KATHMANDU, Oct 5: The Nepali Congress has opened its 15th General Convention in Kathmandu, but the party that carries eight decades of political struggle has arrived at the gathering deeply divided.
Many had hoped the general convention would heal the wounds left by last December’s special convention. Instead, leaders who stayed away from that gathering remain outside the current process. They are now preparing a separate convention under the same party name, statute, flag and election symbol.
The question facing delegates is no longer simply who will lead the Congress. It is whether the party can come together at all. At the centre of that question is Gagan Kumar Thapa, who rose to the presidency through the special convention and is expected to retain the post.
Former president Sher Bahadur Deuba and his allies have refused to recognise the special convention and its leadership. They have challenged its legitimacy in court and launched parallel activities. This raises a difficult question for Thapa: Is he trying to lead the entire Congress or only one faction?
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Building a strong faction is normal in politics. Bringing opponents into the same political process, however, is the harder test of leadership. Thapa has expanded his influence and drawn several former Deuba allies to his side. But expanding influence is not the same as becoming a leader acceptable across the party.
Thapa argues that efforts at unity reached their limit and that he eventually had to move ahead. History will judge whether he did enough. But the Deuba camp cannot escape responsibility either. Refusing to accept new leadership, building parallel structures and preparing another convention cannot resolve the dispute. Questions over the special convention’s legality should be settled through dialogue and due process.
The challenge is greater for Thapa because he represents himself as an agent of change. Change cannot simply mean replacing one set of leaders with another. It must also change the way the party operates.
If factionalism continues, if powerful vested interests retain their influence and if dissenters remain outside the political process, little has changed. A new face cannot by itself create a new Congress.
The convention will likely elect Thapa president, but an election result will not automatically win over the Deuba faction. A majority can give him office. Wider acceptance must be earned through political conduct.
That is the difference between being president of the majority and president of the entire Congress. The easier path is to run the party with those who support him. The harder path is to bring even those who reject him back into the mainstream with dignity.
From BP and Matrika Koirala to Ganesh Man Singh, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Girija Prasad Koirala, the Congress has repeatedly faced factional battles, splits and reunification. Every generation has had to reshape the party for its time.
Thapa’s generation faces the same test. Removing an older generation may be easier than removing the political culture it created.
Thapa has already missed one opportunity after the special convention to emerge as a truly unifying leader. The current convention still offers another. The real question is not whether he becomes Congress president, but whether he can become a leader of the whole Congress and rebuild a party that the country and its people can trust again.
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