The Kathmandu Post had published a feature after Sushil Koirala won the election for party Presidency in 2010 during the 12^th general convention. We are reproducing it here again. First published in September 25, 2010.

Nepali Congress’ 12^th General Convention has officially passed G.P Koirala’s mantle to Sushil Koirala as the new party President. He inherits not just the office, but also the legacy of the senior Koirala. He will be expected to live up to some of the achievements of the Old man—especially in taking ownership of the peace process, but in some areas Sushil Koirala will have to outdo his mentor—that includes uniting the party and articulating a clear socio-economic policies. Against the backdrop of left dominance in the Nepali politics who have championed progressive agenda, the Congress will have to do more to prove its critics wrong that the party is not stuck in a time warp.

 For the supporters, this marks the beginning of a new inning for the Congress, but critics will still see it as a continuation of same old ways—with the Koirala family still at the helm. But the election for majority of party’s top positions (which earlier were nominated by the party presidents), including significant reservation for the marginalized groups, no doubt, is a first for the party. Though belated, the process of inclusion has already evoked a tremendous interest in the party, as well as awakening within the party’s grassroots. But will it lead to a real rejuvenation of the party? Will the party be able to reassert its leadership role in national politics that requires consensus as well as compromise with the rivals, while competing with the left parties’ progressive agenda? Much will depend on imagination and ability of Koirala and his lieutenants.

Implications of Koirala’s victory

Koirala already stands accused of being a hardliner and less accommodative—than his predecessor and rivals. Even party insiders admit that Koirala’s integrity and strict personal discipline make him less amenable to the rapid changes taking place outside. His tough approach to dealing with the Maoists will have a bearing on the national politics.

“Koirala is reticent with his opponents,” said a Koirala critic from the party’s Third Front. “He represents the school of thought in the NC that didn’t approve of Girija Prasad Koirala’s “appeasement” of the Maoists.”

He believes that taking a hard-line will eventually force the Maoists to come clean. “If that makes me a hardliner, yes I am,” said Koirala in an interview before the election.  “You have to understand that this is the only way we could bring in the Maoists into the democratic politics, and lead the peace process to its logical end.”

Whether Koirala understands the gravity and implications of statement he makes about taking the process to its “logical end,” or the claims he makes about indispensability of NC’s leadership in the peace process—remains to be seen.

On the party front, Koirala has vowed to institutionalise the decision-making process and strengthen the concept of collective leadership. His supporters have already hailed his victory, as the triumph for the party as a whole that would make Nepali Congress stronger and its appeal broader.

This new dynamism will be crucial for the revival party’s lost bases. The Maoists insurgency and the Madhes movement have imploded the party’s base in the Terai, and elsewhere in the country. The results of Constituent Assembly elections have left it a distant second. But the young Turks within the party remain upbeat about the new inclusive composition forcing the party to change its character.

Youth leader Nabindra Raj Joshi, who is also spokesman for the NC parliamentary party, believes that the entry of new faces in the party’s central leadership (Central Working Committee) would mean that “the party will acquire new energy to face new challenges in the changed context.” Congress, he says, is a party with long and glorious history, but that alone does not suffice to keep the party as strong as ever. “The presence young leaders at the central level will make a lot of difference in guiding the party’s policy and programmes,” says Joshi.

But analysts outside and inside the party remain cautious.

Critics charge that there is a conservative element at the upper echelons of Congress hierarchy that has not quite felt the change that has taken place in Nepal. Even party insiders like Pradip Giri say as much.

“The country has seen epochal changes, but party [NC] office bearers barely exude any indication that they have felt it,” wrote Giri in his Monday’s article in the Kantipur Daily.

“We shouldn’t expect any miracle after the General Convention,” said Krishna Hacchethu, professor of political Science at Tribhuwan University, in a television interview. “Congressites are looking for a good party manager that could handle internal dynamics as well has accommodated party’s external challenges.”

Having lived under the shadow of GP Koirala, Koirala has not been tested as party’s top manager. His imagination and managerial skills would be put to test sooner than he may realize. The convention may have overshadowed the issue of government formation, but it hasn’t gone away. His prudence or lack thereof will go a long way in deciding the fate of the country. Though he has already indicated the party’s earlier stance on government formation won’t change, we will have to wait and see if he nuances his approach in light of the new responsibility  

Ideological drift

Nepali Congress has traditionally been a centre-left party, with its social programmes rooted in the progressive side of the political spectrum, and its political line steeped in the centre-right. Academics point out the merit of NC straddling on both sides of the spectrum.

“The party [NC] is the main democratic force in the country. Despite the rise of communist movements and their dominance in the parliament, it has been able to influence and transform the left’s radical tendencies,” said Professor Lok Raj Baral. But over the years the party has gravitated away from its progressive side.

 “After 1996 [the year that saw the announcement of the Maoists rebellion], NC started taking an establishment view. It wrongly diagnosed the Maoists issue as a law and order problem,” says S. Aniruddh Gautam, a political analyst. The party’s ideological drift towards centre-right had just begun. This was also a period when the party struggled to define its political line. After the restoration of democracy, the party ran on a progressive platform, but once in government it had to navigate the corridors of power with much care. Professor Baral blames NC’s appeasement of the palace and the global wave of liberalization for dilution of its social programmes. The experience derived from the first Congress government in 50s may have also played a role in reversing the party’s populist programmes in favour of free-market model. The first Congress-led government under BP Koirala had ran into similar obstacle. Then BP chose to implement his socialist programmes.

Nepali Congress is a party with a strange mix. The founding leader BP Koirala saw it as a fusion between the ideals of Gandhi and Marx. It’s political philosophy has centrists features with liberal democracy at its core. Its social agenda has been a variant of the socialism. The party is an active member of Socialist International. But its frequent stints both in the opposition and in the government have left it oscillating between the centre-left and centre-right.

The party’s programme and policies passed by the 12^th Convention attempts to carve out a niche for the party amidst the competing impulses of globalization that demands a more market-friendly policies and competition from its rivals that have advocated progressive agenda, though somewhat radical for the party’s taste. The dossier has also attempted to reclaim its founding ideals of democratic socialism that demands a pro-poor and social welfare oriented policies in the context of globalization. The party has said that neo-liberal principles and socialists ideals can co-exists. In fact the document also claims that free-market economy is indeed needed to sustain the welfare model.

On social policies, Sushil Koirala will have to show much more commitment and empathy than his predecessor did, but politically, there is no substitute rather than walking on the footsteps of the grand old man’s accumulated wisdom.