National 2 (Spotlight Weekly)

Identity Crisis

As the Nepali Congress oscillates between the left and right, its core is obscured

By KESHAB POUDEL

With the Nepali Congress and the communist front having formed an alliance to press the palace to correct its constitutional mistakes, the country's leading liberal democratic party is facing a deepening identity crisis.

"When the Nepali Congress continues allying itself alternately with leftist and rightist fronts, it will lose its identity," said a political analyst. "The Congress has been swinging from one extreme to another in the last 12 years."

The Nepali Congress' oscillation has only helped radical communist outfits to secure legitimacy in society and international arena on its own cost. For the centrist grouping, the whole new equation has changed its status from a party of peaceful change to a revolutionary one like other radical communist outfits.

Koirala and Nepal : Left or right?

"I don't understand Girijababu's political rationale in joining the movement with communists. In terms of slogans and statements, the communist leaders can go to any extent, but Girijababu cannot. So, his speech will fade away in front of Madhav Kumar Nepal and Lilamani Pokharel," said a political analyst.

In its long history, the Nepali Congress has identified itself as a centrist political party, taking a firm stand by not aligning itself with any leftist or rightist ideology. As long as the party's chief ideologue and pre-eminent leader B.P. Koirala was alive, the Nepali Congress was always on the hit list of both rightist and leftist forces.

Soon after the death of B.P., the troika of Ganesh Man Singh, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Girija Prasad Koirala was unable to lead the party along its centrist course. Four years after the death of B.P., the troika forged an alliance with a seven-party United Left Front to overthrow the rightist Panchayat regime. In the process, the Nepali Congress lost its identity as a centrist party.

The honeymoon between the Nepali Congress and left front did not last long. During the elections, the communist forces, which received much needed national and international legitimacy by siding with Congress, emerged as its main challenger.

In the first general election in 1991, the Nepali Congress secured a majority and the communists found themselves in the role of the main opposition party. The bitter rivalry between the two forces began and the communists even launched tirades against Singh, the supreme leader of the People's Movement. When the communists became more aggressive against the Nepali Congress, the Congress swung to the rightist forces.

When the Nepali Congress maintained some sort of neutrality in the first three years of its government, the rightists and leftists joined hand to destabilize the Koirala government. After internal squabbling in the ruling party, Koirala dissolved the House of Representatives paving the way for fresh elections. After the 1994 election threw up a hung parliament, the Nepali Congress decided to maintain neutrality and allowed the UML to form a minority government.

Soon the Congress leadership veered closer to the rightist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). In response, prime minister Manmohan Adhikary dissolved the house and called fresh elections, a decision the UML's rivals challenged at the Supreme Court. Following the reinstatement of the House of Representatives, the Congress formed a coalition government with the RPP and Nepal Sadbhavana Party.

Eighteen months later, the coalition government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba collapsed after two key Congress MPs mysteriously stayed away from a crucial vote of confidence. A faction of the RPP led by Lokendra Bahadur Chand formed the coalition with the UML. The Nepali Congress, meanwhile, maintained harmonious relations with the other RPP faction led by Surya Bahadur Thapa. With the fall of RPP-UML coalition, Nepali Congress backed a Thapa-led government and joined in a coalition.

In response, the left forces went against the Nepali Congress. But the RPP-Congress alliance could not last for more than half a year. Following the Thapa-led government's fall, the Nepali Congress formed a minority government under Koirala.

When the Nepali Congress started to assert its position, it again came under fire from leftist and rightist forces in parliament. After securing a majority in the 1999 elections, the Nepali Congress again took a centrist stand but faced stiffed opposition from the RPP and the UML. In the last parliament, both groups stalled the House of Representatives for 64 days.

Experience has shown that whenever the Nepali Congress tried to maintain its neutral identity, it has become the victim of the left and right. In the history of world politics, the communists have often betrayed centrist parties. In Russia, Lenin betrayed the Mensheviks and many other political parties in Europe had similar experiences.