Mukti Rijal

The intra-leadership row in the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has peaked for some time now. At a time when unity and solidarity among leaders is indispensable to tackle the challenges faced by the country, intra-leadership tussle has given rise to confusions and uncertainty in the body politics of the country. The row has not only disappointed the people who voted the NCP into power with comfortable majority but frustrated the entire rank and file of the party. The government headed by the party chairman KP Sharma Oli has already completed more than two and a half years of its tenure. The relentless bickering among the top leaders has given rise to worries over the stability of the government which has put the credibility of the democratic polity to test. The party secretariat which is the highest powerful body of the party mandated to decide the critical issues has failed to bury differences among the leaders despite several consultations held time and again. The agenda of the secretariat meeting is seemingly more or less focused on deal making to share the top notch executive posts of the party and government.
The standing committee meeting is also seemingly confined to tackle the same agenda for negotiated sharing of the party and government posts though the issues, values and principles have been raked up. This indicates that the top leaders are averse to discuss the difficult situation facing the country like Covid-19, natural disasters wreaking havoc on the life of citizens and arrive at a shared understanding to resolve the issues. But they seem to be concerned to broker the deal for grabbing the executive authority of the party and government. This has shown that they have an un-satiated lust and longing for power to satisfy for which they may go to the extent of inflicting an unstable political environment in the country. When the two communist parties- CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre ) – had dissolved themselves to reincarnate into Nepal Communist party around three years ago it was described as an important epoch in the political history of Nepal. The party merger had sent positive shock waves in the political dynamics of the country. As expected, the party was able to garner nearly two-third majority in the elections. As a result, they formed government both at the federal and provincial levels. In fact, the merged party had been able to form the governments in the six out of the seven provinces in the country.
The unification had in a way reversed the trend of the splits and factions plaguing the communist parties in Nepal. Mostly, the communist parties have been predisposed to split through factions and groups. Despite the ideological veneer and pretensions each split gets rather engineered due to personal ego, interest and jealousy, not substantiated in any way by the ideological rhyme and reason. Communism as a coveted ideology was discredited by its demise in the then Soviet Union and the Eastern Europe and the countries that had subscribed fully or partially to the elements of communism did abandon their allegiance to it one and after the other. However, Nepal appeared to be a unique case in the sense that the communist parties mounted their strength to present themselves as the influential political force in the country.
In fact, the then Maoists had challenged the state through the bogey of people’s war and attempted to smash it through a 10-year armed conflict. But the erstwhile CPN (UML) maintained its competitive vigor through participation in the democratic elections. The comprehensive peace accord signed in 2006 ended the Maoist armed insurgency and paved the way for mainstreaming the Maoists into the peaceful democratic process. Consequently, Nepal did witness the emergence of the two stronger parties competing for their role and share as the governing party in the democratic process. In the last two elections held for the constituent assembly following the signing of peace accord both the parties had pitted into democratic competition against each other. These communist parties had demonstrated their clout and strength.
However, gradually, the Maoists came crashing down losing out their support base to the rivals as indicated in the second constituent assembly polls. As the Maoists were searching for their existential rationale and validity, they forged alliance with the Nepali Congress too as part of the power sharing arrangement. This power sharing hobnobs of the Maoists with the Nepali Congress ended after they chose the erstwhile UML as natural ally. The Maoists under the leadership of Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ had switched over to CPN (UML) to forge alliance for the federal and provincial elections. Finally, the then Maoists had merged with UML leaving no traces of their ideological arsenal behind.
Politics in Nepal has been reduced into such a game that is guided by opportunism and convenience. In Nepali politics, there is neither permanent enemy nor permanent friend and one can befriend others unpredictably if it suits to serve political ends. Especially after the Maoist joined the peace process, it has split into several factions ranging from ultra-leftists, centrists and rightist of the centre. With the depleting political credibility exacerbated by factional duels, the Maoists led by Prachanda had found in the then UML a strong ally to save them from the state of political confusion .
The political move initiated and realised three years ago to form a single Nepal communist party had been a welcome development. But the on- going tussle shows that challenges have come to fore to save the hard earned unity for which successful management of personal egos and ambitions seems to be a need. Though the proposal for national unity congress of the party may be accepted to address the ongoing imbroglio, it is yet to be seen whether the allegedly self - centered leaders will work in cohesion for the larger interest of the nation, unity and solidarity of the party.

(Rijal, PhD, contributes regularly to TRN and writes on contemporary political, economic and governance issues. rijalmukti@gmail.com)