Circus at NC

Rival groups of the Nepal Tarun Dal, the youth wing of the Nepali Congress, are staging hunger strikes at party headquarters as we write this editorial. The rival factions hope to influence the decision of the Central Committee meeting that is currently underway and is expected to take a decision on the fate of four of the party’s largely dysfunctional sister wings. The party establishment led by NC President Sushil Koirala wants to dissolve the central committees of the sister wings-- Nepal Tarun Dal, Nepal Mahila Sangh, Adibasi Janjati Sangh and Prajatantrik Senani Sangh--and hold fresh conventions.



Incidentally, the rival Deuba faction has a hold on all of these organizations and is, therefore, hell-bent on stopping their dissolution. Fighting over issues as trivial as this at a time when the party should be focusing all its energies on pushing for the conclusion of the peace process and writing a democratic constitution has the appearance of nothing less than a circus.



The Deuba faction’s demand that the central committees of the sister wings, whose terms have expired or are due to expire soon, should be allowed to hold fresh elections and hand over the reins to newly elected committees is perfectly within democratic norms and well justified. We don’t understand what fault the establishment finds in that demand. If it’s a question of ensuring fair elections as claimed by some leaders, the party can designate central leaders as observers so that the incumbent committees are checked from involvement in anything underhand to influence the election outcome. It is also true that these sister-wings — along with the NC’s student wing Nepal Student Union — have remained largely dysfunctional since the last elections and therefore it makes sense to dissolve them and hold fresh elections under the supervision of the mother party.



As we see it, there are two issues of primary importance here: First, the party should reactivate these dysfunctional bodies, and second, that can be done only through fresh elections that are free, fair and transparent. If the rival factions in the party agree on these central themes, and thankfully they do, there are several ways to resolve the current dispute. But it’s clashing egos, ongoing rivalry in the party and the tendency to undermine the other side that are keeping party leaders from jointly working on creative solutions.



Thankfully, not all the leaders are taking sides; instead, some moderate leaders are working on options that are acceptable to both sides. If the NC fails to sort out this problem which is trivial (in comparison to the momentous challenge that it faces in national politics), it will be yet another indication that this grand old party of Nepali politics is gradually running out of steam and losing hope in itself. We just hope that’s not true.

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