It's different this time

Except its unflinching faith in liberal democracy, and its saga and sacrifices for the cause, everything else is wrong with Nepali Congress (NC). In reality, the party is a loose crowd of free-wheeling individuals rather than a cohesive entity of interrelated cadres. The party organization is in a shambles. In the party, ad-hocism prevails over systematic functioning, and interests or whims of powerful leaders prevail over rules. A few powerful people have made big fortunes while the broke party office cannot even make timely payments of its utility bills. Democracy – the party’s core belief – is hardly reflected in its internal life; top leader(s), especially the all-powerful president, dictate decisions which are not subject to discussions among, much less questions from, party workers. Signing of a series of agreements of suicidal consequences with radical Maoists – the party’s principal opponent – by late Girija Prasad Koirala (GPK) on his own and bypassing the party structure every time are cases in point. The General Conventions (GCs) of the party are poorly prepared mass gatherings of party workers that hardly produce meaningful outcomes or deliberations, thus ridiculed as Kumbha Mela. However, this time it seems to be a little different.

BP Koirala – larger-than-life leader and founder of NC – managed to compensate the organizational shortcomings with his charismatic leadership. Post B P, the triumvirate of Ganesh Man Singh, K P Bhattarai and GPK could not uphold his legacy. Among the three, GPK, with his opulence of energy and superior organizational and management skills, succeeded in assuming charge of the party, sidelining the other two. But as he was a man of little moral and intellectual capabilities, knowingly or unknowingly, he became instrumental in unleashing the evils of corruption, nepotism, cronyism and factionalism both within the party and the government. Besides, lack of vision and ability to change with times as well as power-centered politics of leaders caused the party to gradually lose its hold and attraction among the masses as well as traditional support bases (including minorities and marginalized communities). The country’s oldest party, which was also the largest before the Maoists pushed it to #2 position some two-and-a-half years back, will for the first time witness a real contest for president, various office bearers and central committee members during the upcoming General Convention (Sept 17-21).

The party has successfully concluded the run-up elections for office-bearers at village/town, electoral constituencies and district levels electing far greater number of youths, women and other candidates from minorities and marginalized communities than ever, thanks to a mandatory party statute now in place to that effect. These are encouraging signs for a party known for its resistance to change and as a party of the old guards. However, despite the good news, there are widespread grievances among long-time party loyalists that money and not loyalty or contribution toward the party has played a decisive role in these elections, something that cannot be dismissed as loser’s grumble.

The country’s oldest party, which was also the largest before the Maoists pushed it to #2 position some two-and-a-half years back, will for the first time witness a real contest for president, various office bearers and central committee members during the upcoming General Convention (Sept 17-21).

This time the party has shown signs of revival as well. For example, the number of active members has nearly doubled (over 312,000 from less than 180,000 last time). Despite the severe plight the party suffered at the hands of the Maoists for more than a decade in rural areas, the development is really, really encouraging. But whether the enthusiasm to join the party is real and long-lasting or an outcome of different factions desperate drive just to increase their respective votes (as active members will choose some 3,000 representatives for GC, most of them being elected from the 240 electoral constituencies) will be clear only after sometime. Similarly, claim of some NC leaders that the euphoria regarding Maoist’s victory is now over and that people’s expectations toward them has turned to disappointment (implying that rural areas are returning to NC fold once again) also remains to be examined.

When the party split into two in 2001, there were no policy-, program- or ideology-related disputes to compel them to break. The split was a result of protracted power struggles between top leaders fueled respectively by their cronies and relatives. Although both parties, in a delayed response to Maoist threats, chose to unite some three years back, few Congressmen seem to have learnt any lessons as they are contesting the elections along the same old factional lines of ‘establishment’ camp of Sushil Koirala and ‘democratic’ camp of Sher Bahadur Deuba. As leader of the breakaway group, Deuba is in a disadvantageous position as compared to Koirala, an indication also supported by the election results so far. However, coming from the rare brand of incorruptible and selfless leaders who repeatedly denied ministerial positions only to live a humble, solitary life, Koirala lacks everything from money and manipulative skills to a flexible persona to constituency-nourishing techniques that Deuba possesses. Besides, throughout the long tenure as #2 in the party, his image and achievement has been nothing more than that of a trusted lieutenant of the late patriarch GPK. Conversely, Deuba braved to challenge the latter’s unbridled authority with backings from Bhattarai, but demonstrated even poorer moral standard than GPK did. A three-time prime minister with a track record of compromising anything to cling to power, he lacks principle, purpose and energy.

In fact, neither of the so-called second-generation leaders possesses the magnanimity of heart and sharpness of mind that is required to lead and revive a huge political organization as divided, deteriorated and disorganized as NC. The 10th GC was held when the party was one, the 11th were separately held by both. Had there been a special GC with enough homework (for party unity) after that, the forthcoming GC would have been different also in quality besides in scale. Unfortunately, Sushil Koirala and Deuba, whoever wins the presidency, will only relive his past, not bury it. As such, both are transitional figures, tried, tested and who have failed in their respective previous roles and responsibilities. Therefore, search for good and able leaders continues although a third panel spearheaded by Bhim Bahadur Tamang has announced its candidature as tesro dhar that consists of leaders having higher moral and intellectual standings. But the dhar lacks organizational clout, maneuvering tactics and resources to come out as winner, thus reducing the candidacy to a symbolic challenge only.

Last but not the least, much has been talked about NC’s founding principle of socialism, something that the party has long ceased to practice but yet to be written off the party’s official documents. A school within NC still believes that abandonment of the doctrine is responsible for the party’s decline. Therefore, not to unnecessarily alienate the socialist constituency inside the party as well as the strong communist lobby outside, the party has to bear with the philosophy for some time to come, however futile and failed it may be. An official divorce with socialism, although ideologically correct, may prove strategically wrong at least for now as observed by no other than Mahesh Acharya, a former finance minister and one of the advocates of neo-liberal economic policies in the party. Therefore, NC will have to continue with the doctrine for some time, albeit with suitable and viable modifications.

jeevan1952@hotmail.com