What are you waiting for?

Lack of internal opposition to leaderships of the three major parties is disheartening.

Again, there was no mistaking one of the central messages of the Gen Z revolution. They said, in no uncertain terms, that the days of the three old leaders taking turns to become prime minister were gone. This demand of the Gen Z protesters captured the country’s overall mood. More than anything else, it was the single-minded pursuit of power of the leaders of the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) that had contributed to people’s frustration with the political class. Yet Sher Bahadur Deuba, KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal all want to shamelessly cling to their party leadership. In the case of the Congress, the general secretary duo of Gagan Thapa and Bishwo Prakash Sharma are in favour of radically changing their party in line with the demands of the Gen Z protesters, which, above all, means Deuba’s departure. Yet other senior Congress leaders are livid at this attempt to unseat Deuba—at a time the ‘party’s guardian’ ails. There are no signs yet that the UML is even considering replacing Oli, someone who is now accused of having a direct part in the deaths of 74 people during the Gen Z protests.