Absurdities of political parties

July 15, 2024

KATHMANDU – Nepali politics is full of absurdities. If governmental stability is boring and nauseating, instability is a pastime for politicians. The more we observe Nepali politics, the more it looks like a pantomime or what we call nautanki. All such manoeuvrings and manipulations, aided and abetted by high-sounding rhetoric of stability and progress, are, in fact, leading the country nowhere. Politics is becoming uglier each day, resulting in stagnation and uncertainty. Moreover, the political parties’ leaders do not hesitate to call such grotesque doings democratic exercises. The latest event is the sudden change of alliances between the CPN (UML) and the Maoist Centre. Now, KP Sharma Oli has joined hands with the Nepali Congress’s (NC) Deuba to exchange the post of prime minister at intervals.

The 10-year Maoist insurgency in Nepal ultimately landed in a hostile environment the Maoist Party had always denounced as inappropriate for the country. For the Maoists, the violent revolution à la Maoist variant was the apotheosis of transformation and progress. In its wake, the 2005-06 revolution paid rich dividends to the Maoist leaders by catapulting them into the high stage of Nepali politics, making them the first party in the first Constituent Assembly elections held in 2008 and enabling them to head the government.

However, its first stint in government was short-lived when it miscalculated and overstretched its strength. The haste with which it tried to grab power by entering the domain of the Nepal Army turned out to be counterproductive. Here, the president’s constitutional role was extended to refusing the recommendation of the prime minister to fire the chief of the army staff, resulting in the