National 2 (Spotlight Weekly)

RPP CRISIS
Division In Democracy

Even as the country wants the consolidation democratic forces, the latest crisis in RPP shows that it is not happening

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

At a time when the country is facing an organized and violent onslaught from the extreme leftist forces, the centrist and right-of-center parties are continuing to split and divide.

The Nepali Congress, the largest and oldest democratic party in the country, stands vertically divided and now the split-now-unite-again Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) is once again moving towards another vertical split.

Rana : Will the RPP split again ?

“Although the country had witnessed 12 years of democratic exercise, the democratic forces do not seem to have realized how important it is to work in a united manner to protect and preserve this system of governance,” said a political analyst. “Quite clearly the splits and divisions in parties like NC and RPP will not benefit the country and democracy. It will only strengthen extreme forces.”

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) is clearly heading towards a formal split. The government faction of the party, in a separate meeting on January 26, decided to call a meeting of the central council of the party on February 21-22.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani. The meeting also formed a 75-member organizing committee headed by minister Buddhiman Tamang to prepare for the central council meeting. The pro-government faction of the party had asked the party establishment to call the central council meeting. And the party establishment had said it would finalize the announcement of the meeting on January 29 meeting of party central committee.

“But we were not convinced of the party president’s intention. Sometimes he charges that the signatures of the petitioners who asked him to call the meeting were forged and sometimes he postpones central committee meeting that should announce the date for central council. Therefore, we decided to go ahead and call it on our own,” said Bhuwan Pathak, a central member and pro-government faction leader of the RPP.

Meanwhile, this latest move could formally split the party, say analysts. “This has exposed the conspiracy to split the party,” said Pashupati SJB Rana, president of the RPP. He also urged all party leaders and cadres to stand strongly behind the party establishment to thwart moves to split it. “The authority to call the meeting of the central council rests with the party president. The decision of the government is illegitimate,” Rana said.

Observers note that the government faction wants to overturn the demand for Prime Minister’s resignation put forth by Rana. And that they want to do it through central council meeting. “In order to save one individual’s position, the whole party is being sacrificed,” said a disenchanted RPP leader.

“The trend among the democratic parties do not bode well for the prosperity of the country’s democratic system. And there are efforts to minimize the democratic parties as well,” said the analyst.

Nepali Congress, which has been steadfastly demanding the restoration of the House of Representatives, is also facing different kind of competition. As the restoration of the House means that the dynamics of parliamentary politics will take its course and could bring together the two factions of Nepali Congress together, making it the largest party, others are not too keen on supporting this demand. And hence the ‘roadmap’ from the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) or the demand for all party government.

But oblivious to these scary developments, the leaders of democratic parties are not apparently working towards their own long term interest and benefit. If RPP indeed splits, it will only be another step in that direction.