A warm-up glimpse of election-politics

By TNW correspondent

With general election just three months away, Nepali politics appears engulfed with issues related to management of old leaders’ ambitions, fulfilling youths’ desires and addressing the need of those political workers who are often denied opportunities.

All the established parties Nepali Congress, CPNUML, Maoist Centre, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Janata Samajwadi Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and the other parties including the newly registered one Nepal Samajwadi Party are encountering the three dimensional problems in a serious manner. They are finding it too difficult to tackle them because the posts and positions they are seeking are highly limited.

Top leaders, according to party-insiders, are under stress because of these issues and they will seek to find solutions as per their convenience and loyalty towards them. “None has time to devote to the problems people in general face. A last minute arrangement for issuing election manifesto will of course be done in a ritualistic manner.” Political analysts explain the phenomenon as a result of post oriented politics and transaction-centric attachment. “Had there been commitment to service and party ideology, things would have been different; cadres would work for the party irrespective of any return to them personally.” Youths of second generation of all parties are this time more vocal in demanding space for them in power politics. The social media products and other platforms are also pressing more for role for youths this time. “Whether the same will translate into reality is something that cannot be predicted at this point of time,” said a youth leader the other day. Some senior leaders say: if top leaders do not address the issues properly in time, they also will have to pay a heavy price. Their failure to feel the contemporary pulse of politics could have serious consequences. “They themselves will have an uphill task to emerge victorious in the polls; trust over them has eroded over time because of their negligence of youths and contemporary issues.”