Morang-4 Election Ground Zero: Nepali Congress General Secretary Guru Ghimire Discusses Campaign, Public Grievances, and New Political Challenges

The fervor for the upcoming House of Representatives election is escalating across the country. In this context, Morang Constituency No. 4 is currently a major focus. Nepali Congress General Secretary Guru Ghimire is contesting from this constituency. Ghimire, who emerged from student politics, is known as an ideological and eloquent speaker.

As the election date nears, what is the atmosphere like in Morang-4? What are the public's complaints and expectations when visiting door-to-door? How has the internal factionalism within the Nepali Congress impacted this time? And how does he view the recent wave of new political parties gaining traction?

Here are the edited excerpts from the conversation with Guru Ghimire focusing on these contemporary issues:

• How is the election campaign progressing?

The period and scope for campaigning are now significantly shrinking. We are currently in the process of meeting and communicating with the maximum number of voters, explaining our issues, and expressing commitments based on their requests. The geography of this constituency is very large. It is very difficult to reach all areas. While we can reach the geographical areas, time constraints make it very difficult to reach all nearly 125,000 voters directly. Nevertheless, we are trying to reach the maximum number of voters possible.

• While campaigning door-to-door, what complaints and demands did you hear from the people? Specifically, what perception did you find regarding you and the Congress party?

I have received immense sympathy and support from the people towards me. Personally, I have good rapport. However, overall, the public has many grievances regarding the current prevailing politics. There are complaints ranging from development works to employment. There are numerous personal problems such as treatment, education, citizenship, and issues faced by landless squatters. There are certainly problems, but they are not of a catastrophic or dire nature that cannot be resolved.

• Factionalism within the Nepali Congress is raised in every election. How are you managing internal unity in this constituency?

There is unprecedented unity within the party this time. All candidates and colleagues in the party have shown heartfelt goodwill. The Nepali Congress has now been freed from the traditional internal ailment that existed within the party. That cordiality was evident right from the candidate selection process at the central level. Just as we completed the work cordially at the center, historic and unprecedented unity is visible now as we come to the constituencies. Colleagues in the villages are working with great enthusiasm.

• Morang-4 has geographical, ethnic, and class diversity. However, some critics suggest that you are a candidate not closely acquainted with the voters here, not connected to the grassroots level?

There are two aspects to this. It is natural for those who do not know me personally to say they don't know me. But I have been active in this constituency since the 2048 election. Since the time when Dr. Shyam Lal Tawadar and later Shailaja Acharya were candidates in the lower belt, I have been active at the same level here. I am someone who rose from the grassroots; I did not drop in from above. I rose from the grassroots and have now returned to the public seeking their support.

Such comments are natural in politics. Not all people may know any leader personally. All people recognize leaders from a distance. Furthermore, I take the spreading of such rumors by the opposition during election time as normal. The interaction, cordiality, and intimate relationships will only grow.

• You see two challenges: one is internal management within the party, and the other is the wave brought by the new party, Rastriya Swatantra Party. How much is that bell ringing in your mind?

This is a whirlwind. It is natural for such whirlwinds to occur in nature, and they also occur in politics. We have weathered many such whirlwinds in the past. However, this has no foundation, no ground. This is a completely baseless whirlwind.

The people do not know them internally, nor do they know the depth of the people's issues. They are not a whirlwind that has joined the political process of Nepal through struggle. These are merely some trends that have emerged recently due to some public disillusionment and the seizing of opportunities. They are those who wish to create chaos in society, push society into thoughtlessness to fulfill their ambitions, and seek to serve their self-interests.

Do they have any familiarity with the geography here, the ethnic and linguistic diversity, the problems here, which community resides where? Their religion, culture, tradition, suffering, deprivation, poverty, and backwardness? Politics is not just about slogans. Politics is a serious process of changing people's lives, giving people a happy life, and elevating the development and prestige of the nation.

Our leader B.P. Koirala dreamt of making every Nepali like himself, like his family. We are the cadres who walk to fulfill that dream. We have faced every ups and downs, changes, and crises in the 80-year-long political struggle. Therefore, such minor whirlwinds do not affect us, and the people here will not believe them either. We have undergone a major transformation within the party. By changing everything from leadership to policy, reviewing 35 years of politics, and setting aside our shortcomings, we have come before the people completely renewed.