{"id":53088,"date":"2026-08-15T18:15:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T12:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=53088"},"modified":"2026-08-15T18:15:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T12:30:47","slug":"nepali-congress-at-crossroads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/nepali-congress-at-crossroads\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepali Congress at crossroads"},"content":{"rendered":"
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-Narayan Prasad Ghimire<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the present time of digital restlessness, the thought of ‘what’s next to wonder and ponder’ has been a new normal. The screen-glued Nepalis are no exception. To their digital consumption, a statement is making rounds on social networking sites for two days: “Even the King (Gyanendra) could not trounce me, who else dares to rout me!”<\/p>\n

The statement is given by former prime minister and Nepali Congress (NC) leader Sher Bahadur Deuba after he returned home from abroad on August 13, with five months of rest and treatment.
\nHis statement can be understood both as a challenge to those working against him within party and from outside, and an indication that he would wield influence again by cashing in on the weak points of the NC establishment and forge alliance with other parties. Some have even hinted ripple in the national politics but without sufficient visible background. It will however take time to see whether Deuba’s rejuvenated home return would disrupt his party, NC, currently led by Gagan Thapa, or even cause spillover effects.<\/p>\n

Division and disputes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Making and breaking parties once rife in communist forces in Nepal is deepening and lately spreading to others. In recent decades, it was an eyesore to witness electoral and ruling alliances irrespective of the ideologies and \u2013isms. With the adoption of federalism that placed three tiers of government, the trend of groupism and factionalism in Nepali political parties spurred. It further triggered the division and disputes within the party and making and breaking of alliance among various parties. Such trend is largely for the power sharing at the national and sub-national governments. Latest in the series is the ouster of the Nepali Congress from some province governments and power sharing deal between the CPN UML and the Nepali Communist Party (NCP).<\/p>\n

The NC, which once was revered as the grand old democratic party in Nepal, is undergoing a critical moment in its history. It is not caused so at once but with gradual erosion, which the past leaderships ignored egregiously.<\/p>\n

In the wake of epoch-making flash protest called Gen Z movement that took place on September 8-9 last year, leader Gagan Thapa and his followers held a special general convention of the NC which elected Thapa as the party president. It was the most noticeable incident of vertical division in NC in recent time, while Sher Bahadur Deuba himself had once split NC then led by Girija Prasad Koirala. Thapa accumulated power based on the youth clamour and national aspiration for change. His leadership of NC was recognized by the Election Commission and the court as well. But Deuba faction continued decrying special general convention and even stayed idle and non-cooperated in the last general election. The last general election held on March 5 saw a landslide for the four-year-old party, Rastriya Swatantra Party. It dwarfed all legacy parties, including NC.<\/p>\n

Irrespective of claiming NC as the unified democratic party, it was never free of factions and fluid organization. Some took it as a democratic nature of NC having generosity to accommodate all sides and promoting debate and discussions, while some leaders and their groups within party were so entrenched that they ultimately led to party division.<\/p>\n

Political analyst Prof Purushottam Dahal, who observed Nepal’s politics for decades and once had strong faith over NC, argues currently the NC has four divisions\/factions- establishment faction led by Thapa, anti-establishment faction led by Deuba, the faction that straddles between them and tries to narrow down differences, and the one that is advocating even for restoration of Hindu monarchical system.<\/p>\n

As Dahal argued, it seems the NC is bearing the most severe shock wave of the Gen Z movement. It is battling the odds with such four visible factions. The Deuba followers who are dissatisfied with Thapa leadership are conducting a three-day national gathering in the federal capital from August 14-16. In the inaugural session opened by former party president Deuba on Friday, most of the leaders addressing the event vented ire against establishment and Thapa’s work style. They warranted due respect to the old and veteran leaders.<\/p>\n

Startling point<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the establishment, NC led by Thapa is in pressure to be flexible to patch up the differences, the startling point, which stimulated Deuba faction, is the recent court’s permission for review of a case on NC’s leadership legitimacy. The anti-establishment faction led by Deuba is expecting that court would cater justice in their favour.<\/p>\n

The NC which battled many- Rana regime, autocratic monarchy and with other parties over its decades of history- is undergoing the toughest moment with the battling within itself. In whoever’s favour the court decision comes, the NC will meet a next stage of challenges to wipe out factional differences. The future of NC will largely be shaped by the course it adopts: whether individual\/factional obduracy prevails or shared goal it creates with judicial understanding and compromise between the old and new leaderships and factions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

-Narayan Prasad Ghimire In the present time of digital restlessness, the thought of ‘what’s next to wonder and ponder’ has been a new normal. The screen-glued Nepalis are no exception. To their digital consumption, a statement is making rounds on social networking sites for two days: “Even the King (Gyanendra) could not trounce me, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,11,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main-news","category-national","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53088"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53090,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53088\/revisions\/53090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}