Deuba, who considered himself powerful amidst a circle of followers who were unaware of the pace, emotions and language of society and time, is now shocked, saying, ”What wind took the khukuri from my waist?” Their future is in the 'echo chamber'. But a more advanced political end than this was not acceptable even to Deuba himself.
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Regular ebbs and flows have become a permanent feature of Nepali politics. The ‘climax’ of most stories, novels and movies that move through multiple plots of conflict is often coincidental, but political reality is much more brutal. Sher Bahadur Deuba, oblivious to the pace, flow and language of the world except for his followers who gather in his Patangini with folded hands, is now shocked, saying, ‘No, what breeze took the khukuri from my waist?’
The friends he had gathered, who had been Prime Minister five times, were not his charioteers, but had become a burden. They had created an 'echo chamber' to keep plowing Deuba, saying, 'There is no alternative to you', in which the future is now looming. A more advanced political end was not acceptable to Deuba himself. That is why he left after addressing the Central Committee of the Nepali Congress on 28 Asoj and returned to active politics to become a character of 30 Pus.
It seems that the newly elected President of the Nepali Congress, Gagan Thapa, has been teasing Deuba from time to time, saying that he had also rebelled in the past. This politeness may be Thapa's strategy, but history does not support that adjective. When he split the party with the then President Girija Prasad Koirala, not in a 'rebellion' but in a 'dispute', Deuba was at the center of power as the country's Prime Minister, eager to become a confidant of the then King Gyanendra.
The facts are that Prime Minister Deuba, who said that the Maoist conflict could be managed not through negotiations but by extending the state of emergency, had been given an 'ultimatum' by his party, the Nepali Congress, to withdraw the proposal from Parliament. On 8 Jestha 2059, the very night the Congress decided, Prime Minister Deuba entered the Narayanhiti Palace and recommended to the King to dissolve the people's elected House of Representatives.
King Gyanendra had been waiting for that moment, he dissolved the Parliament at midnight, but four months later, he dismissed Deuba as Prime Minister, calling him 'incompetent', and made arrangements for the government to run under his orders. To call that division to support the power-hungry Gyanendra a rebellion would be to devalue dozens of rebellions in history.
This time, the Congress leadership has not only changed its face, but also forcibly disrupted order. Sushil Koirala, who was 79 years old, succeeded Girija Prasad Koirala, and Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was 70 years old, became the president. Even now, talks are underway to send a message of change to the Congress by making Shekhar Koirala, 76, the successor to Deuba, who is over 80. But because Shekhar Koirala did not dare to do so, an entire generation of the Congress has reached the point of displacement.
Until an agreement is reached, the children and nephews of BP Koirala, Ganeshman Singh, and Mahendra Narayan Nidhi are not even ordinary members of the Nepali Congress. The speed and opinion to create this irony that no one else could have imagined is their own.
The psychology that the names of their fathers and uncles will reach seven generations was a devaluing of the thoughts, philosophy, and dedication of BP, Ganeshman, and Nidhi. However, the exercise of power that Shekhar or Shashank, Prakashman or Bimalendra are enjoying in the Congress, relying on their ancestors, is exactly the same as the ambition of Gyanendra, who wanted to rule with the image of Prithvi Narayan Shah. Their dream that has been shattered today is not only about position, but also about the dynastic mentality.
The forced generational transfer under the leadership of the Congress has added a chapter to Nepali politics, but there are many obstacles to a complete change. Especially in Nepal's major leftist parties, the leadership level is as rigid as a ten-year-old. UML's KP Sharma Oli, now Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who formed the NCP, has been at the top of the party for four decades. It can be said without hesitation that Nepal's communist leaders are actually feudal lords of a new variant, pseudo-feudal lords are more dangerous than traditional feudal lords.
They do not need cadres to criticize, but 'children' to be taken in and followers to worship. When grandchildren like Durga Prasai, who grew up in their arms, reach up to their necks and do not regain consciousness, they wander around in search of characters like Chakre Milan again. Unfortunately, the country's dream is becoming incomplete in such an incomplete love story of leaders.
Nepal's political aristocracy has been rewarding leaders/activists by considering their incompetence as 'qualification'. Writer Bishnu Sapkota rightly wrote in Kantipur last week, 'Purna Bahadur Khadka's incompetence is his qualification.' Purna Bahadur was given the responsibility of acting president because Deuba was confident that he would not make any decision based on his 'discretion'. But he would have asked Ishwor Pokharel in UML to find an answer on how the leadership punishes his colleagues when they try to make their own decisions.
The right to decide victory or defeat is separate from the voters, but while RPP leaders are optimistic about getting UML votes, Pokharel, the party's senior vice-president until now, is also deprived of Oli's sympathy. Former UML Vice President Surendra Pandey, leaders Binda Pandey, and Thakur Gaire have also been barred from contesting elections on the same 'accusation' of questioning the leadership. By pushing Yogesh Bhattarai, who was elected Deputy General Secretary at the recently concluded general convention, and Gokul Baskota, who gave Oli the nickname 'Ba', to a corner, the UML leadership has given a clear message, 'A leader who refuses to sing Oli's praises has no future in UML.' However, the fact that a particular leader does not get a ticket is not a matter of national concern. However, any party registered according to the country's democratic constitution and prevailing laws is a public organization, and the system within a public organization is a matter of citizen concern. Therefore, there should be a debate within and outside the party about the autocratic style of the UML leadership. But if leaders who did not get tickets are harassed and those who did get tickets are looted, the rebellion in UML will be even more dire.
Changing responsibilities in any political party should not be a matter of life and death. But the leaders of our political parties, after coming to power, have become trapped in a vicious circle of abusing power and staying in power to avoid accountability. Power and strength are not just their habit, but have also become a tool of self-protection. Not only Sher Bahadur Deuba, KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, but also for the new party, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Ravi Lamichhane, power has now become a weapon of self-protection. When power becomes a shield of security rather than a vehicle of good governance and prosperity, the country will continue to fall into this trap.
Nepali society is not only demanding intervention in politics, but also a commitment to reform. The responsibility of respecting that has come to the Congress. After Deuba's exit from the main center of the Congress, the test of the new leadership has begun. Even after reaching the leadership as the General Secretary, the leaders who were in the role of the evergreen opposition had the facility to escape by asking questions yesterday, now they will have to answer. Especially the trust in the so-called mainstream political parties is negative, the face of a particular leader will not be enough to address it.
Once upon a time, thousands of young people were ready to sacrifice their lives for a single sentence of Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Oli was a 'symbol of nationalism' even 10 years ago. But while enjoying the siege of his close associates, they stopped realizing that their own colleagues were frustrated, cadres were disappointed and the people were angry. That is why the election that should have been held in five years has come in its third year.
Whether new or old, the most distorted practice by parties is the alliance of power. The trend of the leader of the party that won 32 seats in the 275-seat House of Representatives becoming the Prime Minister and the leader of the party that won 21 seats becoming the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister has made Nepal's politics sick. The commitment to not let that infection spread is the biggest need of the moment. The answer to the question of how political the competition and coordination of the Congress will be, not only with the KP Sharma Oli-led UML and the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led NCP, who are in the same frenzy, but also with the new players of power, Ravi Lamichhane and Balendra Shah, is also awaited.
The shame of the failure of the leaders has made the change in the traditional leadership of the parties inevitable because the system has to bear the brunt of the failure of the leaders. Why is the discourse against the inclusive, proportional system becoming stronger in society today? The leaders have put it in the political market.
Who will benefit from this system, which was introduced with the aim of targeting the groups left out of the political mainstream? From Mohan Shamsher's grandson Pashupati Shamsher to Juddha Shamsher's granddaughter Arju Deuba Rana. Pashupati Shamsher, who became a minister in 2034 during the early years of King Birendra, is still entering the parliament through the proportional and inclusive quota after 50 years.
Similarly, Arju, who had been a proportional MP in 2064 and 2070, did not only reach the parliament through the proportional system in 2079 after failing to gain approval from the people in the direct elections of 2074, but from there she was able to walk around carrying the keys to power and authority in her purse. The country will need to undergo a major political surgery to correct the distortion that this has caused in the overall politics.
