For four consecutive days , 400 plus central committee members of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) shouted orthodox communist ideologies of Marx and Lenin accusing the government for deviation from ideology, criticized India for border encroachment in Kalapani and cast suspicion over US funded Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC) projects. Out of 441 members, 100 members spoke about these agenda as if they were rarely relevant to the concern of the majority of common people.

The central committee directed the government to take the issue of Kalapani seriously with India and accept MCC clarifying whether it is a part of Indo-pacific strategy or not.

Frustrated by the removal of photo of great Communist leaders Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao and replacing them with those of Prime Minister Oli and co-chair Dahal, members directed the party to hold the pictures of those ideologues along with Manmohan Adhikary.

Prime Minister and party chair KP Sharma Oli and another chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal presided over the meeting that took place after one and half years since the unification of the then CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist) to form the NCP.

Despite all criticisms, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli established himself as an unchallenged leader in the second meeting of NCP Central Committee.

In his inaugural meeting, Prime Minister and party chair Oli talked about the works and achievements of the government. PM and party chair Oli and another chair Dahal presented a common political report and separate proposals related to statute amendment, plan for conducting national campaign and contemporary topics in the meeting.

Dissatisfied with the state of party, central committee members raised questions over various issues. In particular, the members have demanded committees of experts to study the content of the controversial MCC deal and an internal commission to investigate into properties of the party leaders.

At the end of the day, PM Oli, co-chair Dahal and general secretary Bishnu Paudel responded to the questions before concluding the meeting. As per the suggestions, they proposed to form two separate committees to look into the issues of MCC and property of party leaders.

Finally, the five day long jamboree concluded by endorsing an hour-long statement of Prime Minister Oli and political paper of co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Divided on the issue of selection of Speaker, the meeting united PM Oli and Dahal together, giving the main political benefit to NCP leader Bam Dev Gautam.

With the amendment of the party’s constitution, Gautam has become vice-president and promoted to the third rank of the party. Gautam is now fifth in rank following PM Oli, Dahal, Jhalanath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal but he is third in party organization pushing deputy prime minister and senior leader Ishwor Pokharel further down.

Given the political narratives and internal politics of Nepal Communist Party, Prime Minister Oli, with his calculative move, forced severe critic Bhim Rawal to be a member of the committee to prepare a proposal on MCC. Led by former Prime Minister Jhalnath Khanal, the committee will table its recommendation to PM Oli and co-chair Dahal in 10 days.

At the meeting conducted in National City Hall, members also endorsed the performance of the government led by Prime Minister Oli agreeing that the party’s government has achieved revolutionary success to push the country on the path of development and prosperity. One of the successes of Prime Minister Oli was that he was able to push former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal in isolation.

“After the central committee meeting, we all are united and agreed to work together to defend the good works accomplished by the government,” said Surya Thana, central committee member and press advisor of Prime Minister Oli. “The meeting also backed prime minister Oli for his successful policy to turn Nepal into a prosperous nation.”

Given the response and reactions appearing in the media following the completion of central committee meeting, Prime Minister Oli has appeared to put the party under his control and command and punish those standing against him. The rise of Bamdev Gautam as a vice president with support of two co-chairs has sent a political setback to Khanal and Nepal.

As former prime minister Nepal maintains his silence and Rawal was forced to accept to be a member of a committee led by former prime minister Khanal on MCC, Prime Minister Oli and co-chair Dahal were successful to guide the party on their tune.

Turning To Communism

Endorsing the party's statue, NCP turns itself into a party of communist. The latest statute amendment has set communism as the party’s ultimate goal.

As per the amendment, the party’s strategic goal and fundamental program is scientific socialism. “The party’s immediate program is socialism-oriented people’s democracy. Ultimately, the party will head in the direction of communism,” said the political document.

They unanimously endorsed the party’s political document, statute amendment proposal, organizational document, and the 11-point contemporary proposal.

The central committee (CC) meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has concluded by endorsing an 11-point proposal on the current issues. The second CC meeting of the NCP after its formation in May 2018 with the unity of the then CPN-UML and UCPN-Maoist ended as the proposal read out by general secretary Bishnu Poudel to the CC members was passed unanimously.

The CC meeting of the ruling party rejected the political map of India issued on November 2, 2019. The meeting urged the government to resolve the border dispute with India through diplomatic channels.

The CC meet has lauded China's efforts to control spread of the novel coronavirus while expressing hope that the northern neighbor will be successful in the battle against the virus.

The meeting also expressed worry about the tense situation in the west Asia region and urged the government to take diplomatic measures to ensure safety and security of over a million migrant Nepali workers in the region.

The meeting assigned its discipline commission to investigate into property details of its leaders as demanded by some members. The central committee unanimously endorsed the political report presented by its executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

The meeting directed to form a committee to study various aspects of MCC.

The meeting directed the government to issue a new political map of the country incorporating the disputed Kalapani-Lipulekh area.

The meeting endorsed the secretariat’s proposal to appoint leader Bamdev Gautam as the vice-chairman of the party.

“Leaders are standing on both fronts – for and against MCC,” said Surya Thapa, a central committee member and advisor to Prime Minister Oli. “But this shouldn’t be a matter for continued back and forth. Instead, building infrastructure, particularly cross-country power lines, substations and roads – should be started immediately as agreed.”

NCP's much awaited second Central Committee meeting has strengthened the position of prime minister Oli, with Dahal and Gautam on his side. Although he used to be a much influential leader during CPN-UML era, deputy prime minister Ishwor Pokharel seems to have lost his role.