At the stroke of the midnight hour, it finally came to something everyone in Nepal’s oldest and biggest party had been dreading — a split.
Not that this was anything new. The Nepali Congress (NC) had splintered twice before and the main protagonist both times was five-time prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. After the GenZ uprising and being physically mauled and his house looted and set on fire on 9 September Deuba had said he was stepping aside, but it seems old ambitions die hard.
The showdown between the Gagan Thapa-Bishow Prakash Sharma camp and Deuba came to a head on Wednesday as the establishment leadership decided to suspend Thapa, Sharma, and Farmullah Mansoor for five years to punish them for daring to challenge the leadership and hold a special general convention.&nbsp;
Bhrikuti Mandap in the centre of Kathmandu is the venue for trade exhibitions, but this week it was where an exhibition of everything that is wrong with Nepali politics was on full display — lack of internal party democracy and an unaccountable gerontocracy clinging on to power.&nbsp;
Thapa and Sharma had gathered the support of 62% of the NC membership at their convention and chose Gagan Thapa as the new party leader and proposed him as a prime ministerial candidate after the 5 March election.
Deuba’s allies had refused to attend or endorse the special general convention, and were adamant about holding a general convention to choose a new party head after the election. Thapa, Sharma and their supporters argued that the party faced ignominious defeat in the polls if Deuba insisted on being prime minister again.
The events of September 2025 have cast a long shadow over Nepali politics, with many new parties and alliances pledging to represent the aspirations of the GenZ movement. However, that realisation does not seem to have dawned on the tried, tested and failed leadership of the NC, UML and the NCP where the party leaders have held on to power by sidelining all rivals. &nbsp;
Thapa and Sharma were NC general secretaries held multiple rounds of discussions to convince Deuba to accept their eight-point demand that for the party’s and the country’s sake his time was up, and he should cut and cut cleanly. Despite having already handed over the party leadership to Purna Bahadur Khadka in September, Deuba refused to step down.&nbsp;
‘What demands has the Nepali Congress been unable to reconcile that it is headed for a split? There is no ideological dispute, just a proposal to make it easier to go for the election,’ noted journalist and author Narayan Wagle. ‘If those who have been in politics for so many years cannot reach an agreement, what have they learned in life and what hope is there for the country?’
Gagan Thapa was elected unopposed as the new party president on Thursday midnight, with Sharma and Pushpa Bhusal appointed vice-presidents. Thapa has said backroom talks are still ongoing though mediators, but for all intents and purposes the split seems irreconcilable.&nbsp;
The million dollar question now is: who gets to be the real Nepali Congress? Who gets the NC’s tree election symbol at the polls?
Both the Thapa and Deuba factions have written to the Election Commission (EC) laying claim to the party and its symbol. Whatever the EC decides, with less than two months to go for the polls, the dispute over its legitimacy will almost certainly have to be decided in the courts.
Deuba and his counterpart K P Oli in the UML have been unwilling or unable to fathom the level of outrage that young Nepalis feel about their parties. They have shown an inability to heed the call for institutional overhaul within parties and in Nepal’s political culture post-September. Second generation leaders within those parties who have grown old waiting for reform, seem to have better internalised the need for internal restructuring.&nbsp;
Oli has managed to hold on to power after displaying increasing authoritarianism within his UML, while Deuba has shown an unwillingness to bow out of leadership with grace. Both have squandered away their legacy.
For Gagan Thapa, the events of Thursday was a culmination of his long-standing claim for leadership change within the NC coupled with a compulsion to address the demands of the youth movement to maximise gains for his party this election. Just like Deuba, Thapa’s house was also looted and torched during the September protests.
Thapa told Onlinekhabar on Thursday: “Our belief was that we cannot go into elections under the present circumstances under [Sher Bahadur Deuba’s] leadership and with him as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. We would lose.”
The special general convention has taken further steps for reform, endorsing amendments to the party statue, which has set term limits for key leadership positions, including a one-term limit for party president, two-term limit for prime minister, three for a ministerial position, and four terms for a directly elected member of Parliament. Meanwhile, party members are only allowed to become lawmakers through the Proportional Representation system for one term.&nbsp;
If Thapa’s leadership holds legitimacy, this new chapter for the NC might come as a welcome change to young Nepalis who have been calling for leadership overhaul and internal party reforms within the establishment parties. But it may also come at the cost of the NC’s core base. It remains to be seen which side tips the scale at the polls.&nbsp;
The NC’s infighting and institutional shake-up has also posed fresh concerns about how it will affect the election schedule just as it looked as though all the mainstream political parties were finally on board and preparing for the polls. With voting barely weeks away, Nepal’s political parties are still too busy cleaning up their own house to give too much time to work on their platforms, agendas and serious campaigning
Historically, political break-ups and make-ups in Nepal are not set in stone. Even the newest alliance between Rabi Lamichhane’s RSP and Kulman Ghising’s UNP did not even last 12 days. &nbsp;Balen Shah is set to resign from his mayor position in the next and has gotten into the thick of election preparation with the RSP. His next step will be to choose which constituency he is going to contest from.
Meanwhile, in the light of a new day, the two NC factions may still decide that breaking up is hard to do when they are so close to elections, and the political stakes are so high.&nbsp;

Shristi Karki

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Grand split in Nepal’s grand old party

The BRK (Balen-Rabi-Kulman) merger this week signified a generational shift in politics in the new year, but whether it will lead to a change in culture of patronage-driven strongman politics is looking doubtful.
Two 7-point deals this week brought together Energy Minister Kulman Ghising’s UNP and Rabi Lamichhane’s RSP, with Lamichhane remaining chair, and Ghising joining DP Aryal and Swarnim Wagle as the party's vice-chair. And Kathmandu mayor Balen Shah has been promised prime ministership if the party wins a majority in the federal elections under the RSP banner. So far so good.&nbsp;
The merger was possible because the three men shared a common agenda to represent GenZ aspirations and the necessity of not splitting the vote in facing the vast organisational structure of the legacy parties.&nbsp;
“It is too early to predict whether or not the three new leaders can address the challenges of the nation,” notes editor and political analyst Rajendra Dahal. “They have yet to prove how capable they are.”
All three are ambitious politicians with wide following on digital platforms, and combined they represent a significant challenge to the new by the old in 2026 and beyond.&nbsp;
But are they really new? Political scientist Sucheta Pyakuryal does not think so: “What we are seeing is that the same political course is being charted by new political players, who are neck-deep in Machiavellian power-mongering and political horse trading, under the guise of bringing the alternative forces under one umbrella.”
Lamichhane, recently released on bail from jail for defrauding cooperative depositers and under scrutiny for breaking out of jail during the September protests, has put his own prime ministerial aspiration on hold to hitch his wagon to the popular Kathmandu mayor. For Balen Shah, the prospect of leading not just Kathmandu but Nepal itself appears to have been the deciding factor in agreeing to the deal.
News of the BRK alliance was initially greeted as a welcome generational change in politics that could finally break the decades-long Oli-Deuba-Dahal triumvirate. But there have been misgivings among some who see Balen-Rabi-Kulman already dividing up the spoils of their September movement, even from youth activists who had initially put their weight behind this partnership.
Then the RSP’s candidate list this week set off a digital firestorm. The proportional representation (PR) provision in the election designed to ensure inclusion of women and excluded groups, instead had celebrities, entrepreneurs, athletes, and performing artists. The party did conduct a primary to finalise its list, but it was heavily criticised for arbitrary ranking of public figures and ‘nepobabies’.&nbsp;
To be sure, there were activists and GenZ members also on the list, but it is dominated by names from Lamichhane’s Chitwan constituency and reflects the accommodation candidates fielded by Shah and Ghising’s camps at the last minute. Uttam Bahadur Gurung and Bijay Jairu, who got the highest votes for indigenous male and Dalit male categories in the RSP primary, are missing from the list.&nbsp;
PLUTOCRATIC
Pushpa Kumari Chaudhary and Khastar Hussain, who got the most votes for the Tharu women and Muslim men cluster respectively did not make it either. Former Kathmandu mayor candidate Ranju Darshana, despite securing the highest number of votes for the Khasa Arya women, appears 10th under the category on the list.
"RSP’s PR list that is supposedly churned out through a primary election, was a hogwash," says Pyakuryal. "The party leadership holds 50% of the decision-making power. Ranju Darshana was denied space despite overwhelming votes. They have completely turned the concept of primary elections on its head."&nbsp;
No party, neither old or new, appears to have heeded the GenZ movement’s rejection of cronyism, nepotism and patronage. There have been scathing comments on social media as well as mainstream newspaper cartoons lampooning the selection.
“Under the cover of diversity and inclusion; they have onboarded Nepal’s rich and powerful elites – the 1%-- when the PR system was designed to onboard those in the periphery whose inclusion and representation retain the democratic essence of this republic," says Pyakuryal&nbsp;
Even so, and despite being a three-way marriage of convenience, the BRK alliance is now set to challenge legacy parties. Lamichhane needs backing from Shah’s followers and on Ghising’s public goodwill, while Shah and Ghising both require a political platform.&nbsp;
But they will also carry each other’s baggage. The shadow of the cooperatives scam and jailbreak hang over Lamichhane, Shah is known to be impulsive and erratic especially on social media, while Ghising did some iffy dealings while minister and head of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). If the RSP is able to secure a majority, the alliance could break apart because of the three egos just as what happened to the Oli-Deuba-Dahal trio in the past.&nbsp;
Shah and Lamichhane have much in common. Both campaigned on social media, pushing a populist anti-corruption agenda and against the governance failure of the three establishment parties — the same logic that drove the GenZ protests in September that escalated into violence and brought down the UML-NC coalition.
As former tv anchor, Lamichhane championed the underdog and has a considerable following. Balen Shah’s direct, no-holds-barred style of communication and commentary has made him popular, especially among digital natives. Ghising is credited with ending Nepal’s prolonged power cuts when he headed the Nepal Electricity Authority NEA, and is regarded as a do-er.&nbsp;
Lamichhane has let go of his ambition to offer prime ministership to Shah. Ghising had given up leadership of his newly-formed UNP. All three will have significant pull with the 837,094 young and first-time voters in March.&nbsp;
The legacy parties are now galvanised for elections because of the Rabi-Balen-Kulman partnership, and contemplate an electoral alliance. They are relying on traditional vote banks among the rural electorate, and hoping against hope for internal rifts within the BRK alliance before polls.&nbsp;
Ironically, Oli in the UML, Deuba in the NC and Dahal in the NCP all distrust rivals within their own parties more than each other. The NC’s list has some new faces, but is dominated by former ministers, family members, including the children of current and former presidents, as well as spouses of former NC ministers. The &nbsp;Nepali Communist Party has also incorporated new names for its list.&nbsp;
The UML has attempted to include younger candidates from a wider demographic this time, but the list includes many Oli loyalists.&nbsp;
Concludes Pyakuryal: “What is worrisome is the old parties’ corrupt syndicates and new parties’ lack of principled politics and strong ideological bases that can explain their political vision and mission to the voters. Even more disturbing is the rise of strongman politics and their overt reliance on those who already have money, clout and power. The template remains, only the actors have changed.”

Old vs new

A week after Nepal’s deadly protests, the country’s three main political parties whose offices were torched have been coming out in public pledging to reform themselves.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoist-Centre visited his gutted party headquarters on Tuesday and said it would be rebuilt “on an even grander scale”.&nbsp;
Five-time prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress (NC) and his wife are still being treated for the wounds they suffered while being attacked at their home on 9 September.&nbsp;
In both parties, younger members have said it is time for their seniors to step down as leaders.&nbsp;
K P Oli who was ousted as prime minister last week after the GenZ protests turned violent with a loss of 74 lives, is also under Nepal Army protection in a base inside Shivapuri National Park outside Kathmandu. But his UML party has said it is not looking at a change in leadership at present.
All the main parties have offered sympathies for the lives lost in last week’s violence, and some members said it was time for a generational change within their parties as well. But all sides tip-toed around one crucial point: the GenZ demand for a change in leadership and political culture.
Former prime ministers Deuba, Dahal and Oli have been playing musical chairs taking turns to be prime ministers in 12 coalition governments in the past 10 years — despite their differing political ideologies.
What stands out in the recent statements of political leaders is not what was said, but what was left unsaid: none have raised the issue of transferring leadership to younger figures, let alone democratising their parties internally.&nbsp;
“Parties that do not appeal to the people, especially young people, will stop being relevant,” says Uddhab Pyakurel, a professor of political sociology at Kathmandu University (KU). “However, political &nbsp;parties are an integral component of our democracy.”&nbsp;
The youth wings of the main three parties do not shy away from criticising the impunity of their seniors, but have not been able to bring internal reform within their organisations.&nbsp;
Activists in the GenZ movement that toppled the regime last week say they do not follow any -isms, but Roshan Thapa Magar of the &nbsp;ANNISU (Revolutionary) that is affiliated to the Maoists says: “Ideologies still matter, the sacrifices of the parties in Nepal’s democratic struggles, and what they continue to represent, remain indispensable.”&nbsp;
He admits being taken aback by the way Maoist leaders and their relatives were portrayed in the #NepoBaby social media campaign: “It was disheartening and disappointing to see how power and position misused by our leaders in a party made up of ordinary people. It is now up to us to reform and restructure our parties to gain this trust again.”
Nawaraj Tripathee, a former Nepal Student Union (NSU) member and now the NC’s Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources says: “Only our party embodies the spirit of democracy etched into its core. But we have lost touch with democracy from within, therefore people are frustrated with us and a leadership that has acted with impunity and a tight grip on power.”
But he adds: “But this public disillusionment with us does not mean that we give up on the values of our party, it means we restructure the leadership and renew at all levels so that a new generation can lift the party up again.”&nbsp;
SHOCK THERAPY
Yet both acknowledge frustrations with their own leadership and say that the voices they raised against corruption were not loud enough to be heard. The deadly protests last week should be shock therapy to the leadership — especially if they want to recoup before early elections that have been called for 5 March 2026.
Thapa Magar says student politics has been important for the bottom-up voice of youth to be brought to the leadership level. He says, “If the GenZ organised the protests better, then we would perhaps not see the kind of looting and destruction on 9 September. We in the student wings of political parties know how to mobilise protests better.”
Over at the CPN-UML student wing ANNFSU, chair Sujan Kadariya and Abdus Miya quit their parties in dramatic fashion via Facebook following the bloodbath on 8 September, only to stage equally dramatic returns.&nbsp;
Miya justified it thus: ‘When Nepali youths fell to bullets, I believed the Prime Minister must resign. Even by 2pm the next day, he still hadn’t stepped down, and at 2:01 I declared I was quitting the party.’ KP Oli resigned shortly after that post, putting Miya in a dilemma.&nbsp;
Kadariya also deleted his post: ‘Feeling that the student politics of our entire generation has failed, I resign as President of the ANNISU Central Committee.” Later, he admitted he had posted out of fear for his life and felt ashamed for betraying the party. His final clarification: he had not officially resigned and remains committed to the party.
Miya and Kadariya expose the thin ideological fabric of student politics in Nepal. Their resignations were seen by many less as statements of principle than opportunism, and precisely what is wrong with the mainstream parties.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) which was the fourth largest in Parliament, also faced criticism for lacking a clear ideological foundation. The RSP’s former Education Minister Sumana Shrestha at first denied rumours she was leaving the party, but resigned anyway the next day declaring: ‘I QUIT’ on social media. &nbsp;She has also said she is not joining the interim government, it remains to be seen if she goes back on that too.
The RSP’s rapid rise is closely tied to its founder Rabi Lamichhane, whose citizenship and cooperatives scandals and his attacks on media continue to test the party’s credibility. Lamichhane’s jailbreak on the second day of the protests was on his 50th birthday, and on Monday he voluntarily went back behind bars.&nbsp;
LEADERSHIP TRAPS
In the last two decades, Nepal’s revolving door politics has seen only three protagonists: Deuba, Dahal and Oli. Earlier this month, Oli changed the UML rulebook to make way for his third term as party chief. Deuba has headed the NC since 2016. Dahal has been a permanent fixture as the Maoists’ great helmsman for the past 30 years.&nbsp;
With the exception of Youth Congress Nepal, the student bodies of UML and the Maoists have not explicitly called for a change in party leadership. ANNISU (Revolutionary)’s Thapa Magar admitted his Maoist party has not held a central committee meeting to discuss succession, but hoped that a democratic route to new leadership could secure the party’s future relevance.
Some within the NC see Gagan Thapa as a natural heir apparent to Deuba. Both rose up the ranks through the party’s student wings and were jailed during the Panchayat. Nawaraj Tripathee of the NC says: “Gagan Thapa is best suited to lead the party at this time. But leaders cannot save parties unless they have institutional frameworks in place for dissenting voices to democratically replace leaders.”
This issue extends beyond the NC. Absolute power within political parties seems to undermine intra-party institutions absolutely. Unchecked leaders have consolidated power in ways that even impact the functioning of Parliament, and hence governance.&nbsp;
Pyakurel says: “It is evident in last week’s protests and its aftermath that political literacy is not strong in the new generation. Calling politics a dirty game does not encourage meaningful participation. Corruption is corruption, it is not politics. Equating corruption with politics implies that corruption is inherent to politics, but it doesn't have to be so.”
Thapa Magar says: “A party is not just its leader, it is an ideology that its members are committed to. Political parties need to democratise their systems and allow meaningful participation of their members, as some are not in the party to climb up the ranks, but to serve a bigger purpose collectively.”
In the case of Rabi Lamichhane, repeated controversies followed by his victimhood narrative and deflections of accountability have gone unchallenged by his own party leaders, enabling him to act with impunity.
RSP founding member Bipin Acharya says criticism about the party’s ideology is unfounded since democratic governance, inclusion and equity are enshrined in the party doctrine.
“It is not fair to compare Rabi Lamichhane to other party leaders, he has not even completed one term. He is innocent until proven guilty and we trust due process in the new judiciary under the GenZ interim government,” he added about Lamichhane.
Nepal’s political parties have deep roots embedded in Nepali society through a network of institutional bodies and sister organisations,” explains Uddhab Pyakurel. “Yet their relevance now depends on whether they can adapt. To regain public trust, they will need to mobilise these structures in ways that genuinely reflect citizens’ concerns, rather than operate as brokers of political power.”&nbsp;
Ayusha Chalise is a communication and development scholar specialising in how politics is experienced in the digital space.

What next for Nepal's Big 3 parties?

K P Oli and his coalition partner Sher Bahadur Deuba have been prime ministers of Nepal a total of nine times between them. This gives them the joint responsibility of allaying widespread public perception that it is time to pass on the baton.
The fact that Nepal’s two biggest parties, the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), are in government together has made some hopeful that this coalition will be more stable.&nbsp;
However, the two have their work cut out to a) prove that it is indeed a more stable partnership, and b) that it will govern better. The sole criteria on which this government and its leaders will be judged before the next election will be if it improves the economy.
During his address to Parliament before his floor test last week, Prime Minister Oli acknowledged that the Nepali people were “in deep despair” about the current direction of the country’s politics and economy.&nbsp;
“Our politics must ensure development and prosperity, which is impossible without a strong government,” Oli said.&nbsp;
However, the circumstances that led to the UML pulling away from its partnership with the Maoist Centre was in part propelled by the two biggest parties trying to thwart investigations of their top leaders in two scandals.&nbsp;
That, and the lack of inclusiveness in the new cabinet populated by tainted public figures hints that it is going to be pretty much business as usual. There are only two women in the Council of Ministers, and no ministers from the Dalit community.&nbsp;
If the NC-UML leaders wanted to show that amending the Constitution (the coalition’s major agenda) would strengthen inclusion in government, they are not off to a very good start.&nbsp;
The Cabinet’s decision this week to override the Nepal Electricity Authority and resume power supply to industries that had not paid their dues just proved everyone’s worst suspicions.
Oli’s Cabinet must heed his own words in Parliament that his government would discontinue the culture of leaving development half-finished, and not dismantle some meaningful work done by previous governments.&nbsp;
And even as Deuba places his trust in Oli for the time being, not everyone within the coalition partnership is in the mood to coddle Oli. Leaders of the rival faction within the Nepali Congress which includes NC General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Shekhar Koirala have made it clear to Oli that their votes of confidence given to Oli does not mean carte blanche support.&nbsp;
But because of its size and influence, this coalition has more responsibility and reason to be stable and deliver the goods in the next three years before elections.&nbsp;
If the biggest two parties coming together cannot successfully address the country’s stagnant economy, kickstart development and create jobs and address widespread public disillusionment and apathy, voters are going to turn to untested populist leaders in 2027.&nbsp;
The Maoists and the RSP are now in the opposition and licking their wounds, and their check and balance role in questioning the NC-UML establishment will be crucial for a functioning democracy in the coming months. &nbsp;
But while a main opposition party with a strong presence is supported by its numbers in Parliament, that is not the case now. The Maoists and the RSP, which are the third and fourth largest parties, together do not have the numbers equal to either the NC or UML in Parliament. Furthermore, both the Maoists and RSP have internal problems of tarnished leadership and disunity.&nbsp;
Maoist chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal must now address discontent within his own party and answer criticism about handling things better with the NC to prevent the UML ‘coup’ last month. He must also analyse what his ouster means for his party’s diminishing popularity at the polls.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, the RSP’s reputation, popularity and support which have taken a major hit, mainly because of party leader and former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane being embroiled in multiple scandals, is now at the centre of another allegation of corruption and abuse of authority.&nbsp;
The RSP’s Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar is facing calls to resign after a letter she allegedly wrote to the US embassy to expedite visa dates for herself and five others earlier this year. Visa-related correspondence for members of the House is usually handled by the Parliament Secretariat, but this instance involved five people who are not MPs and Rana Magar is facing allegations of trafficking.&nbsp;
The RSP was quick to call the letter being made public an attempt by the new governing coalition to tarnish the reputation of the Deputy Speaker and the party. But even though her party is backing her for now, Rana Magar’s changing statements have not helped.&nbsp;
The RSP’s unique selling point to the public is that it is not like the old parties, and given to old practices of corruption and nepotism. Now, the question being asked is: how are the RSP and its leaders any different?
Perhaps it is too early to write the new coalition off, but the signs so far are not encouraging. &nbsp;

Democracy’s sidekicks

At the stroke of the midnight hour, and with the stroke of a pen, Nepal’s government has changed for the third time in a year.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoist Centre is out of a job after his coalition partner the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) joined hands with the Nepali Congress (NC) to form a new government.&nbsp;
The NC had previously ditched the UML to join up with the Maoists, and the UML had again defected to join the Maoist-led coalition earlier this year.
According to the deal that will be endorsed by both parties on Tuesday, K P Oli of the UML and Sher Bahadur Deuba of the NC will take turns being prime minister for 18 months each till the next election in 2027.
This will be 73-year-old Oli’s fourth time as prime minister, while Deuba, 78, who first became prime minister 30 years ago, will head the government for the sixth time.
Although Oli and Deuba say they want to form a national consensus government, it is not clear if Dahal will agree to bring his Maoist party into the new coalition. The NC is the largest party in Parliament, while the UML is second strongest, and the Maoists are a distant third.
Prime Minister Dahal will now have to prove his majority in Parliament within a month, but he could also resign after which President Ram Chandra Poudel will officially ask the biggest two parties to form a government.
Oli will then become prime minister for the fourth time, although the third time he was prime minister in 2021, he was in office for just one week when the Supreme Court overturned his decision to dissolve Parliament.
NC and UML leaders have said a new national government is necessary because of the need for a majority in the House to pass amendments to the constitutions to possibly dilute provisions for proportional representation in the legislature, which they say has led to instability and frequent changes in government.
However, the UML, NC and to a lesser extent the Maoists appear to be worried about the rise of populist parties and leaders in the last elections cashing in on the popular disillusionment among Nepalis with the three established parties who have ruled Nepal continuously for nearly two decades.
But the two leaders seem not to have realised that it is precisely this kind of political promiscuity that has led to frequent reshuffling of coalitions between the three main parties.
The NC and UML could also be acting to preempt possible investigations into scandals that their leaderships have been implicated in. Top NC leaders have been named in the fake refugee scandal, and the UML has been tainted by allegations of huge land grab of a former government-owned tea estate in Jhapa district.
By being in government, both parties could sideline investigations into scams that their top leaders are allegedly involved in. As per details of the Deuba-Oli nocturnal deal leaked to the press, the NC will get 10 ministries including the powerful Home Ministry and the UML will have nine including the finance portfolio.&nbsp;
The fate of the fourth party in Parliament, the RSP, and its controversial Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is also unclear at this stage. The RSP is in the present Dahal-led coalition and Lamichhane had bargained as a party with swing votes to insist on having the home minister’s post which he has used in the past year to deflect investigations into his citizenship and cooperatives scandals.
Dahal appears to have had wind of the Deuba-Oli rapprochement and had tried to convince the two leaders that they could join the coalition he led as prime minister. Till Monday, Dahal was trying to prevent a possible NC-UML alliance, giving speeches calling for a unity of left parties.
There could be a geopolitical angle to this, since the Chinese have openly said they favour Nepal’s Communist parties to unite. And because of this, India and the West have worked behind the scenes to prevent left-wing unity.
The UML-NC ‘coup’ would prevent the UML and the Maoists from being in the same government.
There is uncertainty about the abrupt recall of eight NC-appointed ambassadors last month by the UML-Maoist coalition. Now that the NC is back in power, will some of them be reinstated?
Another uncertainty surrounds the seven provincial governments which have risen and fallen in the past year, mostly in relation to which coalition is in power in Kathmandu. The NC-UML deal is also said to include a proportional distribution of provincial governments, even though that goes completely against the spirit of federalism and political devolution as enshrined in the Constitution.

Nepal government changes again

The two by-elections in Ilam-2 and Bajhang were in effect public opinion polls on the people’s political preferences. Of the people who cast their ballots in the two districts, 40% voted for the UML, while over 30% voted for the Nepali Congress (NC). The Maoist-Centre was nowhere in the picture. The RSP's bubble seems to have burst. The Hindu monarchist RPP was wiped out. If this was a mini-referendum, the results were clear: the legacy parties are still strong, voters rejected both identity politics as well as a return to monarchy and a Hindu state. But it is the sad fate of the Maoists in Bajhang, whose leader is the current Prime Minister, that is most remarkable. Voter turnout was almost 60% in Ilam and 49% in Bajhang, probably more a reflection of anti-establishment absentee voters than a lack of interest in the elections. Traditional vote banks, electoral alliances and ethnic-caste identity played a part. In Ilam-2, UML candidate Suhang Nembang won the seat held by his father Subhas Chandra Nembang, who died last September. He received 27,772 votes, while Dambar Bahadur Khadka of the NC got 21, 942. Independent candidate Dakendra Singh Limbu, who ran an identity-based campaign representing Ilam’s indigenous communities, came third with 11,457 votes. The fact that a candidate with no party affiliation championing the Kirat cause got so many votes shows identity politics is a potent force in Kosi Province. The RSP, which branded itself as an anti-legacy party, fell short of its own expectations. Candidate Milan Limbu received only 5,050 votes to finish fourth in Ilam-2. RSP’s popularity seems to be focused on a few of its personalities, but scandals involving Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane undermined support. Both by-elections showed negligible support for a return to Hindu monarchy. The RPP’s Laxmi Gurung received just 404 votes in Ilam-2, and the party’s candidate in Bajhang got only 242. In the Bajhang 1(A) provincial assembly by-election, UML candidate Daman Bahadur Bhandari defeated his closest rival Abhishek Bahadur Singh of the NC by less than 300 votes. Abhishek Bahadur Singh is the son of Prithvi Bahadur Singh, Sudurpaschim Province’s Home Minister who died in a car accident last June. Bhandari received 11,613 votes, while Singh obtained 11,346. Meanwhile, Maoist Centre candidate Janak Bahadur Budha got just 3,831 votes and Dil Bahadur Singh of the Unified Socialist got 2,514 votes.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240502090544_ed8785bc8dbfa3641e072653962143172e58aff17afb8cc9cbb43a6d94b5d1c6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240502090544_ed8785bc8dbfa3641e072653962143172e58aff17afb8cc9cbb43a6d94b5d1c6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1284" height="657" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal by-election 2024"></figure>  Bhandari’s win has increased the number of UML MPs in the Sudurpaschim parliament by one but has not made a fundamental difference in the provincial government, where the NC still has a majority. In early March, the Maoist Centre broke from its alliance with the NC to once again join hands with the UML in a new coalition. Krishna Pokharel, a professor of political science, says that the new coalition was crucial to the election. “Nepali Congress lost a seat in Bajhang that it had won by a margin of more than 3,000 votes in 2022,” notes Pokharel, “This makes it clear that the NC’s win in 2022 was due to its alliance with the Maoists and the Unified Socialists, and that it is otherwise not the preferred party in the constituency.” In Ilam, Khadka of the NC had previously also run against Subhas Nembang during the 2022 elections in alliance with the Maoists and other parties. He lost that time by just 114 votes. This time, since the NC contested the election alone, the difference of votes was more than five thousand. Alliance with the Maoists has turned out to be crucial to both NC and UML during the election. “The UML must understand that the performance of the party during the election depends upon whether or not it is part of a coalition,” says Pokharel. There is soul searching within the NC about the line taken by party dissidents including Gagan Thapa to go it alone. The Maoists still command the swing votes. Political scientist Krishna Khanal says that the wins of the UML in both districts show that voters have accepted the latest Maoist-UML coalition: “The results show that the majority of voters are still with old, established parties.” While these polls were important to the parties to gauge their popularity, it will not have any earth-shaking consequences on national politics. There is also little public interest among Nepalis bearing the brunt of unemployment, inflation, and pollution. Dhana Kumari Sunar, formerly of the National Women's Commission Nepal, says that the millions spent on elections have not translated into meaningful impact on the lives of constituents. She adds, “What is more important than who won and who lost is keeping track of what difference it will make on the quality of education, health care and employment in these constituencies.”

Old is still gold in Nepali politics

We are now on Season 3 Episode 1 of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/shadow-government-nepal,3838" target="_blank">Nepal’s promiscuous political </a>saga.&nbsp;
The Maoists and the UML have joined hands for the second time in a year to form a new leftist-led coalition. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoist Centre has replaced the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/deuba-5-qh371fm4" target="_blank">NC </a>with the UML and the United Socialists.
Dahal may say about the NC having double crossed him, but this was all about ensuring that he remains Prime Minister for another year instead of having to rotate it with Deuba and Nepal before the next election in 2027. Now, he just has to hand over to Oli next year.
This is all déjà vu. Dahal and Oli had a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ on rotating premiership after the 2017 election, and the Maoists merged with the UML to form the NCP. But both ended up stabbing each other in the back, and Oli had to step down. Why should it be any different this time?
The more things change in Nepali politics, the more they remain the same. The same three men of the three main parties have been playing musical chairs for most of the 18 years after the end of the conflict.
The cartoon by Diwakar Chhetri (above) was used in Nepali Times in 2020 when K P Oli was being catapulted to Singha Darbar. For this edition, we just exchanged him for Dahal, added Rabi Lamichhane of the RSP and changed the guy playing marbles to Deuba.
On Wednesday, the new coalition included the Maoists, UML, RSP, CPN (US) with the JSP still undecided. But in Nepal’s cybersphere, there is little excitement that this will change anything and the new lineup has been met mostly with ridicule.
Even a new party like the RSP under Lamichhane is behaving like an old party because he is in a tearing hurry to get on the fast-track to Singha Darbar. He angled for and got the Home Minister’s portfolio, while Barsaman Pun of the Maoists is Finance Minister. The JSP's Upendra Yadav is said to have wanted the Foreign Ministry, but the portfolio went to Narayan Kaji Shrestha.
That this is all about getting to power and staying there could not have been clearer because everyone is angling for the powerful ministries with the biggest discretionary funds.
UML Chief Whip Padam Giri has been named Minister for Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affiars after serving just 40 days as Health Minister during the previous Maoist-UML coalition. Hit Bahadur Tamang of the Maoists is Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister. The RSP’s Dol Prasad Aryal returns to the Labour Ministry despite conflict of interest allegations during his last stint because of his alleged involvement in recruitment and remittance companies. &nbsp;
The Unified Socialists say they are getting two ministries, including Federal and Social Service. The RSP’s Sumana Shrestha is Education Minister and Biraj Bhakta Shrestha Youth and Sports.&nbsp;
Lamichhane’s insistence on the Home Ministry portfolio is said to stem from a desire to exculpate himself from multiple controversies about citizenship and his investment in a cooperative that cheated depositors.
Monday’s political earthquake in Kathmandu has sent aftershocks to all seven provincial governments. The provinces all have their own party arithmetics in their assemblies, yet they are unduly impacted by what happens to the federal government. This is not how devolution is supposed to work.
Under federalism, Nepali politics is even more centralised than before with province politicians beholden not just to their party in Kathmandu, but to the head honcho in each of them for instructions. Which is why NC ministers have resigned in Karnali, and the NC controlled provincial governments in Gandaki and Sudur Paschim have sacked Maoist ministers. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Unlike the previous coalition, the main parties in the current coalition at least have similar sounding names like Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), Communist Party of Nepal (United Socialists). This could be a formidable leftist front in the 2027 election.
All this must be music to the ears of the Chinese, who have made no secret of their wish that Nepal’s Communists parties should all merge. And if the Chinese want that, then automatically the US-India bloc is not going to be too pleased.
The Maoist-NC coalition was seen to be better suited to India, but while this week’s change would have been a surprise for New Delhi, it may not have been a shock, since it is quite comfortable also with Prime Minister Dahal.

Kunda Dixit

Catapulting to Singha Darbar

Dairy farmers have been dumping milk on the streets because they are owed Rs6 billion by buyers. Victims of loan sharks and cooperatives have stormed Parliament.&nbsp; And that was just this week. Nepalis are increasingly exasperated with a government formed just a year-and-a-half ago, and with three more years to go for the next elections. The problem stems from the third largest party, the Maoist Centre, having the prime ministerial and other powerful posts in government. The Nepali Congress (NC), the biggest party by far in Parliament, is behaving like a minor partner.&nbsp; Last week, there were vociferous demands at the NC General Committee meeting to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/unconventional-convention">abandon the coalition in the next election</a>, and this week the Maoist standing committee also decided to go it alone in the 2027 election. &nbsp; While both parties say they will not leave the current coalition, it is clear that the alliance is fraying at the seams.&nbsp; “The Maoists and Congress threatening to contest elections independently is more an election strategy than a signal that the coalition is falling apart,” says analyst Indra Adhikari.&nbsp; She adds, “It was more a reassurance to party members at a time of dissatisfaction and uncertainty within parties. Forming electoral alliances and forming coalitions are different matters.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240301030312_679e8cb5b9a920810276d7820eb5d11e49d326b1218f39c2ae1e254fc75fb126.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240301030312_679e8cb5b9a920810276d7820eb5d11e49d326b1218f39c2ae1e254fc75fb126" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="1848" loading="lazy" alt="Coalition collision NT"> <figcaption>Victims of loan sharks and cooperatives during a protest Pradarshani Marg. Photo: HARRAM BHETUWAL</figcaption> </figure>  The current coalition of erstwhile extreme Communists with a centre-right Congress could not be more ideologically different. It was cobbled together after the 2022 elections just so that the Maoists would not unite again with the opposition UML to form a powerful leftwing government. The NC, Maoists and the UML’s commitment to contesting the election independently pertain to electoral alliances formed before the polls, not coalitions formed after, Adhikari adds. The Maoist Centre’s two-day standing committee meeting discussed the anti-secular views of some NC members and Deputy Prime Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka's criticism of Maoist guerrilla excesses during the war. &nbsp; There is also mutual suspicion between the Maoists and NC over a deal that fell through involving the NC’s Krishna Prasad Sitaula as National Assembly chair in exchange for a Maoist heading <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/kosi-now-kathmandu-next">Kosi Province</a>. The NC did not back the Maoist candidate, so the Maoists are not supporting Sitaula.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024030103038_f04c9614d05be89a523282bcf253578166a2163880de41c7fe567098dab92702.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024030103038_f04c9614d05be89a523282bcf253578166a2163880de41c7fe567098dab92702" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1199" loading="lazy" alt="Coalition collision NT"> <figcaption>Nepali Congress leader Krishna Prasad Sitauls spoke at the NC Mahasamiti meeting last week. Photo: MADHV PRASAD GHIMIRE / RSS</figcaption> </figure>  According to a coalition power-sharing pact, Prime Minister Dahal is supposed to hand over the premiership to Sher Bahadur Deuba of the NC and Madhav Kumar Nepal of the Unified Socialists later this year. &nbsp; “Coalitions in countries like ours are at risk of falling apart from the moment they are formed, they do not work without compromise between parties that have different ideologies,” explains Adhikari.&nbsp; UML chair K P Oli is already campaigning for 2027 with a ‘Mission-84’ slogan and likened the coalition to “a lump of ash that will crumble whether it is dry or wet”. Prime Minister Dahal appears to be mulling a Cabinet reshuffle in a bid to keep the coalition together. But his attempt to replace Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat of the NC is getting no support from Deuba.&nbsp; The opposition UML, RSP, and the RPP have all demanded the resignation of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala of the Unified Socialist, Health and Population Minister Mohan Basnet of the NC, as well as the Maoist Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati. Minister Jwala was caught up in a riot on the Ring Road in December in which protesters set fire to his car, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/karnali-to-korea-dream-dashed-in-kathmandu">and two people were killed </a>when the police fired at the crowd. An investigation found he disregarded security concerns. Health Minister Basnet is being probed by the anti-corruption bureau over a 2021 procurement of surveillance equipment for the Nepal Telecommunications Authority. And Kirati is implicated in a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/lharkyal-lama-s-lumbini-inc">scandal involving a private contract in Lumbini</a>.&nbsp; There were heated exchanges in Parliament this week as coalition MPs accused the opposition of the pot calling the kettle black. The UML has skeletons in its closet too, and the RSP’s Rabi Lamichhane is embroiled in controversies involving a cooperative and his citizenship. Says Indra Adhikari: “There is absolutely a need for leaders to reflect, take responsibility for the consequences of their actions, and be held accountable. The country's crises are too important.”

Coalition collision

Sabir Khan was riding his motorbike in Parsa on Tuesday when he was stopped by several men and boys wielding sticks and saffron flags.&nbsp;
The encounter was captured on video. The men are heard forcing &nbsp;Khan to venerate the Hindu god Ram, to which he replies that he has an urgent errand up the road.&nbsp;
“I don’t care how important your errand is, you don’t get to leave without saying Jai Shri Ram,” one of the men says. Another man smacks Khan on the head.&nbsp;
The audio cuts off at this point, but Khan must have eventually agreed to the threats, because he is allowed to ride away and the men begin to chant "Jai Shri Ram" around a burning tyre on the road.&nbsp;
Such video clips have become commonplace across the border in India, but that it is happening in Nepal confirms what many had warned about: that India’s Hindutva ideology would spread to Nepal. &nbsp;
This week, there were communal clashes at Ishnath Municipality in Rautahat over a procession to immerse the idol of goddess Saraswati. The tensions spread to Birganj, where groups staged demonstrations, prompting authorities to enforce curfews. &nbsp;
Social media is awash with posts by sympathisers from across the border, many with sentiments like ‘Nepal was much more beautiful when it was not secular’, and praising Nepali activists for backing restoration of Hindu state.
“In Nepal, Hindutva as a political ideology is still nascent. Its seeds have been planted on a soil fertilised by democratic decay,” wrote Birganj-based media commentator Chandra Kishore recently in his column, Borderlines, in this paper.&nbsp;
India’s shift to far-right Hindu nationalism under Prime Minister Modi has emboldened those with a similar ideology in Nepal, and this is mixed up with a call also for the restoration of the monarchy.&nbsp;
India’s opposition parties have tried but failed to stop the juggernaut of political Hindutva. And here in Nepal, leaders across the political spectrum have done little to quell the rise of religious intolerance and extremism.&nbsp;
Instead, some parties are pushing faith-based politics to endear themselves to capitalise on what they see as an anti-secular vote bank during the next election.&nbsp;
Nepal’s avowed Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal sought photo-ops clad in saffron in temples in Nepal and India. Former communist Prime Minister K P Oli attempted to provoke Hindus in Nepal and India by claiming that Lord Ram was actually born in Nepal. Nepali Congress (NC) leader Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed support for removing secularism from the Constitution during an all-party meeting last year.&nbsp;
The call to restore a Hindu nation loomed large at the NC party convention in Godavari this week (pictured). This appears to be driven by Deuba’s need to pull the rug from underneath anti-secularist forces in his own party, as well as the growing popularity of the Hindu monarchist RPP.
NC lawmaker and central committee member Shankar Bhandari used the party’s convention to launch a campaign to include the restoration of a Hindu state at the party convention.&nbsp;
In response, NC vice chair Purna Bahadur Khadka wrote in his policy proposal presented to a closed meeting of the NC: ‘The people seem to be delirious with the need to adopt populism and regress to authoritarianism.’&nbsp;
Bhandari’s proposal was rejected by the party leadership. But the NC in general and Deuba in particular have bigger fish to fry. Deuba is being challenged by not-so-young Turks like NC General Secretary Gagan Thapa, who is pushing the party to abandon its alliance with the Maoists in the next election.
Growing calls in the NC to go it alone have sent shock waves in the Maoist Centre, which is the third largest party in Parliament by a wide margin after the NC and opposition UML.
Prime Minister Dahal also faces calls from within his party about the partnership with the NC, and has been hinting that all is not well within the coalition, and that he may reshuffle the Cabinet.&nbsp;
“The Nepali Congress had no choice but to form an electoral alliance with the Maoists due to special political circumstances. But upset voters see it as an ideological contamination of our party,” Gagan Thapa told the convention. &nbsp;
For now, both Dahal and Deuba &nbsp;maintain their commitment to the coalition because a breakup would mean that the premiership-sharing deal between Dahal, Deuba, and CPN-Unified Socialist chair Madhav Kumar Nepal would no longer stand, preventing Deuba from being prime minister for a sixth time.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, NC General Secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma, who has been an ally of Gagan Thapa, differed about going it alone in the next election. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Said Sharma: “Our future electoral alliance or the lack thereof is a bridge we will cross when we get to it four years from now.”

Unconventional convention

If the frequent collapse of the provincial coalition in Kosi is any indication, all is not well in the power dynamics in Nepal’s nine-party governing alliance.
This week, Kedar Karki of Nepali Congress (NC) became the fifth Chief Minister of Kosi Province since elections last November. Karki passed the floor test in the provincial assembly, but with help from the opposition UML. The UML had failed to get enough votes for its own chief minister candidate which precipitated the new election.
This was an embarrassment for Maoist prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal who had got the coalition at the centre to back fellow comrade Indra Bahadur Angbo. And it was also a blow to NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba.
A dissident faction of the NC not happy with party president Sher Bahadur Debut’s conjugal relationship with the Maoists, got UML backing to support Karki’s chief ministership. Eight NC members from Koirala’s camp and 39 from the UML, which has the majority seats in Kosi provincial assembly, supported Kedar Karki.&nbsp;
What followed was even more intriguing. Prime Minister Dahal and Deuba summoned Shekhar Koirala and tried to convince him to backtrack on Kosi. He refused. But they did manage to convince him not to mess with the coalition setup in return for allowing Karki to be Kosi Chief Minister.
And since Nepali leaders are not best known to keep their word, the three put their deal in writing on a crumpled piece of paper, torn from someone’s copy book, and signed it (pictured).
Kathmandu interfering in Kosi is not new. In fact, the former Kosi Chief Minister Hikmat Karki of the UML was actually backed by the Maoists, despite its alliance with the NC at the centre. Rescinding that support is what led to the current instability.&nbsp;
The background to this back-and-forth is the ethnic debate about whether the province should be called Kosi or Kirat. The matter is such a hot potato that Province 1 was the last of the seven to finally vote on a name (Kosi) last year.&nbsp;
The region’s indigenous groups want a name that reflects their identity, but the various ethnic groups are not united in what that name should be. Prime Minister Dahal made matters more complicated by saying that Kosi should be changed to Kirat.&nbsp;
All this is ammunition for those who want to scrap Nepal’s federalism, saying it is a waste of money, it decentralises corruption and multiplies by seven the disarray at the centre.
However, Nepal’s provinces have never been allowed true autonomy on revenue-raising and decision-making, they have been mere appendages of Kathmandu.
Within the NC, the Kosi debate has brought to the surface the strong feelings about the leadership of the largest party in Parliament shamelessly kowtowing to the third largest party. Leading this dissenting group are Shekhar Koirala and Gagan Thapa, although there is an undercurrent of rivalry to succeed Deuba between them.
So far, the coalition has withstood tensions brought on by controversial provisions in the budget, as well as a series of high profile corruption cases that shook up and implicated the top leadership of all major political parties.&nbsp;
It is clear that Nepal’s governing coalition, especially the alliance between the NC and the Maoists, has remained steadfast because of the sheer opportunism of the leaders in charge of both the parties. (And perhaps a bit of geopolitical goading from the South.)
The aftermath of Dahal’s successful attempt to regain premiership from Deuba last year was a power-sharing deal under which Dahal and Deuba gave each other two years each as PM. As per the deal, Unified Socialist chair Madhav Nepal also gets one year at premiership, which is perhaps why he has gone along with the whims of Dahal and Deuba.
All this horse-trading leaves little time for the coalition to govern. Development is at a standstill, inflation is at an all time high (page 4) and corruption has reached pandemic proportions.&nbsp;
The Dasain mood is subdued. Coalition partners will likely use the holiday to plot, and plot some more. They will face fresh challenges, the biggest being the question whether the alliance will hold together long enough, and if Deuba and Dahal will honour their deal to rotate the prime ministership.
Shristi Karki

Kosi now, Kathmandu next?

The India Art Fair (IAF) advertises itself as ‘the biggest event in India’s cultural calendar … a leading platform’ for art collectors who can discover modern and contemporary art from South Asia.&nbsp; For this year’s ticketed event on 5-8 February in New Delhi, more than 133 exhibitors from 14 countries will be representing top artists from their networks. Danfe Arts, a touring art space from Kathmandu, will participate in the Galleries Section of IAF’s 17th edition featuring a booth with works by six Nepali artists.&nbsp; One of them is Sanjeep Maharjan, Assistant Professor for Sculpture at Kathmandu University, who will showcase his claywork as part of Danfe Arts’ entourage. In 2024, Maharjan curated a show for Danfe Arts at Takpa Gallery titled, ‘Unfolding the City’. The IAF prefers to showcase skilled artists who have honed their practice over many years. Much like various biennales and residencies that have been popping up increasingly in Asia, the Fair delves into sociopolitical issues of the region such as many comissioned works including <a href="https://indiaartfair.in/exhibitor/yogesh-barve-supported-by-art-charlie" target="_blank">Yogesh Barve</a>’s installation entitled ‘I am not your Dalit’ featured at the feastival last year.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260115110136_13f262546fca46c0fe4d76f758a694afe7c0c1cfee5bf74eb4f257f78734f8f2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260115110136_13f262546fca46c0fe4d76f758a694afe7c0c1cfee5bf74eb4f257f78734f8f2" data-rendition-name="original" width="989" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali artists at India Art Fair"> <figcaption>Anil Shahi's Hand of Hope, Oil on Canvas, 36 x 60 inches. Exhibiting work at IAF.</figcaption> </figure>  As the name implies, it is a grand bazaar where artists and their agents show up, to be seen — a powerful regional platform where creativity merges with commercial interests. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Artists have a reputation for being weak at business.&nbsp; And in Kathmandu, where the contemporary art scene has been steadily expanding since the early aughts, more and more creatives are seeking platforms like IAF and collaborators like Danfe Arts in order to boost their portfolios. A NEW COURSE In 2022, I was invited to participate in a formal group discussion by founder of and curator at Danfe Arts Shivangi Bansal who was preparing to chart a new course with her Danfe Journal. The journal included photos of artworks as well as writings about art and helped bridge the gap between art and the Nepali public’s understanding of associated processes. Contemporary art and literature is considered a niche activity. Proper marketing and outreach is required to make the product accessible to the average consumer. Besides, consistency can also be an issue. Too often, energetic graduates might register organisations and launch initiatives only to burn out within a year or so. Nepali society would benefit more from a sustained effort with a long-term vision rather than trendy initiatives that look bright and shiny. Danfe Arts discontinued the journal but continued to engage with Nepal’s art community, like facilitating a commission for Mini Tamang by the India Art Fair (IAF) in 2025, as part of IAF’s Young Collector’s Program. Tamang’s artwork, ‘Evocative Waves’, was installed at New Delhi’s Stir Art gallery last year. In 2024, Danfe Arts had organised a group exhibition called ‘A Lake That Once Was’ in New Delhi’s Bikaner House to coincide with the India Art Fair, which listed the exhibition as part of its parallel programs. This meant the Nepali artists received more visibility and value among IAF’s much larger audience.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026011804014_2a15d57a63c375503965a41396b22c006152368a018450d2617f4c8c076ccc74.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026011804014_2a15d57a63c375503965a41396b22c006152368a018450d2617f4c8c076ccc74" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="998" loading="lazy" alt="arts"> <figcaption>A Lake That Once Was, 2024 at Bikaner House, Delhi.</figcaption> </figure>  Since its inception, Danfe Arts has put out an eclectic mix of programs, demonstrating innovative thinking and effort. With its multi-platform approach, Danfe Arts has collaborated with restaurants like Mezze, putting up an exhibition in November 2025, ‘Bhoye - The Feast’. Danfe Arts is also cultivating relationships with specific artists based on synergies and sensibilities.&nbsp; The history of art practice in Nepal is long and illustrious, but due to political and geographical constraints, esteemed artists have been sheltered and confined within our national borders.&nbsp; By featuring these six artists for the 2026 edition of IAF, Danfe Arts is helping them make regional connections. And as our artists and gallerists show up on global platforms, they might in turn compel Nepalis to view more critically the value of art and how creative practices can contribute positively to society. As technology takes over and AI bots spam the Internet, the issue of originality might become tantamount to survival. We should take risks in our professional pursuits in order to design new communal models of exchange. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; India Art Fair New Delhi 5-8 February&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026011804014_f226a31af8a33f8da5e7359886289de3fd1b2db17697b96b909404e582d75124.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2026011804014_f226a31af8a33f8da5e7359886289de3fd1b2db17697b96b909404e582d75124" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1875" loading="lazy" alt="arts"> </figure>

Nepali artists at India Art Fair

Only a handful of people who witnessed the 1934 megaquake as children are still alive. And the memories of 2015 are fading fast.&nbsp;
We were shaken, but have not stirred into action. We have not even started preparing to be prepared for the inevitable, for it is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’.&nbsp;
Thursday 15 January was National Earthquake Safety Day commemorating the 1934 disaster that killed 10,000 people in Kathmandu Valley at a time when its population was barely 100,000.
Nepal is in an active seismic zone, and a really big one is overdue in the seismic gap in western Nepal where there has not been a megaquake for 500 years. The 7.8M quake in 2015 did not completely release the tectonic stress below Central Nepal.
An 8M+ earthquake epicentred in western Nepal will be even more violent than the 2015 one in Kathmandu and will be powerful enough to cause destruction across northern India as well.&nbsp;
We Nepalis are resilient, but we are also complacent and fatalistic. How else does one explain the unsafe and unplanned building construction in Kathmandu, Pokhara and other towns despite frequent reminders of what quakes can do?&nbsp;
Most designs are ad hoc and follow no engineering logic. Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) is now widespread across the country since such structures mostly withstood the 2015 event. But structural engineers say most concrete buildings are substandard, and can be death traps. Also, the country lacks equipment and training for search and rescue in cement houses.&nbsp;
FIRE HAZARD
If an earthquake struck Kathmandu on a windy winter evening, there is the added risk of fires from gas cylinders in collapsed buildings spreading across the densely packed city core. Fire trucks will not be able to reach those areas because the streets will be blocked.
Seismic risk is now amplified by climate breakdown. Nepal now needs to factor in the co-hazard of massive avalanches and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) triggered by future earthquakes. There are 41 potentially dangerous glacial lakes in the region, and 27 of them are in Tibet feeding rivers that flow into Nepal. A megaquake there could cause multiple simultaneous GLOFs.&nbsp;
If the 2015 earthquake had not happened on a Saturday, tens of thousands of children could have been killed in the 7,000 schools that were flattened. More than 2,500 government buildings came down, and would have killed and trapped many if it had not been a weekend.
Schools and health facilities retrofitted before the disaster were unscathed, and served as shelters for survivors. Chhatrapati Free Clinic (CFC) was reinforced three years before the earthquake for Rs5.2 million, and with support from National Society of Earthquake Technology (NSET), 800 community members were trained in search and rescue.
Bhuwaneswori Secondary School in Bhaktapur and Bal Bikas Secondary School in Kathmandu both survived 2015 because they had been retrofitted. Singha Darbar, the Supreme Court and the Department of Roads buildings were also made seismic resistant after 2015 quake, but the arson attacks on 9 September gutted them.
While many private residential homes built after 2015 continue to flout building codes, municipalities are now stricter. New schools and colleges, hospitals and high rises now have to meet stringent requirements for seismic resistance.
Nepal is a hotspot for many types of disasters — earthquakes, floods, droughts, glacial outbursts, wildfires. These are not ‘natural’ disasters, they are human induced. Earthquakes do not kill people, poorly-built buildings do. Climate breakdown is anthropogenic.&nbsp;
Waiting for a disaster to strike means we have waited too long. Search and rescue readiness are well and good, but much more important is preparedness — seismic resistance structures especially of public buildings, strict zoning to establish open spaces, pre-positioning supplies and simulated drills.
We do not know how much time we have before the next one. But it is not too late to start preparing. &nbsp;
Sonia Awale

Shaken, but not stirred

The series <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/looking-good-by-doing-good">Nepal Made</a> profiles world-class Nepali products and the people behind them. Deepak Acharya was born and raised in Simara, before his uncle took him to Pokhara when he was only in sixth grade. After class, he helped sell jackets and outdoor gear at his uncle's Lakeside store. &nbsp; Twenty-two years later, &nbsp;Acharya is still selling jackets. Not international brands like he used to, but products of his own outdoor gear company, DOLPO.&nbsp; Acharya and his brother-in-law, Krishna Ammai, started making and selling jackets and gear for international companies out of Thamel. After losing his business partner in the 2015 earthquake, he was done selling imported items. He launched his own line of outerwear, named after Nepal’s rugged and remote district, known for its stunning arid landscape. The careful selection of the name DOLPO paid off. It took off, providing a high-quality, affordable Nepal-made alternative to foreign companies.&nbsp; “A lot of work went into choosing the name Dolpo,” says Acharya, who considered what came into people’s minds when they heard the name of a place with double-O sound. “I wanted a brand that local customers would instantly relate to toughness and mountains.” The elegant logo reflects this as well, made up of two overlapping rounded triangles denoting mountains with a third peak in the middle. Underneath is ‘DOLPO’ in upper case sans serif.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260116120148_968d9354094049265372d851d0e44e16ae4fc86b5631481e365e6e977f13d37d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260116120148_968d9354094049265372d851d0e44e16ae4fc86b5631481e365e6e977f13d37d" data-rendition-name="original" width="854" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="Dolpo NT"> <figcaption>Photo: DOLPO</figcaption> </figure>  RIGHT QUALITY, RIGHT PRICE “Our philosophy is Right quality, Right price,” says co-founder Deepak Acharya, adding with a smile that the pricing strategy of a particular competitor has made business easy: “The employees at North Face may sell North Face, but they wear Dolpo.” The rebranding was so successful that Acharya regrets not launching it sooner. The reason for the success is that the outdoor gear market in Nepal has taken off with more and more domestic tourists trekking in the high mountains to share their adventures on social media.&nbsp; Nepalis seem to be consciously choosing sustainable, Nepal made products of international quality. Acharya says: “Of course, there will always be a demographic that only wears North Face, or Sonam. But we have the right design, right price philosophy.”&nbsp; DOLPO uses fabric and material mainly from Japan, and adheres to strict quality control. The reversible down jackets, windcheaters, shorts, fleece-lined pants, trekking trousers, backpacks, and polo shirts can be bought through its website, or two exclusive flagship stores in Sorakhutte and Thamel Chok. “After the rebrand, we slowly made a digital platform, marketed online, and worked with a delivery company to get items directly to buyers,” says Acharya. “We have no brokers or middlemen to keep prices low for the consumer.” DOLPO is a family business with Acharya’s mother and sister also involved, and nephew Nishant Ammai driving digital sales. Acharya points out that there is a lot of business opportunity in Nepal, as there are too many low-quality products being sold at too high a price. &nbsp;“The market is begging for an auto-correction,” he says. For Nepal’s pessimistic youth who are fleeing the country, Acharya urges patience: “The younger generation wants shortcuts. The mindset is to set up a venture and in three years they will be set for life. But this is not how success works.” “Choose a field, put in ten years of effort, really learn about it, and then you will see the vast possibility present in Nepal,” he continues.&nbsp; Last month, the DOLPO logo was seen on the jerseys of the Biratnagar Kings in NPL 2. The company made hats, jackets, and jerseys for star-studded cricket players including Lokesh Bam, Sandeep Lamichhane, Faf Du Plessis, and Martin Guptill. The Kings finished second in the group, and although Acharya is a football fan, he is happy to contribute to the rise of cricket in Nepal. &nbsp;&nbsp;

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Proud to wear DOLPO