Takeaways from the Lingden's Victory from the eyes of  youth

As we approach the depth of the winter the political environment of the country is at the height of summer. The Conventions of the largest and well-recognized parties in the country are creating tremendous heat and buzz across the wider public and political spectrum. Last week, the largest party in the country, CPN-UML, almost unanimously accepted the unopposed supremacy of KP Sharma Oli and tried to set the narrative that "Oli is UML and UML is Oli ''. Grand Old Party, Nepali Congress is busy with the convention of all the lower hierarchy, paving the way for the National convention. Recently, the party which advocates the reinstatement of the abolished monarchy and Hindu-Rastra finished its unity convention. Unfortunately, the discussions and debates regarding the statute of the parties were visibly in a coma and the conventions largely underscore electing the leadership for the next term. Rajendra Lingden, the second-generation politician and only parliamentarian of the party will now take command of the party after defeating the incumbent chairman, Kamal Thapa, with a margin of 227 votes. Party, which is already in a coma, will seek to revitalize its agenda and improve the electoral performance as per the promises. Irrespective of the current status of this political party, the democratic transformation of the party's authority to second-generation has larger political significance and epitomizes the power of the interventions from youths, creating the watershed in the recent political history of the country.

Except for a handful of young politicians, the young fraternity of the politicians across all the political parties is busy in the sycophancy of the party's leadership in the hope for a better political future. It seems highly unlikely that leading parties will have the younger face in command for at least the next five years. Regardless of the narratives that have been developed and propagated by Kamal Thapa's camp to negate the victory of the Lingden, this victory of the duo of Lingden and Dhawal Shamsher Rana has explicitly shown the possibility of the emergence of the younger generation in the decisive and the prominent places of the political parties. The message is very loud and clear, if you want to lead and make an impact, you just can't simply wait for the older generations to pave the way for you, you have to fight and snatch it from them. Small Party, yet successfully manage to deliver the most important statement in the wider political spectrum.

While congratulating the newly elected chairman Lingden, Kamal Thapa publicly criticizes the role of ex-king in this convention. He tried to set the narrative that the intervention from the Nirmal Niwas was paramount in the victory of Lingden. It can be said that the ex-king was not visibly happy with the initiation taken by Kamal Thapa's leadership to capitalize on the frustration of the public with the federal democratic republican system. The supremo of the party, which was supposed to be the major flagbearer of reinstatement of the constitutional monarchy movement, was busy participating in the government formed under the constitution of the federal democratic republic of Nepal. The coalition blunder orchestrated by the Thapa in the last parliamentary election which prevented the party from getting the national status can also be considered as the major reason which upset the cadres of the party. The sheer political blunders and the incompetent leadership of the Thapa, not only upset the cadres, supporters, and ex-King but also pave the way for Lingden to claim the leadership.

Not long ago, then RPP-Nepal used to be the major political force in the country to explicitly endorse the agenda of Hindu-Rastra. The same agenda allowed the party for a respectable presence in the second Constitution Assembly. However, today, several other political forces are trying to claim ownership of the Hindu-Rastra agenda to entice the voters. The party was losing the grip on the ownership of the agenda, which was supposed to help the party to be the major political force in the country. Amid the political upheavals the party is facing, the party's cadres have decided to change the leadership. Now a son of ‘KIRATI’ will spearhead the Hindu-Rastra movement of the RPP.

In a nutshell, irrespective of my political belief and faith, as a youth of this country, this victory of the Lingden has provided me with a ray of hope and belief for the presence of the youth in the supreme position of the political parties. This has to be followed by the youth of the other political parties as well. The voters within the other political party must also step up and lobby for the generational transformation in the leadership. Best of luck, Mr. Lingden!