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Editorial

The state is being ransomed by a government party in the seemingly endless obsession of unification. An exhausted public is aware that the unification task is a ruse that masks a throttling power struggle which has defied any pretence of the resort to party statutes and regulations. Party rank and file pleads that the antiques of the leadership will not lead to a splinter. They are aware however that the results will lead to much more than that. The leadership is bare to the bone. Ideological cohesion has been thrown to the winds. The world at large is aware of the power game that increasingly makes possible a loose all proposition that the party cadre aware of the near-monopoly status they enjoy today shudder to let slip away. It does not appear quite possible that Prime Minister K.P. Oli will allow himself to buckle under the party pressure. The understanding is that he will continue to buy time until he exhausts his detractors or he will sweep them away with all resources at his disposal. And he has many.

As bitter words are being exchanged within the party leadership with increasing vehemence, the violence being seen at party meets reflect the desperation and one awaits the time when fracas spills on the streets. One the other hand, the distance the opposition Congress has maintained from the ruling party fracas remains a political posture denying the government any possibility of boosting numbers in support from parliament. Recent developments suggest that Oli is in search of options since there are indications that the fight will carry over in the winter session of parliament that is being suggested will be called soon. Indeed the emerging alignment within the Nepali Congress for or against its leader Sher Bahadur Deuba effectively checkmates any Deuba temptation to strengthen himself with a share in the government. On the other hand, a strengthened Terai based and ethnic party alignment appears to have foregone a solution from the government and has announced agitation from the streets. The near-dormant RPP in the meanwhile appears resigned to letting its workers spillover to the streets where many an agitator has begun clustering in opposition to the current constitution.

The gradual polarization of politics between parliament and the streets and the liquidity that politics has displayed since decades adds to the uncertainty of the system whose well-wishers have heightened in desperation. The design, then, is to seek incidents where emotions can win support. An innocuous incident such as renaming the Ratna Park and replacement of statues there is designed to woo a vote bank even if it seeks to invite ethnic conflagration. Such deliberate moves merely encourage the notion that the government has exhausted its ability to cope and is clinging to power inviting colossal change. Perhaps this is the design and so the vehemence that society currently encourages.

People’s Review Print Edition