing savior, a radical leftist liberator, or a corrupt manager.