We will form govt by next 10 years

Bibeksheel Nepali Dal, the torch bearer of alternative politics in Nepal, recently underwent a leadership change. Unlike other political parties, the transition was rather smooth with Chairperson Ujjwal Thapa voluntarily stepping aside to pave the way for a new leadership, setting an example. Bibeksheel leader Milan Pandey was then elected to the top party post through election. Roshan S Nepal of The Himalayan Times caught up with Pandey to talk about his vision for the party. Excerpts:

How does it feel to become arguably the youngest chairperson of a political party?

I might be the youngest chairperson of a political party, but, with our cultured and alternative politics, I feel I can be a mature leader. This is because when Bibeeksheel Nepali Dal started cultured and alternative politics seven years ago, we were the only one to do so. Now, no other party that talks about alternative politics has the seven years of experience that we have. So in terms of the agenda we are raising, you can call me a mature leader.

If we talk about how I am feeling about being elected chairperson, I feel that I have a huge responsibility on my shoulders because if we fail to meet the expectations of today’s youths, our parents and grandparents, they might never believe in alternative politics and join the movement again.

What encouraged you to enter alternative politics?

Since childhood, I have seen my mum and dad wake up as early as 2:00am to fetch drinking water. My brother is an engineer, but he was unemployed for several years. My sister is in the medical field, but faces a similar problem. There’s a community school near my house, but I cannot imagine sending my kid there. Nor can I pay hefty fees of private schools. Contemplating the reasons for these problems and their solutions, I concluded that only politics could solve these issues. In Nepal, politics is involved everywhere — from fixing the price of tomato to flight cancellations. So I thought if there’s problem with politics, why not fix the basics. We have expected too much from the existing parties, so those youths, who want to actually bring about changes, must enter politics and lead by example.

How do you plan to attract youths towards politics?

I think we’ve been able to leave a strong mark on today’s youths. If you ask them to name a few political leaders, they won’t take the names of Sher Bahadur Deuba, or KP Oli, or Pushpa Kamal Dahal. They will take names of the likes of Ranju Darshana. The youths do not relate to existing leaders because they never represented the youths.

Going by the rate of people’s participation in elections globally, it can be seen that people are losing interest in politics. The situation is even worse because people have lost hope as crime and corruption have become normal in Nepal. So we are presenting ourselves as an alternative party, especially for youths who want to change things.

Bibeksheel’s performance in the last general elections were not that encouraging. It gave the impression that people only vote for traditional parties in the end no matter what. How do you plan to change this trend?

We started politics just seven years ago. It took as many years for us to convince people that politics is not a dirty game. We neither belong to a political family, nor are we popular figures. We are common people. We became visible after we decided to fight the second Constituent Assembly elections in 2013 with the dog as our election symbol. At the local-level elections of 2017, our mayoral candidate for Kathmandu Ranju Darshana was able to garner more than 23,000 votes. In parliamentary elections by the year-end, we garnered more than 212,000 votes. So we are making progress. Let’s not expect a superhero to emerge and change things overnight.

In politics, you need supporters who can relate to you. There are around 6 million people aged between 16 and 24. There are around five million Nepalis living abroad. These are people who relate to us. But those living abroad have not been able to cast their votes, so we are strongly advocating external voting provision. Nepal’s median age is 24 years. Half of Nepal’s total population is coming towards Bibeksheel. So let’s not get worried now.

However, it is also true that we need to work really hard to convince people about our politics. This is because despite their failure to deliver for many decades, people are still voting for the Congress and Communists. If Ranju Darshana had won KMC elections, things would have been different. We presented a vision paper for the next five years for Kathmandu, but we lost the elections. So this shows people still lack awareness. But it’s not only people’s fault because it’s political parties’ responsibility to raise political awareness among people.

Bibeksheel Nepali is guided by four objectives — making citizens wise and rational, developing enterprising society, service-oriented government, and benefactor state. So making citizens aware is one of our objectives.

In electoral politics you need to win elections, even if it’s by a single vote. What measures are you taking in terms of reaching out to the people and building organisation?

You can easily win elections if you work with a few business people and middlemen. However, you cannot deliver by such means. For example, the government has not been able to take action against those embezzling around Rs 10 billion in the field of medical education. This is because parties are run by middle men and business people. Leaders don’t have any income source, but they’re leading luxurious life.

We want to change this uneven political playing field. We are creating an entirely new voters base. For this, we are promoting cultured politics. For example, I was transparent about the money I spent while contesting the last elections. The difference it made was that people started asking other candidates to be transparent about the money they spent. Also, protests used to be all about breaking the railings at Ratna Park or burning tyres before RR Campus. But we showed people that we can peacefully protest with placards at Maitighar.

It seems to be a time-consuming process. But if you look at the global trend, there are instances of exponential growth too. So we aim to form the government and lead the country within the next 10 years.

As far as organisation is concerned, we’re developing. We have organisations in place at the district and provincial levels. We are also contesting the upcoming by-elections. We have not yet been able to reach local and ward levels, but we will gradually reach there too. Moreover, we want to build quality organisations rather than focus on quantity.

You said you want to create a new voter base. What does that mean?

In Nepal, dedicated voters account for only around 30 to 40 per cent. The remaining 60 to 70 per cent are swing voters, according to a study. Swing voters are looking for a credible force. We can make Bibeksheel that credible force. When I contested the last election, I got huge support from mothers and sisters. When Ranju contested election, there were instances wherein husband and wife fought over who to vote. Children of many popular leaders are Bibeksheel’s members and voters. We’ve found that children can change their mothers, but changing fathers is very difficult. So our base is the youth, but we are also not completely ignoring senior people, although we are youth-friendly. Our support also comes from those abroad and those who’ve returned to contribute to society. So we are advocating external voting provision. How can you keep around 5 million people out of the election process and claim that you follow a democratic system?

There are criticisms that you are an activist and cannot engage in politics. How do you respond to that?

We have not joined politics for fun. We want to lead Nepal and transform it into a developed country within our generation. As far as activism is concerned, it is part of politics if raising issues is activism. Now, we do not have to fight for rights. We do politics for improving people’s lives. When there are issues related to education or health, we demonstrate at Maitighar and other parts of the country. This is how politics is done now.

Another important part, we have two representatives in Province 3 assembly. They are working in an effective manner. Even the chief minister has praised them. We have not been able to promote that.

We are now going to lead discourses in five areas — education, health, good governance, security, culture and heritage. This is because if you ask traditional parties their vision in these areas, you feel pity seeing their conventional and outdated approach. We will come up with policies and programmes in these areas. We will fight against existing anomalies.

There are also other political parties who claim to represent alternative politics. How are you different from them?

In our society, if a person starts a Mo:Mo stall and does well, other Mo:Mo stalls crop up around and jeopardise everything. Bibeksheel started alternative politics in Nepal and did well. So others also followed suit. Bibeksheel started off in 2013, and Naya Shakti Party led by Baburam Bhattarai came in 2016. Then came Sajha Party led by Rabindra Mishra in 2017. If Bibeksheel’s youths had not dared to enter politics in 2013, Bhattarai and Mishra wouldn’t have entered politics. So we are the original leaders of alternative politics. We have a dedicated team to take alternative and cultured politics to its logical conclusion.

You merged with Sajha Party and split within a year. Critics say this gave the impression that your party is no different than other parties. How do you respond to this?

I accept the split disseminated a wrong message among people. We accept we disappointed our voters. We have publicly apologised to the people not only for this split but all the ups and downs Bibeksheel went through over the past seven years. But give us a little more time; we will justify the split through our work. Precisely, we have not entered politics to form just another congress or communist party. We parted our ways after we felt we could not stay together anymore. We could not have stayed together compromising our values of cultured politics.

Ujjawal Thapa recently stepped down as chairperson. My tenure is two four-year terms maximum. The idea of Bibeksheel should lead, individual is secondary.

Bibeksheel is against the idea of people engaging in full-time politics. Will you be able to achieve your targets by not dedicating full time to politics?

A few Congress and Communist leaders have understood this. They are also advocating building an enterprising worker base. They have understood the fact that if they continue to have full-time party workers, the parties will crumble under the pressure of their workers. This is because parties cannot completely take care of the livelihood of all their workers.

But if you ask me whether a party can be run by part-time chairperson or part-time office bearers, my answer is ‘no’. Key persons and office bearers should be full-time members. We are of the view that leaders should be self-reliant. If leaders are not self-reliant, they cannot be transparent. I spent around Rs 20,000 on my involvement in politics and I can make public the finances. But other leaders cannot do that. If I am not self-reliant, I have to depend on property brokers, business people, and middlemen. If I become a prime minister tomorrow depending on them, I have to heed their diktats.

Ujjwal Thapa stepped aside to pave the way for a new leadership. Is it because of term limit or you want to give some message?

In Bibeksheel, you can hold the post of chairperson for a maximum of two four-year terms. We are not talking about two consecutive terms, but just two terms. Ujjwal Thapa has served his first four-year term, and he can hold the post again for another four-year term, but not after that. We are also trying to make things easy. Thapa led for so many years, and now he wants to take a break and remain a general party member. He is now more focused on campaigns. At the same time, it is not a small decision. It takes courage to leave the post of chairperson of a political party.

So what are your visions for the party?

We will give continuity to our campaigns and activism, and I will make sure those campaigns are result-oriented. In our learning phase over the past seven years, our campaigns were scattered. People could not feel the change as expected. We will create Maithighars across the country. Second, we will create an organisation that will ensure victory in elections.  Third, we will move ahead with our five agendas — education, health, good governance, security, culture and heritage — with priority. We will soon come up with holistic plans on these agendas.

Fourth, we will come up with a holistic roadmap for prosperity. We are not only for economic growth, but also economic development. We have identified three bases for prosperity — agriculture, hydropower, tourism and technology. Other parties also say the same, but they don’t have a roadmap for the same. We are doing that soon.

How do you see Bibeksheel in the next election as you will be at the helm till then, and the next 10 years?

In the next elections, we will be leading at least one local level in each province. We presently have two representatives in Province 3 assembly, but in the next elections we will become a formidable force there. In the rest of the provinces, we will have an effective presence. At the centre, we will win at least 10 seats in the House of Representatives. As for the next 10 years, we will see a government led by Bibeksheel by then. We will win the 2027 elections.

What is Bibeksheel’s political ideology?

We call it ‘dynamic centrism’. Since we do issue-based politics, sometimes we are seen as left-leaning and other times as rightist. Our policies related to health, education, transport and security make us look leftist. But when it comes to culture and heritage, we appear to be rightist. Education and health are the state’s responsibility, but when it comes to nationality and culture and heritage, we are somewhat conservatives.