Debate surrounds Bhim Rawal’s expulsion: Is the UML adopting dictatorial leadership?

Last month, the ruling CPN-UML banned two other notable figures and expelled the party’s vice chairman, Bhim Rawal, on the grounds that they had violated the party’s rules. Rawal, a strong opponent of the party chairman and prime minister K P Sharma Oli, has started a “Motherland Awakening Campaign, Nepal” in an attempt to establish a new political force, while the two female leaders, Binda Pandey and Usha Kiran Timilsina, have not responded to the decision to suspend them from the party for six months or spoken out in public.

The UML’s Kailali District Chapter Committee recently suggested suspending two more leaders, Krishna Raj Subedi and Bhishma Subedi, for reportedly meeting with expelled Rawal, further escalating the matter. This begs the question: Is the current UML leadership determined to adopt an autocratic style of leadership that would silence all of the party’s critics?

Political analysts concur. The UML’s long-standing internal democracy movement was spearheaded by Chairman [K P] Oli. Political analyst Krishna Pokharel adds, “Ironically, Oli appears to be attempting to stifle the party’s critics, so threatening internal democracy.”

Chairman Oli, who later led the UML’s opposing wing, campaigned for internal democracy while Madhav Kumar Nepal was the party’s leader. He put so much pressure on the top executives that they frequently had to reverse their official rulings.

According to analyst Pokharel, Rawal’s choice to oppose Oli in the party’s most recent general assembly led to his expulsion from the organization. “People’s Multi-party Democracy, which aims to advance internal democracy, has been adopted by the UML. But the current action against party leaders who disagree with the top leadership raises the possibility that Chairman Oli wants to stifle opposition at its source,” he adds.

Finance Minister and UML Vice-Chairman Bishnu Poudel publicly backed the removal of Dr. Rawal from the party on Wednesday. “Bhim Rawal should not cause confusion for anyone. Bhim Rawal is anarchist to the core. Speaking to a group of the party’s top leaders in Pokhara, he attempted to defend the choice by saying, “He is a person driven by personal interests.”

Vice Chairman Rawal’s criticism of the party’s top leadership for using land donated by a businessman to construct the party headquarters was the immediate reason for his expulsion from the party. Neither the central committee nor the standing committee of the party debated whether or not to accept the land that the businessman in question had provided. When it came to the public, some leaders expressed disapproval of the choice.

Leaders in the UML worry that this will push the party in the direction of autocratic leadership since those who dare to question the party’s leadership are either dismissed or pushed to leave the party. Our chairman frequently laments that, in the case of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which has more than 90 million active members, there is no criticism at all of the party’s top leadership, but in the case of the party with fewer than half a million active members, there is a great deal of criticism. According to a senior UML leader who spoke on condition of anonymity, “This demonstrates unequivocally the Chairman’s desire to lead the party alone.”

In sharp contrast, party leaders of the Nepali Congress (NC) publicly criticize the top leadership without facing repercussions. Although the senior leadership typically makes an effort to listen to opposing viewpoints, those leaders are not dismissed from the party for voicing them.

According to UML sources, the move against individuals criticizing the party’s top leadership may have been motivated by the concern that, should leaders who criticize the leadership be exempt from punishment, there may be a “domino effect” across the party’s files and ranks. “I observe that UML party leaders are afraid that if they decide to criticize the party’s leadership, they may have to suffer the same fate as Bhim Rawal. The party’s growth stalls and people begin searching for other political forces when no one in the party has the courage to criticize the misconduct of the top leadership, Pokharel continued.

According to party sources, the current UML leadership’s intolerance of people voicing critical views caused the UML to dissolve after Madhav Kumar Nepal founded the CPN (Unified Socialist). Numerous leaders and cadres who were crucial to the UML’s loss in a number of constituencies during the most recent parliamentary election left the party.

Nearly 1,100 UML local officials and activists have already declared their intention to leave the party since Dr. Rawal was removed from office, and more are expected to follow suit in the Far Western Province and other parts of the nation. Given that the party has several hundred thousand active members, the figure may appear to be too tiny. However, UML leaders acknowledge that this might significantly affect the party’s standing.