Off The Record (Spotlight Weekly)

Deuba’s Strength

Former prime minister and the leader of Nepali Congress (Democratic) Sher Bahadur Deuba has declared that he will prove the strength of his party. Addressing a peace rally, former prime minister Deuba urged his colleagues to be courageous against any efforts by the rival Nepali Congress to demoralize them. Whether one likes it or not, Deuba’s recent attempts to show his strength has succeeded. When country’s all major political parties are taking to the streets with their own slogans, Deuba, too, has been making strong case for the reinstatement of his government. Amid the show of strengths in the streets, how effective Deuba will prove to be remains to be seen.

Stand-less Party

Nobody understands the stand of the ruling Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). Few weeks ago, the party launched an agitation against prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa pushing for his resignation. Senior RPP leaders like Lokendra Bahadur Chand even demanded ouster of Thapa’s government arguing that his days were over. This weeks’ central committee meeting of the party has indicated otherwise. Suddenly, minister and central committee member Kamal Thapa attended the meeting and briefed the country’s overall situation to his party colleagues. All those members who had joined the stir to oust prime minister Thapa were quietly listening to him. It appears strange to many that a political party could be functioning in such a manner.

Vowing For Vengeance

Former prime minister and RPP leader Lokendra Bahadur Chand wants to take revenge with his party colleague prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa. Through visiting different temples seeking blessings to unite his party colleagues against Thapa, Chand has left no stone unturned at his endeavor. Interestingly, Chand’s strategy does not seem to be working well. Four months ago, RPP’s overwhelming number of central committee members had demanded the resignation of prime minister Thapa but it did not succeed. This time Thapa’s political rivals are trying to push the same agenda but nobody seems confident that their strategy will work unless, of course, Thapa himself decides to throw in his towel.

Same Style

Leaders of major political parties must show that they are different than those who choose destructive methods of politics. A few years ago when the CPN-UML was ruling the country, Nepali Congress had announced a general strike. UML leaders termed it as being irresponsible and anti-people. Next time when Nepali Congress was in power and CPN-UML announced general strikes, they made similar comments. Whoever is in the power, the ruling side always criticizes general strikes terming them as being anti-people. Interestingly, they will justify it when they are in the opposition. For common Nepali, it is boring to listen to the double standard of political leaders.