CPN Candidate Nirmal Acharya Claims Strong Support in Dang-2, Challenges Incumbent Leader

Nirmal Acharya, the candidate from the CPN (Communist Party of Nepal) for Dang Constituency No. 2, is currently busy with election campaigning. He claims that the atmosphere is building in his favor this time.

This constituency, where CPN-UML General Secretary Shankar Pokharel is also a candidate, presents significant challenges for Acharya. However, he states that past electoral calculations have been shattered, leading to the automatic attraction of the general public towards him. Presented here is an edited excerpt from the conversation conducted by Sudarshan Acharya of Ratopati.

The election campaign is intensifying. What are you feeling right now?

I have felt something completely unexpected. Due to the Janajati movement and subsequent events, people had developed a significant disillusionment with political parties. I thought that although the party gave me the ticket, what kind of reaction would I receive when I go to the public? I went to the field with the mindset that perhaps they wouldn't let me enter the villages, or maybe they wouldn't listen to me at all. But, from the very first day, I received such positive feedback that I cannot express it in words. The public has completely accepted me.

In the past, Congress and Maoists have won in Dang. What is the atmosphere like this time? What have you observed?

Yesterday's political calculations and equations have all broken down. We have formed the Nepal Communist Party by uniting as much as possible, overcoming the disappointment generated among the public due to party splits or divisions, and we have entered the field with a new election symbol.

Secondly, personally, due to the way I have served the people here and the rapport I share with them, all the old electoral calculations have been overturned. I see that the attraction of the general public towards us, especially towards me and my election symbol, the star, has naturally increased.

The UML General Secretary is a candidate here. He has already served as Chief Minister and a Union Minister. Won't the question arise that your experience is somewhat less in comparison to him?

He has been Chief Minister, he has been a Union Minister. He has been contesting elections since 2051 BS. What is left for him to do? As we say, should the youth do nothing? Is 'vision' monopolized only by them?

I might have been born later than him, I might have studied later, but I have read more books than him, struggled more, and I have also been jailed. If those who did things yesterday are to do them today as well, then why were so many political movements necessary? Why do movements happen from time to time? They could have just continued with the ministers from the Panchayat era! Therefore, this argument is not appropriate.

Now, we must break the old calculations. I am moving forward saying that we will all move ahead together, consulting with each other, with new thinking and new zeal. My ideas and consultations align with intellectuals, journalists, traders, farmers, and laborers.

You mentioned new thinking. Previously, two representatives from the Maoist side were elected from here. This time, what different agendas are you taking forward compared to them?

My main agenda is to complete the work initiated by the respected Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Rekha Sharma but left unfinished. Besides that, I have some of my own unique agendas for which I claim patent rights. My first proposal is to establish the Dang Development Authority.

We need overall development for Dang! Our predecessors have done many good things in the past. But, due to a lack of foresight, due to the incorrect calculation of where to land the plane, an airport was built in a small location, and to this day, we haven't been able to board a plane properly. My proposal is to create a master plan for the overall development of Dang so that future generations, looking back a hundred or two hundred years later, do not regret, 'What did our predecessor politicians achieve?' This must be done.

Another point relates to farmers. A support price must be set for farmers' produce. An employee or officer knows exactly what their salary will be after working for a month. But a farmer, while planting vegetables, does not know for sure how much their vegetables will sell for. Therefore, it is the state's responsibility to ensure water and fertilizer reach the farmers' crops. Furthermore, the state must also set the support price for their produce. I have raised many such fundamental issues.

In my definition, development is not just electricity, water, and roads. Development is linked to where the money comes into the pockets of the common farmer, voter, or common Nepali citizen. How can every citizen have a minimum of NPR 30,000 to 50,000 in hand? Development only occurs if that environment can be created. People say—I will open industries and factories and bring development. But where to open them? How to open them? How can we compete with such large multinational companies?

Therefore, employment based on agriculture must be created. If the government doesn't have enough money to pay salaries to employees, it borrows from abroad, but it cannot evade responsibility if it incurs a loss while purchasing what the farmer produces. When farmers plant tomatoes, the price is 40 rupees, but when they sell, it becomes 5 rupees. Who takes responsibility for this?

Another point: an employee or teacher retires at 58. The state retires them, saying, 'You can no longer work,' and gives them a pension. But when does that farmer get old? Shouldn't the farmer have the right to grow old? Shouldn't they receive something in their retired life for the contribution they made to the state? I will fight to enact laws on these very issues. If a support price is set for sugarcane, why not for tomatoes?

Currently, there are three tiers of government, but the federal, provincial, and local governments are all saying the same thing. The role of the federal government is to make laws and work hard to implement them. On the other hand, it must be said with irony in Dang—many squatters have filled out forms, but not a single land ownership certificate has been distributed. Why hasn't it happened? Why did it happen elsewhere? I have formulated my programs to find answers and solutions to such questions.