Editorial
Conventional wisdom
The Nepali Congress again has a chance to show the way to other democratic parties.
For Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, a past master at power politics, it makes perfect sense to push his party’s general convention beyond December 2025, the current deadline. The five-time prime minister has signed an agreement with KP Sharma Oli, the current prime minister, whereby Oli will step down in July 2026. Then Deuba will be the prime minister and, a year and a half later, take the country into the November 2027 national elections. But if Deuba hands over Congress leadership this December, his hold on the party will collapse. In this case, he might not even get to be prime minister again as the new Congress president will be calling all the shots. Deuba thus wants to defer the general convention at least until he is the prime minister again. Meanwhile, he will use the remaining time as Congress president to ensure at least a few of his trusted lieutenants get top party posts and, most importantly, to secure a key party position for his wife, Arzu Rana Deuba.
That, at least, is the reading of many common folks and the Congress rank and file. The kind of pork-barrel and patronage politics Deuba has perfected over the years justifies this suspicion. It’s a different thing that such cynical calculations do not behove the president of the country’s largest and oldest democratic party. If the leader of the Congress, the old champion of liberal and democratic values, sets such a wretched example, the leaders of other political forces would also be emboldened to practice this brand of self-serving politics. Whatever his past, Deuba still has a chance to gracefully bow out of active politics by holding the general convention on time and ensuring a clean transfer of power. Even as he does so, he can continue to be the Congress parliamentary party leader so that his sixth premiership is secure. At this point, it might be worth asking: Why does he at all need to be the prime minister again? It makes perfect sense for the Congress to elect a new leader and for that leader to take the country into the next general elections, for it is hard to see the Congress do well electorally under Deuba.
Graceful exit has become an alien concept in Nepali politics where the same set of leaders continue to angle for top party and government posts literally until they are on their deathbeds. The current leaders of all three big parties—the Congress, the UML and the Maoist Centre—are known for their unquenchable thirst for power. With its rich democratic tradition, the Congress can (and should) be an exception. Deuba’s graceful exit is the best-case scenario. But even if the Congress can hold a timely convention, elect a new leader and that leader then allows Deuba to lead the country into the next elections, that too would be a worthy example for other parties—irrespective of how well the Congress does electorally under Deuba. While such a division of political power appears difficult to achieve in the Congress, it is impossible to imagine in the present-day UML or Maoist Centre. Once again, the Congress can show to other parties how decentralised leadership in political parties is not just achievable but even desirable.