Kathmandu: The 14th General Convention of Nepali Congress, the oldest democratic party of Nepal, starts on Friday. Candidates are coming forward with candidacy in different posts. Urmila Thapaliya, general secretary of Nepal Student Union, the party’s student wing, has also thrown her hat in the ring for the post of central member.
Thapaliya joined politics through NSU in grade 6 at her school. The energy from childhood still energizes her even after 24 years of her political journey, she says. From a central member of NSU, District Secretary of Dhading, and NSU’s central vice-chair, she has overcome many hurdles to become a general secretary of NSU. “I want to upgrade myself by entering mainstream party politics,” she says. “My candidacy for the party’s central member is the first step towards that.”
Thapaliya claims that her candidacy’s major goal is to connect the ideologies pioneered by BP Koirala to the grassroots level. “I am in the fray with a vision to implement BP’s ideologies at the general public level,” she added. According to her, BP did not have much time in store but had ideologies and great vision, while current leaders have both ideologies and time. She agrees that the participation of women in party politics is low, which could be enhanced by encouraging them to vie for different posts through open categories. “Reservation is like a safety measure. But, women are also able to actively participate in open competition,” she says.
“While transferring leadership, we need to maintain a balance between the experience and sacrifices of the old generation and the energy and passion of the new generation. Transferring leadership is necessary but should be done without ignoring the older generation,” she said, adding that so far in this convention, she has seen the exciting participation of youths.
When asked about the formation of camps within the party, she argues it’s not wrong to form teams to take part in elections. What’s a blunder is to turn a blind eye to the wrongdoings of one’s own team members and hold back applause for the good deeds of members from another team. “We should select capable leaders, not our leaders. Nepali Congress is a family. That’s the main point,” she concluded. “It is necessary that we contemplate on how our party, unitedly, will win over other parties in days to come.”
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