Over the last 30 years, we have seen the same situation, haven’t we?
No, there have been some exceptions. The last government led-by CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli had nearly a two-thirds majority but that just faded away. So, it is not inherent in the nature of parliamentary journey but it is in the nature of leadership of major parties. What is the major problem with the leadership of major political parties? The two principal things that leadership of major political parties lack is honesty and efficiency. When you are in that state, there is no point talking about the vision. How can you have a vision when you are fundamentally corrupt and you are fundamentally inefficient? You cannot run the country because you have personal interests, not a national interest. So, no matter how large a majority you have, these deep inherent personal problems will not make a good future possible for Nepal. How do you see the emergence of new political parties like Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP)? They have risen very fast. During the general elections of 2022, I didn’t even know the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) existed. But it came out of the blue, they overtook us and became the fourth largest party in Parliament. And in the by-election, the votes they got were outstanding. They have extremely talented people. I know a few of them like Swarnim Wagle who is a renowned economist. In the last general elections, we also saw the re-emergence of the RPP, how do you see it? Well, we hoped to be the fourth party but because this RSP came out the blue we came fifth. Yet, we have 14 members which is an important number in Parliament. It’s much better than the position we got in the previous elections. We have seen very capable leaders in the RPP for a long time, but why is the RPP failing to make a strong party? We started with a few members—with me, Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani and Ram Krishna. In the 1991 election, we got 18 seats, Surya Bahadur Thapa became the prime minister first and thereafter Lokendra Bahadur Chand. These two figures became prime ministers three times. The differences within the party and tendencies of split destroyed our party. At that time, out of 18 members, everyone wanted to become prime minister. Those splits have been bad for the party. Since then, we have come a long journey. Even now, we are a party with differences. But we are only a long-standing party that has handed over leadership to the new generation. Also, RPP is now headed by Ranjendra Lingden who comes from an ethnic group. Now, we have outstanding young leaders like Gyanendra Shahi and Rabindra Mishra. We have some women leaders who are well-educated. We just had a meeting of the Central Committee and our assessment is that we have a good future. Why do you think the Hindu state and return of monarchy in Nepal is important? When we started, if you remember we started with a very simple principle such as nationalism, multi-party democracy and liberal agendas. At that time, there was a constitutional monarchy and Hindu state. Our Hindu identity was very important in the world. Along with this we have the identity of Mt Everest and Gautam Buddha. We just gave up our Hindu identity for nothing. And regarding the head of the state, the glamor and prestige of the crown is necessary. President Ram Chandra Paudel is a nice person and I have huge respect for him. But does he have a crown? No. There is no glory when there is no crown. People used to bow to the crown out of respect, but the present head of state doesn’t equal the glamor, prestige that monarchy had. How are our domestic policies affecting our international relations? Well, think of somebody like Indian Prime Minister Narendrea Modi or Chinese President Xi Jinping. What a poor opinion they must have about our leadership? If they do not respect you even at the level of foreign minister or foreign secretary, their respect for our leadership must be very poor. They are not treating our leadership respectfully. We do not have a good leader who could talk on equal terms with really powerful neighbors. What is your view on the foreign policy of monarchy? King Mahendra was one of the great rulers. And Birendra was there for a very long time. As both kings had fundamental qualities, they earned respect not only from neighbors but from across the world.The standing of Nepal and monarchy was much, much higher. What is your suggestion for the present government regarding foreign relations? We must not limit ourselves to our neighbors. The greatest power of today is the United States. We have to embrace the great power of the world. We have to follow the long-standing principles of balance between the powers to the north and powers to the south. Today, when you talk about the powers of the south, they include the United States, India, Japan, and Australia. When you think of the north, we cannot separate Russia. So with this understanding, this principle of balance must be the basis of Nepal’s geopolitics.
