The ruling Nepal Communist Party is likely to abandon the ideology propounded by the late Madan Bhandari.
Although a few leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister Ishwor Pokhrel has been openly stating the party should take the people’s multiparty democracy propounded by late Bhandari as the party’s guiding principle, leaders from the former Maoist camp have strongly opposed that citing that the party should abide by the agreement reached between the two groups during their unification last year.
It was reported that Pokhrel raised the issue at the instruction of Prime Minister and party chair KP Sharma Oli. The Prime Minister had a few days back proposed revision in the political document. However, when Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other former Maoist leaders strongly opposed the move, PM Oli seemed to have backtracked from his stance.
Recently Prime Minister Oli said the party cannot abandon the ideology propounded by late Madan Bhandari.
Addressing a function organised to commemorate the 26th Madan-Jeevraj Memorial Day and the Party Unification Anniversary, he insisted that the party could not give up the late leader’s ideology as it was due to the thought and ideology brought forth by the late Bhandari that the party had reached the present position with a majority By Our Reporter The decision of the government to host the International Indian Film Academy in Kathmandu has been dragged into controversy, mostly due to the disbursement from the government coffer in organising the event. Not only the social site users but also the leaders of the ruling party have criticised the decision stating that the government should blow Rs. 1 billion for the event. Leader Bhim Rawal of the ruling Nepal Communist Party strongly criticised the decision. He even entered the issue in one of the sessions of the National Dialogue on Foreign Policy on Saturday when Rawal, questioned the rationale behind Nepal government’s plan to host the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards in Kathmandu. How will this strengthen Nepal’s soft power?” said Rawal while speaking in the session “Changing Geopolitics”. “There are other ways to promote our country and what we have to offer to the world.” The government’s decision to host the IIFA has drawn criticism not only from Rawal but also from various sections of the society. According to Nepal Tourism Board,, the event is set to receive around $4 million (nearly Rs 450 million) from the Nepal government, which will also take care of the airfare, hotel stay and security for movie stars and their entourage. Many have taken to social media to criticise the government move, saying hosting the Bollywood awards show is nothing but government’s NCP likely to abandon Madan Bhandari’s ideology and as a strong party.
Appearing together with another chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal at a function organised to mark the 68th birth anniversary of the late leader Madan Bhandari, who propounded “people’s multiparty democracy”, at City Hall on Saturday, Oli said that’s the line which complements current aspiration of socialism. Oli’s remarks come at a time when leaders within the ruling party are debating over party ideology, with former Maoists expressing reluctance to accept people’s multiparty democracy and adopt a new and refined ideology in the changed context. The Maoists are also ready to drop their 21st century people’s democracy for that. Dahal, however, said that Bhandari’s quality was that he could accept changes according to the national and international context.
But due to political ego, the former Maoists may not be ready to accept people’s multi-party democracy, because their target during the so-called people’s war was the same philosophy. Besides, the ruling party seems to have mired by internal rift. No leader except those in the Cabinet is happy with the performance of the government, which the lawmakers also expressed during the party’s parliamentary party meeting on Monday.
Dahal has also been warning unwanted situation if the agreement was not abided by all sides. At the same time, senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has also been a critic of PM Oli. When Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal and Bam Dev Gautam started standing together with Dahal, PM Oli had faced a pressure and he is consolidating power to tackle the unity between his rivals in the party. As a result, he is delaying the unification process and even to reshuffle the cabinet.
Reproduced from People’s Review
