Gen Z Revolt’s Tremors Pressure Mounts For Leadership Transfer

With the outburst of Gen Z revolt, political parties – both major and minor – are facing an existential threat. The Gen Z youth’s anti-corruption crusade that took place in the wake of a ban on social networking sites rattled the nation on September 8 and 9, causing an unimaginable loss of lives and properties. The movement has taken the starch out of leaders. The ruling party leaders were not only ousted from power, but their houses were burnt down and they were forced to flee their homes to save their own skin. Some have become homeless. Even former prime minister KP Sharma Oli is now living in a rented house, a situation that was beyond imagination before the Gen Z uprising. People’s disgust for leaders is so strong that some owners have reportedly even refused to give their houses to them on rent for fear of being targeted by the enraged Gen Zeers.

The parties’ claim that they were governing the nation based on the grand vision of the constitution has been dashed onto the ground, severely denting their legitimacy and competency. As the Gen Z movement pushed them into a corner, serious discord is brewing within the parties over the capability of their gerontocratic leaders. Voices are getting louder for leadership transfer to the younger generation to tackle the new challenges triggered by the youths’ upheavals. At the same time, the call for leadership transfer has set off an internal tussle to grab the party's top posts.

Impact

The Gen Z revolt's impact was first seen in the Nepal Socialist Party (NSP) and the CPN-Maoist Centre. NSP chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, 71, resigned from his post during a special plenum of its central committee on Wednesday to allow the party to be led by the younger leaders. The Maoist Centre has taken a big move to respond to the growing call for a leadership reshuffle. A central committee meeting that concluded on Friday decided to organise a general convention in mid-December. 

What is more interesting is that chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who has been at the helm of the party for almost four decades, announced that he was no longer its chairman. He has now become its convener and pledged that he would not take the leadership mantle again. He even assured of including Gen Z youths in all party committees. However, the CC meeting rejected senior vice chair Narayan Kaji Shrestha's proposal to hold the special convention after the general election slated for March 5 and the demand for the resignation of Prachanda from the party's chair and handing over the acting chairman to Shrestha himself.

The Maoist meeting also turned down former deputy general secretary Janardan Sharma’s proposal of not allowing any office-bearers to return to the leadership rung by making them party trustees. The Maoist Centre also decided to investigate the properties of all leaders and make their properties public. However, this move was apparently only for public consumption in view of public rage against the tendency among its leaders to amass property disproportionately, as the Maoist Centre constituted a similar body in the past but its report was never disclosed and implemented.

The tremor of Gen Z revolt has already been felt in the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the dissolved House of Representatives (HoR). The NC’s morale has taken a hard knock as the agitators mercilessly thrashed its president, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and his spouse, Arzu Rana Deuba, at their own residence. NC’s thousands of cadres live in Kathmandu but no one showed up to protect their leaders. A section of leaders and cadres close to Dr. Shekhar Koirala has started a signature campaign to change the leadership. For this, they want to hold the party regular convention within Nepali month of Mangsir or the special convention in case the regular convention can’t be conducted. 

The anti-establishment faction, especially the general secretary duo Gagan Thapa and Bishwo Prakash Sharma, has taken a strong stand on holding the special convention. They are waiting for the signals from party president Deuba, who is now undergoing treatment in a hospital in Kathmandu. As Deuba seems reluctant to immediately pass the torch, Dr. Koirala and Thapa are staking their claim to the top job. Thapa is for giving space to youths in the party so that the young generation is attracted to it. 

Public outrage 

Like Deuba, CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli has not shown signs of stepping down despite the mounting pressure from inside and outside the party. Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai has tried to bell the cat but his call for restructuring of the party has been lost in the wilderness. Quite the contrary, Oli’s loyalists have challenged him and warned of not seeking an alternative to the current leadership. Nepal Intellectual Council, a UML-affiliated organisation, has demanded leadership transfer through the meeting of its central committee. It had handed over its decisions to Oli and general secretary Shankar Pokhrel. “The UML is facing the biggest public outrage in its history in the aftermath of the Gen Z movement and its restructuring has become quite necessary now,” it stated. 

The UML rank and file have been disappointed and fear that the party will suffer a political disaster if it goes to the polls under Oli’s leadership. The entire party is now reeling from a moral dilemma as its chair is likely to be held accountable for the killing of Gen Z youths soon. However, this quandary is besetting all political parties as Gen Z sentiments have swept all over the country. The winds of change are now blowing fiercely. The political parties must recognise this seismic shift. This starts with a quick transfer of leadership to the younger generation.  Failing to do so means they themselves risk being blown away.

(The author is Deputy Executive Editor of this daily.)