Nepali Congress, the largest and oldest tree in the unkempt garden that is Nepal’s democracy, has bifurcated from its trunk, and this is no good news, even for its political rivals, let alone the Congressis themselves. Notwithstanding its intermittent creaks and cracks, the grand old party had in the past couple of decades established itself as a steadfast stickler for democracy even as the country raced through republicanism, federalism, secularism and constitutionalism. And, as the Gen Z protests rendered established political parties irrelevant, at least temporarily, the Nepali Congress showed some signs of resilience as Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma carefully crafted a narrative of reinvention. But its spectacular bifurcation at the end of the second special general convention, only the second in the party’s eight-decade history, this week has startled one and all, even as the country heads into the elections a few weeks from now.

Deuba’s delusion

After barely escaping a public lynching at his home during the protests, Deuba had hinted at a retirement in his first party meeting after a month-long recuperative hibernation. He even placated his sceptics by planting Purna Bahadur Khadka as the officiating president of the party before going to Singapore, only to return with a resolution to strong-arm the party as if he were on steroids. It was as if in his luxury hospital bed in Singapore, he woke up to the realisation that the thrashing he suffered at the hands of youths his grandchildren’s age was no act of juvenile delinquency. But no, it signified a dismantling of the established political pyramid, with the leader sitting on top and the people forming the base. Nobody understood this better than Gagan and Bishwa, who saw no point in going into the elections with the same set of leaders that had taken the country to the rollercoaster ride of uncertainty.

But with Deuba once again manning the ticket counter of parliamentary elections while pushing the party convention to May, reinvention once again became a casualty. Pumping up Deuba's ego were the likes of Ramesh Lekhak and Krishna Sitaula, who suffer from the same delusions of grandeur about themselves as Deuba. After all, despite holding the powerful post of the President for two terms, Deuba never seemed to imagine himself other than the sardar of the Prajatantrik faction he led more than two decades ago. Even as he consolidated power within the party after the decline of Girija Prasad Koirala and Sushil Koirala, Deuba failed to rise as the undisputed leader of the party. Lately, even as he negotiated the terms of power with ideologically opposite parties like KP Sharma Oli's Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and Pushpa Kamal Dahal's Maoist Centre, even at the cost of the party’s ideological integrity, Deuba had unmistakably lost political imagination and judgement. And in bifurcating the party at the fag end of his career, Deuba once again proved himself an incompetent man, a bird that shat on its own nest.

Gagan’s gambit

With negotiations taking them nowhere, the Gagan-Bishwa duo was left with no option but to go on an all-out confrontation through the special convention. When they came to Bhrikutimandap, they had at best brought just a few workable alternatives to hold the party together until the elections rather than a manifesto for radical political reorientation. Those alternatives weren’t unreasonable, considering how the parties and their leaders had been consigned to the margins of national politics just a few months ago. Yet, the Deuba coterie chose to live under the illusion of its infallibility. And, at long last, after the unceremonious sacking, Gagan wielded the only weapon he was left with, that of being elected through the special convention, and ultimately emerged as the uncontested leader of the Nepali Congress. But can he rise to the task of keeping the party together even as the Congressis race against time in the run-up to the elections? The legal answer lies in the decisions of the Election Commission and, if the case drags on, the Supreme Court. But Gagan’s political gambit has changed the course of his party for sure.

From being consigned to the sidelines of history in the heady days after the Gen Z protests, the Nepali Congress under Gagan Thapa has made a comeback to the centre stage of politics. This week itself, as he led the spectacular fight against the old guard within his party, Gagan made it impossible for the common citizen to remain a mute spectator. The legitimacy battle between Deuba and Gagan is no intra-party fight anymore; it has rejuvenated Nepali politics altogether. If this battle does not spiral down into a bottomless pit of legality, it is already clear who has won the moral and popular legitimacy. But keeping the Nepali Congress together, as he claims he would, is easier said than done. The cracks within the party will not heal anytime soon, for the delusions of grandeur among the Congressis are too grand to go away easily.

Reinventing politics

With Gagan at the helm of the Nepali Congress, the grand old party will certainly give a tough challenge to the newer political parties clamouring for their share in the political space. But beyond the spectacle of the electoral battle, will he help reinvent the praxis of politics within the party and the country as well? Well, that depends on how he reinvents his own politics. While he has maintained his image of a fiery speaker in Parliament over the years, he has been known more for rhetoric than for action. For instance, he chose convenience over confrontation when his party formed a coalition government with Oli’s UML and, earlier, with Dahal’s Maoist Centre. He hasn’t been known for grooming the next generation of leaders, even as he has struggled for the longest time to prove his mettle within the party, and that will create a crisis of trust as he begins to rebuild the party. Now that he leads the party—or at least a faction of the party until the legitimacy battle settles—he has much to prove. And that begins with the electoral manifesto he is sitting down to write right away.