Purna Basnet Blames Congress and Communists’ Obsession with Power for Country’s Current Situation

Purna Basnet, head of the publicity department of the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) Nepal, has said that political parties in the country should be centered on ideology and issues rather than power and authority.

Speaking in the context of a joint appeal made by young leaders from five socialist-oriented parties for party unification, Basnet stressed that the call for unity was not to build an all-powerful leadership but to address the country’s needs through shared ideas, principles, and issues.

He remarked, “It is the Congress and Communists’ obsession with power and authority that has pushed the country into the current situation. Had they been able to address the people’s aspirations, parties would not be facing dissolution today.”

Basnet further accused the Congress and Communist parties of being power-centric, while blaming socialist parties for focusing only on the Madhesh region. “Congress and Communists looked only for power, and socialists confined themselves to Madhesh for existence,” he said.

According to him, parties that fail to understand the people’s aspiration for change should not attempt merely to preserve their own existence.

On Wednesday, 12 young leaders from the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party Nepal, Janamat Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party, and Nepal Samajbadi Party (Naya Shakti) submitted a joint appeal to their leaderships for unification. The following day, the Secretariat of the Federal Democratic Front also proposed a unity initiative in its meeting.