Nepali Congress Leader Bhishma Raj Angdembe Emphasizes Issues Over Numbers in Parliament

Kathmandu. Nepali Congress leader Bhishma Raj Angdembe has stated that the issues and ideas raised in parliament are more important than the party's numbers there. Addressing the convention of the Nepal Tharu Association held in Lalitpur, he said that even though the number of Congress in parliament is small, the public welfare issues they raise will be powerful. He clarified that democracy cannot be run solely on the strength of numbers and that Congress will effectively play its role in protecting parliamentary dignity and democratic practice. Leader Angdembe said that in the past, the idea of viewing parliament and the party separately and increasing the distance between them to weaken the party had become dominant within Congress. He claimed that an environment has now been created to nullify such tendencies and move the party and parliament forward with the same thinking and track. He said, 'There was a part that Nepali Congress had almost forgotten, the idea of making the party a boomerang by making parliament and the party separate, or parliament like a story from one country and the party from another country. We have created an environment where parliament and the party move on the same track, nullifying all those thoughts and tendencies.' He said that although they appear somewhat weak in parliamentary experience, efforts are being made to find conclusions to the problems created within parliament through mutual cooperation and coordination between the party and parliament. He stated that Congress will continuously raise its voice to establish democratic values and norms in parliament and expressed determination to establish that those who dance nakedly based on numbers will face the weight of issues. Meanwhile, he also seriously reviewed the internal life of the party and past political mistakes. He admitted that Congress had lost its original identity by cooperating with UML at times and Maoist Center at other times to gain power in the past. Expressing anger and concern, he said, 'In the journey started to gain power, we sometimes swayed to the rhythm of UML, and sometimes we merged with the rhythm of Maoist. By merging with the rhythm of both, we forgot our own rhythm.' He clarified that the core character of Congress is to encompass the diverse sentiments of the multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and the Himalayas, hills, and terai-madhesh, and this is the integrated spirit of Congress. He commented that although Congress had become narrow-minded like a pocket in the past, today, by stepping out of the pocket, a beautiful world is visible, and this world is the true land of Congress. He emphasized that Congress's identity has not been lost, but only the thinking and hands that sought it have been lost, and therefore, by uniting, the lost identity must be brought back. He called on all leaders and workers to awaken from their respective places and engage in organization building, as the current party leadership has the full zeal, enthusiasm, and drive to reawaken Congress.