KATHMANDU, JUNE 28
In a dramatic development and amid speculations of a possible communist alliance, four former prime ministers of the Communist Party were seen on a common platform today at a symposium titled 'Nepal's Communist Movement and Popular Leader Madan Bhandari'.
The event, organised by the Madan Bhandari Foundation at the National Assembly Hall in Kathmandu to mark the 75th birth anniversary of the late communist leader, was attended by CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, Nepali Communist Party (NCP) Coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal, NCP Co-coordinator Madhav Kumar Nepal and senior leader Jhalanath Khanal, along with chief guest and former president Bidhya Devi Bhandari.
All four leaders have served as the prime minister of Nepal through the communist movement, while Bidhya Devi Bhandari served as president two times during the high time of communists. Former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, addressing the gathering, said that the leftist and patriotic forces should get united without delay for protecting the national sovereignty, resisting authoritarianism and countering foreign intervention. "Any further delay would be a mistake," he warned.
Dahal said that cooperation could be effective from parliamentary affairs to electoral alliances while making it clear that he was not advocating for a structural merger of political parties at this moment. "We have united in the past, and the public even gave us a two-thirds majority, which we must critically review," he argued. "We need to look at our own experience so that we do not rush into party mergers only to split at leisure and end up regretting it.
NCP Co-Coordinator Madhav Kumar Nepal, however, said, "I don't see any immediate possibility of merger between the country's divided communist groups." He emphasised that a future unification would depend wholly on fostering a real, shared ideological basis.
"The first step is to collaborate on issues where we agree. If our ideas, minds and sentiments align, then we can talk about unification," Nepal said, expressing frustration over persistent speculation. "There is endless chatter about the communist parties merging today, tomorrow and every day. Answering this question repeatedly has driven me mad. Personally, I do not see it happening anytime soon."
He suggested that those who remain optimistic about a merger should move forward without waiting for sceptics. "Those who believe that unity is visible can go ahead. Those who do not see it will be left behind. The responsibility now lies on the younger generation to protect the communist movement," he added.
NCP senior leader Jhalanath Khanal said the left forces were compelled to join hands again to move ahead with the revolution and expressed urgency. He blamed the fragmentation of the parties for the recent humiliating electoral defeats of the communist movement.
"If just these two parties had formed a functional alliance before the election, look at the maths: the NCP would have had 17 seats and the UML 25, a total of 42 seats," Khanal calculated. "However, because these two clashed, we lost 32 seats that we should have had. Adding those would have given us 72 seats. If there had been a full merger, that number would have increased even more, giving the leftists approximately 100 seats. Today, we would not be dealing with Balen's dictatorship."
Former president Bidhya Devi Bhandari, however, balanced the discussion by saying that the results of the March 5 election should not lead to the conclusion that the communist movement in Nepal is over.
"The election has made it necessary for communist parties to have serious ideological debate. We should not be in a hurry to make a final conclusion about the communist movement based on one election result," Bhandari said. "The leadership and its policies must be consistent with the changing expectations of the public and national requirements. It's not enough to just remember past achievements." She also reiterated her opposition to change the governance system, saying a directly elected executive is not suitable for the country.
Meanwhile, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli said the primary requirement at present is to unite all democratic and leftist forces through functional cooperation to defeat active regressive elements. Oli claimed that on September 8 and 9, 2025, a major conspiracy had taken place to eliminate democracy and the leftist movement by displacing his legitimate government and installing an unconstitutional alternative through the forceful dissolution of parliament.
Oli rejected claims that his government had ruined the country, saying that false propaganda and planted stories were responsible for stirring up public anger. "We were discredited not through acts against the nation and lack of development but with false propaganda and spreading of rumours to incite public anger," Oli argued. "All of that was choreographed to clear the way for regression, and those activities are still in effect today."
Experts and political analysts believe that 'this could be the last dance of the communist leaders.' According to them, they have already lived through Nepal's golden era of communism, and anything approaching such heights appears to be a long way off in the coming decades.
Political analyst Jay Nishant stated, "It is an act of pure survival instinct. All four are well aware that their time is limited. Most, if not all, will end up in prison sooner or later."
He stated that this is a lastditch gambit with no philosophical foundation, institutional ideology, or personal morality and that it represents the worst kind of political opportunism. "However, the citizens of Nepal are now aware enough to see through it, and I am confident this latest ploy will find no traction."
When asked whether Nepalis have already been rejected, he said, "Yes, most definitely."
According to him, they have split and merged their parties innumerable times. Therefore, other than a few partisan loyalists, the general public has absolutely no interest in any of these political stunts.
"If we look around the world, including India, communism as an ideology is almost extinct. Nepal is their last frontier, where political parties with 'communist' in their names were still contesting elections, winning them, and even forming governments," he said. "But now, as it appears, the people of Nepal have decided to bid them a final goodbye. In this context, the communists in Nepal are counting their days."
Binay Mishra, a political analyst and assistant professor of Political Science at Tribhuvan University, believes that the move is nothing more than a political survival strategy. "The old brass try to regain the lost ground due to their personality clash among them," he said, asking why they departed if the ideological compulsion was so acute then. "What has brought them so close is simply a sense of existential crisis, exacerbated by the psychosis of being investigated in various alleged scandals and cases."
He also stated that they (Oli, Dahal, Nepal and Khanal) are already rejected. "Even if this coming together will happen, it will not reflect in the electoral verdict," he claimed.