Speak less, listen more

Grassroots campaigns of political parties should be used to connect with people, not shift blames.

The practice of political parties hitting the road for district- and village-centric programmes and their leaders interacting with common folks is commendable. Of late, it has become a trend of Nepal’s political parties to convene local campaigns, for weeks or even months. The main opposition, the CPN (Maoist Centre), on Monday kicked off a month-long ‘Tarai-Madhesh awakening campaign’. The Nepali Congress, the biggest ruling party, carried out a ‘100-day special campaign,’ while its coalition companion CPN-UML has started the Jara Abhiyan (a grassroots campaign), which will be conducted at ward levels across the country. Likewise, the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal recently carried out a four-month ‘special campaign to expand party organisation’. Leaders of the new Rastriya Swatantra Party have been on walkathons, such as the one from Narayanghat to Butwal last year. The UML is ahead of other parties in running such drives. The party has run major campaigns such as ‘mission grassroots ’ and a march along the Mid-hill Highway under the leadership of party chair KP Sharma Oli.