Perhaps no by-election in Nepal’s recent history has been as critical as the one on 23 April in Tanahu, Chitwan and Bara that will be make-or-break for the RSP, the independent party that is fourth largest in Parliament. &nbsp; The RSP is fielding charismatic technocrats in all three constituencies at a time when disillusionment with the established parties is rife.&nbsp; The polls are a three-way contest between the RSP, the Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML, with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s Maoist-Centre backing the NC candidates and nowhere in the radar. In Tanahu-1, Harvard-trained former World Bank economist Swarnim Wagle <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/buy-election">defected from the NC</a> to challenge Govinda Bhattarai in a contest to replace <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/new-chapter-in-nepal-political-saga">Ram Chandra Paudel</a>, who was medevaced to New Delhi on Wednesday just a month after being elected president. The UML has fielded former IGP Sarbendra Khanal, but many traditional UML and NC voters appear to favour Wagle.&nbsp; In a speech in Tanahu on Wednesday, Prime Minister Dahal said: “I have fallen deeply in love with Deubaji, and will work with him to fulfil the aspirations of the people.” The NC’s Sher Bahadur Deuba was also at the hustings, saying he would induct Govinda Bhattarai in the Cabinet if he won.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230420110412_9f0a7b66285da667eb4489cc26fbfb22ccc3514e98da767efd10f9279bc81a57.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230420110412_9f0a7b66285da667eb4489cc26fbfb22ccc3514e98da767efd10f9279bc81a57" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2123" loading="lazy" alt="dahal deuba tanahu"> <figcaption>Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of Maoist-Centre, Sher Bahadur Deuba of NC, Madhav Kumar Nepal of Unified Socialist and Baburam Bhattarai of Nepal Samajwadi Party on a by-election campaign trail in Tanahu. Photo: PRADEEP RAJ ONTA/PMOPRADEEP RAJ ONTA/PMO</figcaption> </figure>  The stakes are high and campaigning has degenerated into personal attacks, including by NC leader Gagan Thapa against his erstwhile ally Wagle. For his part, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-to-rebrand-itself">Wagle </a>has promised good governance and an economic turnaround if elected. However, if Wagle splits the NC vote, it can benefit the UML.&nbsp; In Chitwan-2, RSP chair<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-rise-and-fall-of-rabi-lamichhane"> Rabi Lamichhane</a> will contest his own vacated House seat against the NC’s Jeet Narayan Shrestha and UML’s Ram Prasad Neupane. Chitwan has always been a NC stronghold, but voters there are disenchanted with the party for joining hands with the Maoists.&nbsp; For the RSP, the by-elections are a test of whether voters have stood by Lamichhane despite his citizenship scandal and allegations of corruption during his recent brief stint as home minister. Most RSP loyalists dismiss this as a smear campaign by the established parties and big media. Judging from the crowds at rallies, support for the RSP does not seem to have diminished. However, political analyst Indra Adhikari cautions against looking at the RSP through rose-tinted glasses.&nbsp; “The party has used exactly the same tactics as the established political parties,” she said. “The RSP’s support base is made of politically-informed, issue-based voters and they are aware of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/rabi-lamichhane-is-home-less">Lamichhane’s past</a>.” Meanwhile, in Bara-2, the competition will be mainly between JSP Chair Upendra Yadav and Shivachandra Prasad Kushwaha from CK Raut’s Janamat. Both aspire to fill vice-president Ram Sahay Yadav’s seat which he won in 2017. &nbsp; Upendra Yadav lost in Saptari-2 to Raut by a significant margin in November, and is said to have pushed to make Ram Sahay Yadav vice-president in an attempt to get back into the House. He is also said to be eyeing a deputy prime minister nomination if he gets to parliament, which is among the reasons Prime Minister Dahal has not finished <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/quid-pro-quo-quagmire">expanding his Cabinet</a> yet. The RSP has fielded former DIG Ramesh Kharel in Bara, and this will be a test of how well a non-Madhesi candidate will be accepted in the Tarai. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/whose-country-is-it-anyway">Whose country is it anyway?</a> ------------------------------------------- <h2>Miasma (noun)</h2> mi·​as·​ma &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;/mi'æz.mә/ &nbsp; 1: A vaporous exhalation formerly believed to cause disease. 2: An influence or atmosphere that depletes or corrupts.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023042011044_758e3b87c44645cacdf370b761a693bc0f36e5f1cd17e7259af0706cc0fcfc2d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2023042011044_758e3b87c44645cacdf370b761a693bc0f36e5f1cd17e7259af0706cc0fcfc2d" data-rendition-name="original" width="3560" height="2160" loading="lazy" alt="Swayambhu pollution"> <figcaption>Swayambhunath through the thick smoke on Wednesday afternoon. Photo: SUMAN NEPALISuman Nepali</figcaption> </figure>  Nepal marked the first week of the new decade of the 2080s with a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/central-nepal-engulfed-in-smoke">thick pall of smoke and dust</a> that blanketed the Tarai and mountain valleys. Kathmandu recorded an Air Quality Index for particles below 2.5 microns of 450, when the WHO has set 20-35 µg/m3 as the threshold for air safe to breathe.&nbsp; Widespread wildfires, a record-breaking heat wave in the plains, windblown sand from the Indian desert, Kathmandu’s vehicular emissions and transboundary industrial pollution are all to blame. But the biggest culprit is an unresponsive government which is too busy with business-as-usual politics to address this nationwide challenge to public health. Air pollution is a political disaster.&nbsp; Candidates this week have been breathing heavily-polluted air on the campaign trail, but none of them has promised to clean up if elected. The RSP does have in its ranks <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/arnico-panday-the-political-scientist">Arnico Panday</a> who is an atmospheric scientist and has the ear of the political leadership. &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/when-the-air-is-clear-in-kathmandu">When the air is clear in Kathmandu</a>

Shristi Karki

original

674x448

610x380

500x500

400x266

400x240

400x203

301x200

1250x600

1084x550

National miasma

On Wednesday, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) expelled Dhaka Kumar Shrestha from the party and Parliament three days after audio of an alleged WhatsApp conversation was leaked in which he is asking tycoon Durga Shrestha for Rs20 million to be appointed Health Minister.&nbsp;
In the audio, Shrestha says he has to bribe the RSP’s “core team” so he could be appointed health minister in the previous Pushpa Kamal Dahal and K P Oli-led coalition.&nbsp;
The RSP’s Rabi Lamichhane, busy campaigning in by-election in Chitwan, told media on Wednesday that the party would cooperate with corruption watchdog CIAA, where a complaint has already been filed to open an investigation into Shrestha.&nbsp;
But the fact that Shrestha insinuated that the core team was close to Lamichhane has further tainted the RSP chief, who is facing accusations of illegally having a US and Nepali passport. Shrestha himself threatened to reveal the names of the core team.&nbsp;
Shrestha still maintains the voice in the audio is not his. But the other question is why Prasai leaked the recording now, just before the RSP candidates face critical by-elections in Chitwan, Tanahu and Bara on 23 April.&nbsp;
Lamichhane is on the campaign trail in the three districts for himself and his two other candidates, including the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/buy-election">economist Swarnim Wagle </a>in Tanahu who defected to the RSP from the NC, accusing his former party leadership of “grand larceny”.&nbsp;
Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/last-week-of-the-old-year">Last week of the old</a>, Editorial
The by-elections are crucial for the future of the RSP and especially important for party chair Lamichhane, for whom the polls will be a test of whether voters have stood by him amid all the scandals.&nbsp;
“The cult of personality that has surrounded Rabi Lamichhane has caused people to fail to objectively evaluate his pre-political life, how he acquired funding to run for office, as well as work as a politician,” says political analyst Indra Adhikari.&nbsp;
She adds: “Many politically aware people in November voted for change, and it remains to be seen if people in Chitwan still think he represents change. This is not to say that the RSP does not have promising young leaders.”
Dhaka Shrestha’s tape scandal has invited additional public scrutiny of the party that has promoted a strong anti-corruption stance. Goodwill towards the party also took a hit when Lamichhane became Home Minister in January and Dol Prasad Aryal was made Labour Minister – raising strong questions of conflict of interests.
The timing of the audio leak has led many to question if this is an attempt to sabotage the new party at the cusp of by-elections. Mainstream leaders have joined the chorus denouncing the RSP, prompting many on social media to call this ‘the pot calling the kettle black’.&nbsp;
“The timing of the leak is definitely not a coincidence and politically motivated, considering which party the other individual in the tape has been previously associated with,” adds Adhikari, alluding to Durga Prasai being close to Oli and Dahal. “Otherwise, the tape could have come out during the previous coalition government, but it did not.”
Prasai admitted to leaking the tape, but denied having done so at the behest of any party. He said he “wanted the Nepali people to know who they were voting for”.
All of this has come up at the same time Kathmandu’s mayor Balen Shah decided to challenge the federal government, announcing that KMC would no longer collect garbage from Singha Darbar and that the leaders inside the political centre needed to be dumped in the Sisdole landfill site in order to ‘clean up’ Nepal.
<div class="embed-block"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">आज बाट सिंहदरबारको फोहोर उठ्दैन । साच्चिकै देश सफा गर्नु परे, त्यहाँका नेताहरुलाई सिस्डोलमा डम्प गर्नु पर्ने हुन्छ ।&mdash; Balen Shah (@ShahBalen) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShahBalen/status/1644530625599410176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
‘After nine months of repeated attempts to reach out, it seems like Singha Durbar, which is merely half a kilometre away from the KMC, does not have any intention to work together with the local government for public welfare,’ wrote Mayor Shah on social media.&nbsp;
He lashed out at the chronic lack of cooperation of the federal government towards him, laying out unfinished business and correspondence between the KMC and 14 ministries.&nbsp;
‘If one level of government does not acknowledge or understand the representatives from another tier how can we believe that the central government is for strengthening federalism?’ added Shah. ‘Let the federal government get rid of the bureaucratic red tape so that local governments can do the jobs they were elected to do.’
“Nepal’s centralised political parties, despite having backed federalism in the country, do not seem to want it in practice because they want full control for as long as possible,” explains Indra Adhikari.&nbsp;
She adds: “It shows how immature the leaders are to think that public threats and confrontational tactics, like Mayor Balen’s, will achieve results. Ultimately, this tussle will affect service delivery and the only losers will be the Nepali public.”&nbsp;

Political trash

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe10e59c7e80680e0da4b6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1364"/><figcaption>Photo: RSP</figcaption></figure>This week marks 27 years since the Maoists launched their armed struggle. Three decades later, and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/20-years-wasted-in-war,2850">17 years after the war ended</a>, the leader of the revolution is prime minister of Nepal for the third time.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/from-the-frontlines-of-nepals-war/">Maoists waged war</a> to end the monarchy, and turn Nepal into a federal, secular republic. But Prime Minister <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/pushpa-kamal-dahal-is-still-prachanda/">Pushpa Kamal Dahal</a> (aka Prachanda) shares power in a coalition with openly anti-secular, royalist and anti-federal parties.Former enemies are now the state. And while this may be a model for post-conflict reconciliation, it also means that neither the security forces and their civilian leaders, nor the Maoist leadership and their guerrilla commanders, have had to answer for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-unpunished-war-crimes/">heinous crimes</a> committed during the insurgency.The former antagonists have made sure that the two commissions mandated to deliver transitional justice remain toothless. Social science and history text books make no mention of the violent conflict that left 17,000 Nepalis dead. A whole generation of Nepalis has grown up with no knowledge of what happened between 1996 and 2006.Many of the survivors and families of victims have lost faith in ever getting justice, and have moved on because of the pressures of day-to-day survival. Time is erasing memories, and that suits the perpetrators of war crimes fine, since they want us to forget what happened.As they watch at the way the country has been run, however, the hundreds of thousands of Nepali civilians and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/ex-guerrillas-regret-the-war/">fighters who suffered</a>, were tortured, wounded, displaced or bereaved, are thinking: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/revisiting-maoist-demands,2860">what was it all for</a>?On 4 February 1996 at Singha Darbar, Maoist ideologue <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/nepals-maoist-revolution-from-the-inside/">Baburam Bhattarai</a> presented to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba (yes, his first of five tenures in office) 40 demands. His party did not even wait for the government’s response, and on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/13-february/">13 Feburary 1996</a> launched simultaneous attacks on police stations across the country.The conflict was never about a ‘revolution’. The war was just politics by other (violent) means. The behaviour of their leaders in government today probably <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/the-spark-that-lit-the-Maoist-revolution,2870">gives little comfort</a> to former guerrillas and comrades. In fact, like in any other party, Pushpa Kamal Dahal has purged all potential rivals from the Maoist Centre.Just like K P Oli of the UML, and to a certain extent the NC’s Sher Bahadur Deuba, Dahal’s conduct is based on the principle of ‘I am the party, the party is me.’The tragedy is that the leader of the brand new alternative party professing integrity and good governance which came out of nowhere to be the fourth largest entity in Parliament after the November election, showed himself this week to be of the same ilk.Having the coalition appoint himself Home Minister, in charge of the very Police that was investigating his citizenship, showed poor judgement and elastic ethics. Lamichhane was behaving like the very politicians he was rebelling against.His RSP won 20 seats in the House because of protest votes – a rejection by many young Nepalis of same old politics by same old politicians. But Rabi Lamichhane’s stream of consciousness rant the other day after he was refused to be reinstated as Home Minister was reminiscent of Trumpian populism – the same ‘drain the swamp’ and anti-media whataboutery.Lamichhane served as tv anchor in the established media after returning from the United States and later renouncing his citizenship, but understood the true power of social media after tens of thousands of followers showed up at a support rally in Chitwan when he was arrested after being accused to abetting the suicide of someone investigated by his tv program.His press conference on 5 February, therefore, was a demonstration of the clash between new and old media, between new and old politics.Of course, Nepal’s media is not spotless. It would be surprising if it was an island of uprightness when there is rot all around. Most tycoons who also own media are in cahoots with politicians and contractors. If we are honest with ourselves, some of Lamichhane’s supporters have a valid reason for calling journalists पत्रुकार, loosely translated as ‘presstitutes’.But it is easy to see why Lamichhane came out with all guns blazing against the media, and not the prime minister who had just refused to hand him back the home ministership. It was to divert attention from the investigation into his dual citizenship that is like a sword hanging over his head.But let who is without sin cast the first stone. Most leaders in the established parties either have dirt, or blood in their hands for which they have never faced justice. Lamichhane’s citizenship transgression was procedural – not murder or corruption which is what many in power have gotten away with.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/rsp-quits-nepal-coalition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RSP quits Nepal coalition</a>, Nepali Times

Armed Conflict and Conflict of Interest

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100136/63bfd51a9c7e80680e0d30d4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/><figcaption>Photo: GOPEN RAI</figcaption></figure>On 16 June, a little over a month after Nepal’s local elections in May, tv anchor Rabi Lamichhane announced that he would be leaving his popular show Sidha Kura Janata Sanga to run for Parliament in the November’s federal elections.He also resigned as Managing Director of Galaxy 4K television, and launched the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), an independent collective that brought together young Nepalis from professional backgrounds aspiring to challenge the establishment.A little over six months later, Lamichhane is Nepal’s Minister for Home Affairs and one of three Deputy Prime Ministers in the 7-party governing coalition of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The RSP is the fourth largest in Parliament with 20 MPs, and is in line to get more ministerial positions in the coming days.Lamichhane’s appointment as Home Minister has elevated him to one the most influential ministries in the Cabinet. His and his party’s political rise has been meteoric and unprecedented. Given to gimmicks like trying to set a new record in the Guinness Book for the longest tv talk show in 2013, and other populist sting operations on tv, Lamichhane is now one of the most powerful figures in Nepali politics.It is understood that Lamichhane forcefully demanded the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister in negotiations for Cabinet positions. This has raised questions of conflict of interest since he now commands the very police force that is investigating him over his Nepali citizenship after giving up his US passport.The RSP is said to be getting at least three more ministerial portfolios, and is under consideration for Deputy Speaker as well. But even as Lamichhane looks to build his party’s political future in the next five years, the RSP’s decision to join the government has been met with dismay from civil society and some of his own supporters.Lamichhane gained public trust through his tv show which often exposed injustice, corruption, abuses of authority. The RSP also piggy-backed on the success of independent mayoral candidates like Balen Shah and widespread public disenchantment with established parties.Indeed, many voters, especially among the youth, rejected Nepal’s lifetime politicians, and RSP candidates fit the bill. For his part, Lamichhane maintained that if elected, his party would stay in the opposition. But after an election win that must have surprised him as well, Lamichhane was emboldened and decided to join the coalition.It is clear now that even as he gave vague answers to joining the government, he was busy making backroom deals with the top leadership. While Dahal was on his way to Balkot to meet with the UML’s KP Oli last Sunday, Lamichhane was already there.To be sure, not everyone in his party agrees with Lamichhane's moves. It has emerged that there was disagreement within the independent RSP over whether the party should join the government or stay in opposition, with party chair Rabi Lamichhane having the final say. One party official who openly expressed dissent is Central Committee member Ganesh Karki.‘We campaigned to disenfranchised Nepalis frustrated with Nepal’s opportunistic leaders who selfishly chase power on a promise that we would be completely separate from them … How is our party any different now from the parties we criticised in the past?’ wrote Karki in a letter to party HQ.The public backlash has also been sharp and swift, with many voters expressing betrayal in social media posts. In response, another RSP Central Committee member Arnico Panday tried to put a gloss on the decision: ‘To all the people disappointed in RSP’s decision to join a messy coalition: this was a decision that was debated and voted upon. Either coalition would have been messy. While staying in opposition would be safer for our reputation, joining govt challenges us to show good work.’Even as voters continue to express dismay on public platforms, the circumstances surrounding the RSP’s decision to join the government and Lamichhane’s interest in the Home Ministry have come under intense scrutiny.Lamichhane, who was previously an American citizen, has been accused of not renouncing his Nepali citizenship while he was a US citizen, as well as having obtained a Nepali passport while having been a US citizen. The police had been investigating Lamichhane after a complaint about the validity of his Nepali citizenship and passport reached the Home Ministry.Now, as Home Minister, Lamichhane is in charge of the very law enforcement institutions tasked with investigating allegations against him. On Wednesday, the newly-appointed minister made a round of the Passport Department in Tripureswor, and the irony of this visit was not lost on observers.On the other hand, even if Lamichhane were to be given the benefit of the doubt and allowed to do meaningful work in government, the fact that he insisted on taking charge of the Home Ministry when he could have chosen other portfolios has raised a lot of red flags. At the very least, it speaks to a lack of political acumen and at worst it is an indication of recklessness and a cynical misuse of the public trust.Indeed, many had felt that first-time MPs from the RSP and other smaller parties which also joined the coalition should have used their election win to be in the opposition to fulfill their promise to hold the old guard to account and gain some much-needed political experience.After his appointment, Lamichhane from his new office proclaimed that he would “play the role of the opposition from within the cabinet”. And even this statement was met with derision for exhibiting a singular lack of understanding of how parliamentary democracy functions.‘There are a maximum of 25 cabinet positions in Nepal, while the House of Representatives is 275-strong,’ said RSP member Ganesh Karki in his letter. ‘If we perpetuate a narrative that meaningful work cannot be done unless one has a ministerial position, aren’t we then saying that the presence of 250 duly elected representatives in Parliament is useless?’For now, the Dahal-Oli coalition considers Lamichhane and the RSP as both a threat, and an important player to appoint them to plum political positions. By acceding to his demand for Home Ministry, the wily politicians have attempted to keep Lamichhane under a right leash, and also hoped that his very presence in government will make him lose his support base.As Parliament prepares to sit on, it remains to be seen to what degree the RSP can or will fulfil the promises it made to anti-establishment voters from within the establishment.

For whom the bell tolls

mainNavigation

footerNavigation

opinionSubnav