By Deepak Raj Joshi 

With the overwhelming victory in Chitwan and Tanahun, The Rashtriya Swatantra Party ( RSP) was able to put all the political forces into crisis. The blow these mainstream parties received is of such a dimension that, if they do not reinvent themselves and change in a profound way, they will come to an end and RSP will be the new reality of the political spectrum of Nepal. The RSP force now has in its leadership citizens who have not been active in parties and members of different political and social forces, and also a few politicians who have been active in other parties. With the rise of RSP, a different type of constructive debate has started in the political spectrum. People felt relief and experienced some sort of joy after a long time.

Citizens are concerned about existing false promises, fraud, and nepotism from these mainstream parties. They want to take action and demonstrate that change is achievable in their lifetime. RSP is gaining popularity among those who are tired of political ideologies that have failed to impact people’s lives. Some political pundits believe the RSP is a product of populism. Populism is an approach to politics that denies the complexity of the world. As a result, it tends to disqualify the legitimacy of the opinions of others. Because if the world is simple, I am right and others are wrong, which very soon leads to an erosion of democratic checks and balances. And that is why sometimes populism is described as a good thing for democracy.

You have to consider the trust issues, and the total collapse of voter confidence in political elites, traditional elites, business elites, union elites, and even religious elites. And of course, when trust is lost, people are likely to look for a savior, and people are starting to believe RSP could be a Savior. We were always taught that the left-wing philosophy is concerned with society, whilst the right wing is concerned with the individual. What’s the purpose of having two wings if you can’t fly? RSP is preaching the idea that they are neither left nor right but they wanted to bring the nation forward and fly.

In order to fight for a broken political system, RSP is speaking up. By speaking up for the truth about what occurred to the people of Nepal, they are breaking the silence and giving a voice to the voiceless. You are going to be the one who is going to benefit from this society but you have to fight for it. No one is going to fight for society if you don’t. This is the mantra RSP is chanting that ignites people’s hopes to fight for a better future. Until today, our democracy has only been limited to holding elections once every five years. Trust in democracy as a form of governance is declining, the perception is that politics is getting worse and politicians are obviously being blamed for it,

The future is not easy for RSP. They have to be prepared for a bumpy ride and unprecedented turbulence. It will be difficult for RSP to find a sweet meaningful existence between mass-based organizations and cadre-based organizations. Making a strong party is the biggest challenge they will face in the coming days. They have to spend countless hours, days, and months for grassroots campaigns to make an alternate liberal Democratic party. Holding voters’ expectations is not an easy task. Grass root movement should focus on creating local profound leaders who can hold the voters for many more elections. Time management, knowledge management, and talent management are missing elements from these traditional parties and these three points will be great assets for scientific organization management. Last but not least, only ethical democracy will flourish and RSP should add the Vedic way of democracy as a component. Only then, they can stop the suicide of democracy which is happening now.

People are tired of political games to spread confusion among the people who dream of the development and prosperity of their society and still pin their hopes on the democracy that truly represents them. We need a few more parties like RSP in order to transform society. Healthy competition between political parties will result in better democracy and better democracy is Central to the Prosperity and Peace of the people. Will they be able to fix the political mayhem? Only time will tell what the future of the RSP party will be, but most of the citizens of Nepal are optimistic and hopeful for the betterment of this nation.