A wave of national and international support could act strongly in Gen Z's favour in the elections, catapulting them to a dizzying victory. The other parties should thus inject young faces to prevent total annihilation
The nation has witnessed a dramatic polarisation in the left parties in particular after the Gen Z movement caused the unbelievable collapse of the Nepali Congress (NC) and Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) coalition, which enjoyed near to two-thirds majority, in less than two days. The Maoist Centre (MC), which brought about a sea change by waging a People's War in the country in the nineties, has been surprisingly dumped in the political container. It had secured a landslide victory, forming a majority government under the leadership of Pushpa Kamal Dahal in the 2008 national election. But now it has been abandoned like a sinking ship with the formation of a new Nepali communist party.
This is, however, not a solitary phenomenon. Yet, another political party, the Nepal Socialist Party (NSP) headed by Madhav Nepal has now folded into the pages of history by joining the new Nepali Communist Party. Former Prime Minister Babu Ram Bhattarai, who was heading the Naya Shakti party, has put himself in the back burner by creating a new Democratic Socialist Party and reducing himself to an advisory role. Janardan Sharma, an influential leader of the MC, has also joined the Bhattarai camp along with Santosh Pariyar, who recently defected from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).
This is, however, not the case with all the left political parties. The second largest party, the UML, has remained fairly unaffected. Even though notable defectors like Madhav Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal, and Bhim Rawal have opted to join the newly- created Nepali Communist Party, second-string defectors like prominent female leader Ram Kumari Jhakri and the likes have rejoined it.
It is surprising that despite such polarisation in the left parties, the rightist party, like the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, a pro-monarchy outfit, has remained firm. So has the centrist democratic party, the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the Parliament that appears largely unaffected even though perceptual political differences exist between several of its groups.
Parties have their times of rise and fall like all entities in the world. Some of them exist as a mere shadow of their former self. An example is the Kuomintang Party which at one time was the largest in China. It has now been incredibly reduced to the opposition party in the neighbouring island of Taiwan.
But there are others, like the Federalist and the Democratic Republican Party of the United States, which have totally disappeared from the political scene. For example, the Federalist led by Alexander Hamilton totally evaporated from the political scene. Its contemporary party, the Democratic Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson, also so dominant in its prime is nowhere to be seen at the present after it disintegrated into what are today the Republic and Democratic parties. Even the oldest political party of Nepal established by the vintage political leader Tanka Prasad Acharya, the Rastriya Prajatantra Parishad, has now to be searched.
The disintegration of parties and assimilation into new ones is generally the case after national movements. It could be seen in the formation of the Janata Party after the total revolution promoted by the charismatic leader Jaya Prakash Narayan in the seventies in India. Students were involved in this revolution protesting against rising inflation and corruption – like the Nepali Gen Zees fighting to root out the rampant corruption in the country. The revolution led to the clamping of an emergency by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Congress after she was banned from taking part in the election by the court after being found guilty of electoral irregularities. There was all-round opposition, and Indira had to announce the national election. The Janata Party obtained a landslide victory.
Similar to the Gen Z movement in Nepal, students had launched a movement in Assam in the seventies seeking to prevent migrants from entering Assam from neighbouring Bangladesh fearing of a demographic shift. It witnessed a violent incident leading to the death of 2,000 Muslim immigrants. Later, a new party, the Assam Gona Parishad, was formed and it won 67 of the 125 state assembly seats in the 1985 election. A government was formed under the leadership of the student leader Praful Mahanta, who became the youngest chief minister.
Recently, Miraj Dhungana, a Gen Z leader, announced the formation of a new party. Kul Man Ghising, a minister in the Gen Z-supported interim Government, has also constituted a new party known as Ujyalo Party Nepal. There are some business figures who have also crafted a new Dynamic Democratic Party.
The questions resounding in the political arena at the moment are about the probable victors and the losers in the forthcoming poll. It is obvious that the Gen Z groups have to take a united front in order to secure a majority win. But the formation of parties by Miraj Dhungana and Kul Man Ghishing may act as a stumbling block in this regard. The Nepali Communist Party is not likely to register a significant victory because of old underperforming faces. It nevertheless can cut the votes of the UML significantly.
In the NC, the reinstatement of Sher Bahadur Deuba will act as the last nail in the party's coffin.
The UML has to realise that Oli has become an eye sore to the common people with his continued outbursts despite being directly responsible for the massacre of Gen Zees in September. His departure followed by the injection of new faces, however, can prevent it from an embarrassing defeat.
A wave of national and international support could act strongly in Gen Z's favour in the elections, catapulting them to a dizzying victory. The other parties should thus inject young faces to prevent total annihilation
