The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has stated that its publicity campaign has been pathetic compared to the planned ‘propaganda of different places’ full of resources and modern technologies.

Jointly presenting a 22-page political document on the opening day of the party’s third Standing Committee meeting on Saturday, party chairmen Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal claimed that the opposition had spearheaded misleading publicity campaign against the party and the government.

“In the transition period, we have not been able to make our authentic publicity mechanism active and effective. As a result, we have failed to counter the propaganda and distorted campaigns against us,” the NCP document says, adding that bourgeoisies were involved in creating society disorder in one way or the other through negative publicity.

The political document has enumerated all the major activities of the government, highlighting them as the NCP government’s achievements in the last nine month in office. “There is a contradiction between thinking, priorities and skills of the state mechanism and the people’s aspirations. We have now identified where the problems lie,” it reads.

The chairmen also took exception to discontent expressed by some of the party leaders on social media. “Such attitudes are wrong and they must be discouraged. The party and the government require a strong publicity campaign,” said the document quoting the two leaders.

As Co-chair Dahal was preparing to present the document, leaders including Ghanashyam Bhusal, Yogesh Bhattarai, Asta Laxmi Shakya, Bhim Rawal, Beduram Bhusal, among others, had questioned the chairmen about the meeting’s agenda. The leaders urged them to include several more points, including the assessment of the government.

While Oli maintained that the political document was the major agenda of the meeting, Dahal assured the leaders that their points would be incorporated in the agenda of the meeting which will continue on Monday.

In the document, the chairmen have proposed including the whole of party’s rank and file in the productive work to achieve prosperity.

The party will launch a two-month-long special campaign in mid-January 2019 to spread the message of party unity, and policy and plans of the government with an overarching goal of unifying millions of people under the party’s umbrella.

The two top leaders have also vowed to complete within a month the unification of party’s subordinate bodies including its central discipline commission, central election commission, central audit bureau, central advisors council, elderly communist forum; 32 departments in 77 district committees, four special district committees, province coordination committees and sister wings, among others.

At a time when the party leadership has come under fire for using nine-member secretariat to take all the political decisions bypassing the party’s standing committee, the chairmen insist that the party statute has vested the authority in the secretariat to take major political and organisational decisions.

The leaders have accused the opposition Nepali Congress of being involved in tarnishing the image of the government, covering the weaknesses of the party that has led the longest time in the country’s history.

“The party should work in close coordination with the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal, while taking the lead to resolve the issues of Madhes, as the Rastriya Janata Party is currently in confusion and demanding amendment to the constitution,” the document said.