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Kathmandu Wednesday January 24, 2001 Magh 11, 2057.
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Message from Pokhara
The 10th national convention of the ruling Nepali Congress party followed a
predictable course and the outgoing septuagenarian president, Girija Prasad Koirala, was
duly re-elected as president. This could not have been otherwise as the Koirala camp had
the party firmly in its grip and any other outcome would have been a major disaster for
the Koirala family and coterie. It really did not matter whether Koirala as prime minister
was able to perform and deliver. It also did not matter whether Koirala as president was
unable to give a new direction to the party. It seems it was not for the party voters to
reason why. As long as he was able to keep the party workers with him, Koirala had nothing
to fear. Yet the manner in which his rival, Sher Bahadur Deuba, projected himself as a
viable alternative to Koirala must have sent shivers down the spines of Koirala
supporters. The fact that the Koirala panel could not make a clean sweep of the 18 elected
Central Working Committee members is an indicator of the strength of the Koirala
opponents. It also seems to indicate, considering the advanced age of the party president,
which way the party will head once Koirala is off the scene. There is, as usual, no one to
question the ostentatious manner in which the convention was held or to ask how the party
was able to muster the obviously huge funds needed to hold the convention with all that
pomp and grandeur. Perhaps, the first step towards reforms in political parties in Nepal
can come via legal measures to disclose all funding to political parties which should be
subjected to taxing and whose books must be audited by the Auditor-General’s Office.
Despite the 10th NC National Convention being nothing more than an expensive
carnival, there were some positive sides that must be noted and encouraged. Whether
willingly or due to constitutional obligations, the party has finally begun to become more
democratic than in the past. The contest for presidency is one aspect that should be
encouraged, as this will prevent highhandedness and sometimes dictatorial tendencies of
"consensus" president. Two, even more laudable is the election of half of the 37
member Central Working Committee. Maybe, the NC which claims itself to be a democratic
party will at a later date increase the number of members elected to CWC to over 90 per
cent, leaving the president to nominate only a nominal number of members. Only then will
there be enough justification to call the NC a truly democratic party. For a party that
refuses democratic rights to its members through its statute can hardly claim to be
democratic. This apart, the NC has also adopted different resolutions on various subjects
ranging from socialism to foreign aid. Some of the points raised are worth being seriously
taken up. But many plans, programmes and concepts drawn up in Nepal are very good but are
never implemented properly. And therefore, despite the validity of NC policies, there is
more than an even chance that they will end up in the waste paper basket if the past is
anything to go by. The hope that the 10th national convention will unify the party could
be shattered unless Koirala as party chief and one of the senior-most NC leaders,
initiates conciliatory steps to heal old wounds. The NC must take the message from Pokhara
very seriously, and act accordingly.
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