Kathmandu. The meeting of the office-bearers of the main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) that was held yesterday to solve the disputes in the party has continued through today. The office-bearers currently are discussing on the 16-point protest letter submitted by senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel

On Monday, it has been learnt, party President Sher Bahadur Deuba denied the proposal of dismissal of nomination presented by the Poudel faction. This is bound to deepen the rift between the two leaders.

The oldest democratic party of Nepal, Nepali Congress, is currently at its weakest in history. In the last parliamentary elections of 2017, NC suffered a humiliating defeat. NC President Deuba didn’t accept the charge of the defeat although it was under his leadership that the party had lost its high stature and fallen to the ground. It can be taken as an incidence of utter irresponsibility shown by the top leader of any party.

NC leaders say that the five year tenure of NC President Deuba has been the least effective and the most disputed in NC history. Deuba should have reorganized the party and prepared a strategy for a comeback after facing a whitewash in the election. He not only failed in that but was unable even to settle some internal disputes within the party.

During his five years in office, Deuba could not form different units in the party to help move the party forward. He could finish the task only after the extension of his tenure. This has become a contentious issue in the party. There are opinions that Deuba had the legitimate mandate to establish the different departments only in the five years before the extension.

The extension of office is an ad hoc arrangement and making decisions regarding policies during this period is taken as a strategy to affect the general convention, because of which Deuba is facing controversy at present.

NC President Deuba has formed an image of having been contented in his kitchen cabinet. He doesn’t seem to listen to suggestions beyond his circle of loyal members and perhaps promotes favoritism. This has led to the party cadres distancing themselves away from him. Not only Deuba, after Girija Prasad Koirala and Sushil Koirala, not a single leader has been seen in Nepali Congress who could reach to the party cadres and mix with them and the few who have, have not been able to reach the policy-making level.

A political party must have leaders who can go among the cadres often and make the people participate in political activities making the party’s principles and opinions clear to them. Deuba has been blamed of not being able to reach all the districts of the country to meet the party members.

The bases of all political parties are their cadres and the people. In a multiparty system, the political parties should take the people in their confidence and make them their voters to be able to run the country. Nepali Congress has failed to follow this basic idea. The leadership of NC has not been able to reach and converse with the bottom level of their party, weakening the NC at its grass-root level.

After the demise of Girija Prasad Koirala and Sushil Koirala, the link of Nepali Congress with the people has been broken. With the 14^th general convention knocking at the gates, the leaders have started declaring their candidacies. Those who are opting for the presidential post have not visited even half of the country. At the most crucial point in history, when Nepali Congress has to struggle for its identity, leaders of the party seem nonchalant and are trying to keep their positions in the party safe.

The communist parties have their stronghold at the grass-root level. Though their leaders dispute over different issues frequently, they are able to keep their grasp on their voters. Their relationship and coordination with their cadres and the general people has always been strong. In such a situation, if the NC leaders just think about themselves and their posts, nothing can save Nepali Congress from falling on its face in the next election, pushing it further away in the political system..

At present, President Deuba and senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel are blaming each other for the weaknesses in the party, Nepali voters are disenchanted with the party and the repute of NC has waned in the international arena too. All these symptoms point that the party with a glorious past is taking a path downhill.

A few days back, Sujata Koirala, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress, said in a television interview that the party was turning into another Praja Parishad and that to save the party she would contend for the presidential post of the party. Sujata Koirala may not be the next president, but Nepal Congress has surely chosen the route to becoming Praja Parishad, a party that shook the Rana regime but could not garner pubic support and got eliminated from Nepali politics in a short time.

Nepali congress must note this truth that people are power and they need to go among the people if they want to survive the imminent danger of being wiped out.