Congress-UML mimic Pakistani-Style regime, Ignore economy as Nepal crumbles under political revenge

KATHMANDU: In a troubling display of political arrogance and democratic backsliding, Nepal’s ruling coalition of Nepali Congress and CPN-UML—despite holding nearly a two-thirds majority—appears more interested in replicating a Pakistani-style model of governance marked by vengeance and institutional capture than addressing the country’s dire economic woes.

Widespread criticism is mounting over the government’s failure to initiate bold economic reforms, improve governance or address unemployment, inflation, or the collapsing industrial climate. Instead, the coalition has been preoccupied with settling political scores and manipulating parliamentary rules for partisan advantage, most recently evidenced by their attempt to remove Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar on flimsy grounds of protocol violations.

The move to oust Deputy Speaker Rana, a member of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), has been described by constitutional experts as an act of naked political revenge. Congress and UML MPs collected signatures to register a motion against her citing a letter she wrote to the U.S. Embassy in 2023 to facilitate visas for five individuals.

Notably, this issue had surfaced a year ago but neither party acted then; it has only resurfaced now as a vendetta because the RSP has been sharply exposing government failures, including alleged visa scam issues. Analysts say such behavior mirrors Pakistan’s political culture, where majority parties use parliament as a rubber stamp to crush dissent rather than implement structural reform.

Critics warn that this trend is eroding democratic norms and diverting attention from Nepal’s desperate need for economic revival, fiscal discipline, investment attraction, and digital transformation. Dr. Bhimarjun Acharya, a noted constitutional lawyer, has warned that Congress and UML are trampling on democratic values for the sake of political control, adding that using the majority to remove constitutional officials only to secure control over the Constitutional Council is deeply alarming.

That council was recently at the center of scandal after the president refused to endorse a government-backed bill allowing the prime minister to make appointments with only one ally in the council. The government now wants to replace the deputy speaker with its own cadre to tilt the majority in its favor.

Political analyst Prof. Krishna Pokharel says the government has become intoxicated with power. “This is the height of authoritarian arrogance. Members of parliament are being forced to sign blank papers. Democracy has turned into ‘leader-cracy’.”

Even lawmakers within Congress and UML are reportedly uncomfortable. Many from the Shekhar Koirala faction of the Nepali Congress refused to sign the motion, indicating internal friction. Smaller parties such as Janamat and Nagarik Unmukti were invited for meetings, but declined to support the move.

This fiasco is similar to the political assault launched last year on Rabi Lamichhane, the RSP leader who was attacked through media propaganda and legal traps immediately after his party demanded accountability over cooperative fraud and criticized the old parties for decades of corruption.

While Lamichhane was briefly forced to resign as Deputy Prime Minister over a citizenship technicality, he returned through public mandate. This case revealed how the traditional parties use state mechanisms for revenge rather than governance.

Nepal’s political instability is now damaging its international image and scaring away foreign investors who already fear policy inconsistency, bureaucratic corruption and the absence of rule of law.

The private sector, the tourism industry, hydropower developers and digital startups have repeatedly appealed to the government to focus on macroeconomic stability, job creation, and investment climate. Yet, the ruling bloc seems obsessed with scripting daily political comedy in parliament instead of delivering urgent reforms.

Economists warn that Nepal faces a slowdown in industrial output, declining remittance-driven consumption, and rising trade deficits. International agencies and investors monitor Nepal’s politics closely, and the message currently going out is that the country’s leadership is prioritizing political revenge over economic governance. Ordinary citizens are frustrated as inflation rises and youth continue to migrate abroad in search of jobs.

The real danger is that with this kind of authoritarian tendency, the government could soon start targeting any dissenting voice, including civil society and media that expose corruption.

The manipulation of parliamentary procedures to remove a deputy speaker today could easily expand tomorrow into cracking down on journalists, businessmen, or activists who expose misuse of state power.

If Nepal truly wants stability and development, the current ruling coalition must drop this Pakistani-style retaliation politics and instead adopt robust economic reforms that can boost GDP growth, improve infrastructure, and build an environment of trust for business and foreign direct investment.

Rather than forcing MPs to sign blank sheets and targeting rival leaders through manufactured scandals, the coalition should prioritize tax reforms, digital governance, clean energy investment, telecom modernization, and employment generation.

Nepal still holds immense potential in tourism, hydropower, agriculture, and digital trade. But unless the political leadership stops turning parliament into a revenge stage and focuses on the economy, Nepal will remain trapped in underdevelopment and rising public anger.

With a near two-thirds majority, the Congress-UML coalition could have made history by restructuring Nepal’s economy and governance, but instead it is now being accused of destroying democratic institutions and acting like an authoritarian regime obsessed with settling scores.

In a functioning democracy, the parliament is meant to represent the people’s hopes for prosperity and justice—not to serve as a battlefield for ego, retaliation, and backdoor deals. As analysts call for more accountable and reform-oriented leadership, many citizens now see parties like the RSP as a necessary force to challenge this old, entrenched, corruption-driven political order.

Unless the ruling parties urgently change course and deliver concrete economic transformation, they risk pushing Nepal toward a deeper crisis—politically, economically, and socially.