Parties: Orphans Of Ideology
Yuba Nath Lamsal The national congresses of three key parties – CPN-UML, Nepali Congress and Rastriya Prajatantra Party or RPP are over now. The other party CPN-Maoist Centre is also set to hold its congress in two weeks. There are some marked similarities in the congresses of the three parties. The congresses of all parties began with fanfare and hullaballoo and ended in a fuss. The parties had been expected to debate issues having direct bearing on the people and the country and come up with the policy tools to address them. Nothing such happened. The principal focus seemed to be on how to capture the leadership and secure party positions. Given the way the mega meetings were held, it is clear that our political parties are devoid of ideologies and principles. No debate was held on ideology, policies and programmes. Parties have become orphans of ideology. There has been marked dichotomy between principles and practice. None of the political parties practice what the