We oppose Sujata Koirala leading the NC into the government not because she is the daughter of GPK — it’s because she is not the right person to do so in terms of her competence, commitment, character and contribution to Nepali politics and society. She has shown an opportunistic streak time and again and her integrity is questionable, to say the least. Didn’t she support the former government’s sacking of army chief Rookmangud Katwal? Wasn’t she trying to cozy up to the Maoists to join that last government? If Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s government collapsed because all the parties, including the NC, requested the president to block the sacking of the army chief, how can Sujata now morally lead the NC in the new government?
Dynastic ambition— however undemocratic and feudal — is nothing new in politics but to try to elevate someone to leadership just because of his/her blood line is a mockery of democracy and an insult to all who believed in the virtues of a democratic system. Democracy is about meritocracy; it’s about equal opportunity; it’s about fairness. But if blood connection trumps all this, why should people have any faith in democracy?
While we chastise GPK for this irrational decision we are also aware that it was a decision taken with the consent of senior NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, who supported it out of his own narrow interests. Deuba hopes to become the next president of the NC with the support of the father-and-daughter duo. It is not, however, a question of just the Koiralas and Deuba. What the rest of the NC leaders and cadres will do now is the more pressing question?
The Nepali people no longer expect much from GPK, who is already in the twilight of his life, or from Deuba, a spent force as a leader. But if the NC leaders and cadres fail to unite and force GPK to reverse his decision, people will lose faith in the NC party itself. The onus of salvaging the party, therefore, weighs heavily on their shoulders.
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