Reports say the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is facing some internal dilemmas regarding whom to elect its parliamentary party leader. After its Founder and Chairman, Rabi Lamichhane was suspended from parliament following the formal indictments against him in the cooperative scandal he has been embroiled in, the party appears to be grappling on the way forward. Up for grabs there is not only the immediate issue of nominating a new Parliamentary Party (PP) leader, the de facto leader of the party. In jeopardy there is also the long term prospects of the party’s capability to win back the trust and support of the electorate.
Regardless of the presumed innocence of Lamichhane until proven guilty by the courts of the country, the RSP took a hit over the last months and beyond. There are many reasons, including the thirst of its Chairman in seeking a position of power at any cost. Lamichhane indeed played a risky game.
Led by the belief that in order to challenge and change the status quo dominated by the three big traditional parties, his party pursued hard power politics, he gambled and lost badly, at least so far. Now the whole credibility of the party is at stake. Therefore, until Lamichhane’s cases are solved, the RSP should give an important message and select its new PP through unanimity. According to Republica, so far four members have shown interest for the position: former Education Minister Sumana Shrestha, former deputy PP leader Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, Vice Chairman Dr Swarnim Wagle, and recently nominated Chairman Dol Prasad Aryal.
My intention is not to suggest who would be the best candidate. This goes beyond my capacities as an observer even though I believe that selecting Sumana Shrestha would be a very appealing and interesting choice. Not just because she would be the first woman to lead a major party. Nor the fact that she would represent an indigenous group, breaking the monopoly on power by the traditional so-called “upper class” that have dominated party politics since the advent of democracy. I am saying so because she proved herself as capable and determined to dare to change the system while serving as the Minister of Education.
She has a remarkable career in the private sector and she spent years in the US, bringing in an international mindset to the job that could bring fresh thinking and innovation, which are essential for the future of the party. Let’s not forget that the electoral success of the RSP was predicated on the premise that the party would indeed bring in the political arena real expertise and professional capabilities from its members, most of them not affiliated to any parties. Rather they represented successful stories from the private and civil sector.
Majority of the RSP leaders offered the best of what Nepal can achieve if unleashed and unconstrained by the inefficient and perceivably corrupted state machine dominated by the traditional parties.
The RSP’s candidates, at least the majority of them, offered the best of what Nepal can achieve if unleashed and unconstrained by the inefficient and perceivably corrupted state machine dominated by the traditional parties. Lamichhane was a master in putting together an incredibly talented pool of professionals who, tired of the status quo and dissatisfied from staying on the sidelines, wanted to play a role and contribute to the development of the nation. He aptly used a mix of personal charisma, popularity from his TV shows and a vague political agenda and the promise of heralding a new era in the country’s politics thanks to the integrity, expertise and knowledge of his newly acquired party members. Lamichhane succeeded in its political project until his political ambition got in the way.
We don’t know what the future holds for Lamichhane. We will have to wait until the court verdicts. Meanwhile, the RSP needs to turn the page and needs to select a new leader. Amid a trust crisis that the party is now facing, it is essential that the party proceeds steadfastly with the election of the new PP leader. There is no time for internal shenanigans and old tricks.
The RSP became one of the major political parties nationwide because it had promised to stay away from these tactics, from the old way of doing politics that has alienated so many citizens. To regain some credibility among the electorate, the party needs to go back to its origins and must show cohesion and unity.
A divisive fight for leading the party would make the party’s future prospects even feebler, turning off more and more people who had casted their hopes in a party they thought would bring a civic renewal. There are tons of alienated and disenchanted people in Nepal, voters who truly believed that a new party premised on integrity, accountability and expertise, would change Nepal in a definitive way for the better.
Unless the traditional parties undertake deep internal transformation (Nepali Congress might be able to do so with a new party leadership over 2025), there is still a broad base of voters who are ready to support the RSP again. But this will happen only if it is able to stick to its original mandate. Even if Lamichhane will be found not guilty, he should refrain from demanding the party leadership. He should let the new PP leader steer the future of the party and lay the rationale for why the voters should entrust their hopes in the party once again. The swifter, faster and more cohesively the process of selecting the new leader will be, the better. That’s why choosing the new PP leader through unanimity is the best bet for the future of the party, showing that some of its members are capable and willing to put the interests of the party first.
This is still something remarkable and very rare for the way party politics in Nepal unfold. Voters will surely note it.
Views are personal.
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