Discrepancies Emerge Between Rastriya Swatantra Party's Manifesto and Balen Shah's Promises Ahead of Election

Biratnagar. A divergence in perspective regarding the provincial structure has emerged between the manifesto publicized by the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) targeting the election on Falgun 21 and the promises made by Balen Shah, whom the RSP has put forward as its candidate for Prime Minister.

Although the RSP emphasized a liberal economy and the rule of law in its central manifesto, it clashes with Balen Shah's manifesto on issues such as federalism and resolving the landless squatters' problem.

On page 7 of the RSP's publicized manifesto, while discussing constitutional amendments, the party remained silent on the provinces. The central manifesto states, "Adhering to the Constitution of Nepal-2072, the duties specified by the Constitution will be faithfully executed... Amendment or rewriting of the Constitution will be done based on Articles 274 and 275 of the Constitution."

However, Balendra Shah, the candidate for Jhapa-5, explicitly promised to strengthen the provinces, going even clearer than the central policy on page 1 of his manifesto. Balen stated, "I commit to completing the following tasks within five years in coordination and cooperation between local, provincial, and federal governments, playing a significant role in ensuring the devolution of constitutional rights to local and provincial governments."

The party's central line seems to disregard the provincial structure, but the candidate, Shah, attempts to clarify to voters that he is in favor of federalism by promising devolution of authority to that same structure. Previously, in response to a voter's question that provincial assembly members and ministers increase expenditure, he had stated that such spending constitutes only a small fraction.

For resolving the landless squatters' problem, the center has spoken of policy and legal reforms. In contrast, candidate Shah claims to solve the issue within 1,000 days. He had previously been portrayed by opponents as the person who drove bulldozers over squatter settlements. In that context, he promised to resolve the landless issue within 1,000 days.

Balen's manifesto mentions, "To achieve a just and sustainable solution to the problems of the landless, squatters, and irregularly settled residents of Jhapa-5... adopting the policy of forming a commission in 100 days and resolving the issue in 1000 days, the squatter problem will be resolved through an empowered commission." The central manifesto does not specify any such timeline.

The RSP's central manifesto aims to make the country remittance-free within 5 years. The center's manifesto states, "Within the next five years, Nepal will move away from dependency solely on remittances towards a production and export-oriented economy." However, Balen accepts foreign employment as a continuous process while saying something different regarding the tourism and industry sectors. Balen stated, "An enterprise promotion program will be operated for those returning from foreign employment." It appears that while the center speaks of being remittance-free for popularity, Balen considers it impossible.

The central manifesto emphasizes completely free education up to Grade 12 and a national education policy. However, Balen has borrowed a program implemented by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City during his tenure for his own area.

Balen's manifesto states, "The compulsion for students to go abroad will be minimized by implementing the skill-based education program currently in use in Kathmandu Metropolitan City." The central party's call for a single national curriculum across the country, while a local candidate proposes implementing a model from a specific city in Jhapa, may indicate a lack of policy uniformity.