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After visiting some remote districts, we have seen new conflicts emerging within society. This conflict is between common people who want development along with the peace and political leadership who prefer political debate as the dividend of peace. One of the challenges now is how to strike a balance between settling political questions and carrying out development activities. If country's policy makers ignore the basic needs of community, the country will see another conflict. Despite restoring peace, rural people are yet to taste fruits of development. Along with settlement of political question, people want employment, education, health and road. We have made efforts to highlight this new debate.
Frustrated by long association with extremists, some second generation leaders in Nepali Congress have expressed their dissensions publicly this week in their meeting. These views were shared by a large number of moderates in Congress who know that tilting towards one extremist against the other will ruin their party. Facing all kinds of charges and rejections from a small coterie within the Congress, these second generation leaders expressed their views and generated a debate on how to bring the Congress back to its right position as a centrist party. There is a reemergence of the idea of national reconciliation between democratic forces as well as nationalists. Monarchy or republic is not a choice for them. The original line of reconciliation as practiced and propagated by B.P. Koirala embraces all the political elements of the society, which is partly traditional and partly modern, under the prerequisites of nationalism and democracy. Absolute monarchy is as much discarded as totalitarian ideology of communists. The balance of centrist party like Nepali Congress cannot be maintained by associating with one extremist against the other. Although the leadership is yet to embrace this view, the voices of moderation raised by a group of second generation leader will help to retain Congress identity as a centrist party. According to a political analyst, the most noticeable change and trend seen in Nepali Congress is not any dramatic show but the slow and gradual emergence of next generation of leadership through dissensions and discontents. Democracy thrives only in moderation and extremism of any kind encourages only the totalitarianism.
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