The 13th General Convention (GC) of the Nepali Congress (NC) is over. There were some outstanding achievements. First, the top leadership has gone out of the Koirala dynasty. Second, for the first time a second round of election had to be conducted to elect a new president as per the party’s charter. Third, there was an interesting cross voting among the factions (establishment vs rebels) wherein the establishment side was defeated. Fourth, there was a great show of pompousness: The convention cost was a record high and the contestants spent freely. Fifth, the grip of the old horses seems to be loosening although it cannot be called the victory of the youth.

The NC was visibly split into two factions even at this convention. One positive sign of this GC, however, was that there is a potential for the ending of factionalism because two members from the establishment side have been elected to the positions of general secretary and treasurer to work with the new president who represents the rebel faction. This is a great opportunity for the new leader, Sher Bahadur Deuba, to patch up differences between the two groups. The newly elected General Secretary Shashank Koirala is the youngest son of the late BP Koirala and as such was a potential force from the establishment group. 

Road ahead

The success of the GC, however, does not imply that the road ahead is smooth. Many corrections are necessary to improve upon past weaknesses. One top goal is to clarify the ideological stand of the NC. Every leader pays lip service to the rhetoric of democratic socialism propounded by BP. However, the path adopted by the NC during the past two decades is that of economic liberalism. The phrase democratic socialism was adopted to isolate the progressive elements from the concept of capitalism. The onus is on the NC to translate democratic socialism in the context of the latest development paradigms. How does democratic socialism stand in terms of GDP growth, capital and labour relations, equal distribution of opportunities, employment, inclusion of marginalised communities, international trade imbalance, foreign direct investment and so on? Creating a think tank of the top NC theoreticians to rewrite the ideological model of the party can give a new life to the stale rhetoric.

There are a number of unfinished tasks from which the NC should not shy away. Prominent among them is the implementation of the new constitution. The constitution was drafted and enforced by the combined efforts of the NC, CPN-UML and a number of small parties. Although the constitution is formally launched, certain parts of the constitution are unfinished. Fundamentally, the work of creating a federal structure has not been finalised and a significant part of the republic is agitated regarding the structure of the proposed federation, causing great damage to national health. The NC was expected to remain glued to the team until the constitution was enforced, but it pulled itself out. On being elected as the party chief, Deuba said that democracy requires a strong opposition. But let there first be a full federal democratic republic in existence. This requires the full involvement of the NC as the largest party in the process. Whether the NC decides to fulfil this obligation by being a part of the present government or a restructured government may be negotiable, but the NC cannot run away. If it wants to fulfil its obligation from the outside, like creating a special political mechanism, the modalities have to be developed with the government. Running away from the process will invite a series of unwanted consequences in the nation and history will blame the NC for this. 

Pending liabilities

The concept of a strong one-party government and a strong opposition to strengthen democracy is a hackneyed 19th century idea, which is no longer is in practice in many modern democracies. It was replaced by the concept of multiparty coalition in most democracies including Nepal. The NC had the good fortune of getting an absolute majority in Parliament a couple of times after the restoration of democracy in 1990, but most of the other cabinets in Nepal have had to be coalitional because of the absence of the majority of any party. There are two types of coalition in practice. The first is a transitional coalition in which two or more parties agree to work in unison when there is a hung parliament. This coalition may terminate at the end of the tenure of Parliament. The second type of coalition is a joint front among two or more political parties that remain united before, during and after the tenure and proceed with a common manifesto. This coalition is more firmly defined than the first type. It is more sustainable because it is not dependent on immediate self-interest. 

The NC entered into a coalition with the UML and a few small parties after the second Constituent Assembly election. The NC and the UML had not developed a joint manifesto, but most of their aspirations about the constitution matched. So when the election results came out and no party had a clear majority, they agreed to work together. This coalition could have been given a longer term by an agreement to remain together for a considerable time to attain full political stability. But it was abandoned by the NC as soon as the constitution was hastily enforced. Who gained by the abandonment? It was the question of who heads the government. We the people were fully aware of the tacit agreement between the NC and the UML that Sushil Koirala would remain at the head of the government until the promulgation of the constitution and that KP Oli would succeed him. The NC was marginally larger than the UML in parliamentary ranking, but nowhere close to an absolute majority. This marginal strength has been the cause of the undue haste in abandoning the coalition. Even the combined strength of the two parties was less than the two-thirds required to pass and amend the constitution. Did the NC not realise this gap when it decided to abandon the coalition? Does it not see that the country is in the doldrums?

As a concerned citizen of Nepal, I feel happy to congratulate Deuba on his election as the NC president for the next four years. However, given the myriad of problems summarised above, I would like to offer my humble suggestion to widen and update the horizon of the party to address the national problems pragmatically. The Madhes movement is the outcome of a political weakness in which the NC had a leading role. It must fully cooperate with the government in solving the issue. It must also cooperate with it to implement other provisions of the constitution. It cannot simply enjoy the luxury of sitting in the opposition. 

Sharma is a political analyst. He can be contacted at [email protected]