Valley
About 100 youth leaders, cadres desert Samajbadi Forum Nepal
Ninety-six youth leaders and cadres of the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal have quit the party en masse, hardly seven months after the party was formed.Ninety-six youth leaders and cadres of the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal have quit the party en masse, hardly seven months after the party was formed. The dissenters led by Dev Limbu Labung, in charge of the party’s youth wing, have expressed dissatisfaction at the working style of the party leadership.
Almost all the defectors were supporters of SSFN senior leader Ashok Rai who in June had merged the Sanghiya Samajbadi Party Nepal with the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal.
In a statement, the deserters have accused SSFN Chairman Upendra Yadav and Rai of acting as if the party belonged to “certain communities”. They also criticised the duo’s authoritative working style and “failure to make the party a political force of all the communities”.
“We had hoped the party would act as one of all communities including Janajatis, Muslims, Tharus, Madhesis and Dalits. The party now increasingly looks like that of Madhesis and Janajatis,” reads the statement.
SSFN leaders said the deserters were particularly unhappy at their lack of role in the party. Seven months after the unification, the party has been unable to assign duties to most of its leaders.
Sources said that several other leaders and cadres both at the central level and the grassroots have threatened to quit the party.
“Such things happen when the leadership fails to accommodate the aspirations of young leaders. Youths are progressive. They will move on if you fail to engage them. The leadership should find out the cause or grievances and take concrete steps to address them,” said Ajambar Rai Kangmang, a central committee member of the party.
Many leaders from the Rai faction are also unhappy about the party’s support for the border-centric protest. They claim that the protests centred on Nepal’s border with India were only benefitting “a few leaders engaged in black marketeering”.
SSFN was formed when the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal, the Federal Socialist Party Nepal and the Khas Samabesi Party came together.