Bharatpur is buzzing with political activities with the first three-day General Convention of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) now heading towards its fag end. Leaders of several parties had poured into the city to deliver their best wishes where Gagan Thapa, the president of the Nepali Congress (NC), stole the show. This convention is unlike others as it is of apolitical party which enjoys a near to two-thirds majority after almost 70 years. Such a political feat was created by the Nepali Congress in the general election of 1958 under the charismatic leadership of B P Koirala. Balendra Shah has created a similar if not identical political phenomenon in the political arena of Nepal after BP. The convention forms the spine of any political party, and the RSP cannot be an exception. Because it not only elects the party leader for a term but also formulates the roadmap of the party in its stride towards development. It also prepares for a victory in the forthcoming elections, such as the local and the provincial elections which are just around the corner. In such conferences, the main attraction is the speech of the party leader. The speech of President Barrack Obama in the democratic convention of 2004 is still considered to be one of the best in the history of party conventions. The birthplace of party conventions is the United States, which saw the first of its kind being held in 1831, the year when Nepal was ruled by the all-powerful Bhimsen Thapa. Before this, the candidates were chosen by what was then known as a caucus. But the caucus started being derided as King Caucus due to the corruption raising its ugly head in the nomination process, thereby giving way to the convention. The conventions were also criticised, leading to the primary elections. The primary elections nominate the candidates for the state and local elective offices subject to the endorsement of the nominated candidates by the convention. The first party of Britain, the mother of parliamentary democracy, was founded around 1834. Its first convention was however held in 1867. Similarly, the Indian National Congress conference was summoned in 1885 in Bombay for the first time. This party later evolved into the Indian Congress of today. The oldest party of the country, the NC, conducted its first conference in Calcutta, India after its formation in 1949.Following the restoration of democracy in 1990, it called its first conference in Kalabalgudhi, Jhapa, when Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was elected as its president. The RSP convention has been organised at a time when the Nepali people are going through a strange phenomenon of hope and despair like a candle which spews fire and water at the same time. The RSP was accorded an overwhelming majority by the people in the hope of good governance. They are visible in the form of speedy delivery of services, such as the availability of driving licenses on the same day of passing the test, home delivery of passports, and announcement of national examination results in a short period. But these spectacular events appear to be mere sparks amidst the dark smoke and ashes. These were glaring in the unnecessary inconvenience created to the people during the clearing of the encroached land, the appointment of a junior person as the chief justice of the Supreme Court, arbitrary arrests of politicians and businessmen, walk-out of the Prime Minister during the address of the President in the Parliament, continued absence of the Prime Minister in the Parliament showing disrespect to democratic norms and values, declaration that Nepal too had encroached upon Indian territory, and the presentation of a budget far removed from the reality of the country. Events like the irresponsible outburst of Minister for Physical Infrastructure Sunil Lamsal to physically assault defaulting contractors coupled by that of the Minister for Finance Swarnim Wagley threatening to open the files of the opposition leaders for criticising the budget have not augured well for the RSP. The remarks made by Balen Shah at a political rally, where he asserted that road construction should proceed even if it requires tying people to trees, were equally unpalatable But the greatest lapse of the present government is to give a clean chit to Home Minister Sudan Gurung who had resigned following serious allegations made against him without making the investigation report public. Hiding the report in a gloomy cupboard of the Prime Minister's Office shows disregard for transparency and information sharing. This convention should have formulated a vision to drive the country, as the RSP has allegedly ridden the coattails of other parties' failures rather than charting its own course with original plans and programmes. This, however, was conspicuous by its absence during the convention. The RSP should no longer waste time blaming the political parties as they have already been punished for their political failure by handing them unprecedented defeat in the general election. Even the law forbids delivering more than one punishment for a crime committed. It is hoped that the convention will provide a direction to the RSP for continuing with the good works and abandoning the bad ones of the government carried out during the last three months in office. The people want this government to last a full five years as they are frustrated by a string of political instabilities in the past.