Five Commitments of New Force Nepal
The immediate agenda of New Force Nepal (NFN) campaign is to form an alternate political party grounded on principles of national sovereignty, prosperity, accountability/transparency, sustainability, and inclusive participatory democracy. Not limiting itself to being a political party, NFN will also be an alternative political movementfor the fulfillment of new demands of a new era. It must adorn Nepali politics with honest and ideal strategies, policies, methods and culture. It shall be a socialism-oriented left-democratic force. It's main commitments, in the form of five "Ss", are as follows:
1.Sovereignty
Protection and advancement of Nepal's sovereignty and territorial integrity is our foremost commitment. We shall forever keep the complete sovereignty and freedom of the country and its people at our forefront. Through a skillful/efficient management of the peculiar geo-strategic location of Nepal—situated between two big nations, India and China—we will exercise a national security and foreign policy that corresponds to the contemporary era, and that shall contribute to the nation's dignity and honor. For this, we shall follow a policy of utilizing benefits from the rapid economic development of the two neighboring countries—India and China—and make Nepal prosperous and intra-dependent. Instead of the old reading of Nepal as a "yam between two boulders", we shall create a new portrait of Nepal that is a "dynamic bridge between two developing neighbors". By strengthening internal national unity and economic prosperity, we shall espouse 'progressive nationalism' that aims to end our longstanding dependency. We shall contribute to world peace by maintaining equal and friendly relationship based on mutual benefits with all countries.
2.Equitable Prosperity
A primary aim and rationale of NFN is to transform Nepal into a prosperous and happy nation in our own lifespan. We want that—within ten years, there be an end of absolute poverty and unemployment—within twenty years, the country should reach a medial development level—within forty years, the country should be at the pinnacle of prosperity. We will pursue a policy of economic growth wedded with employment generation and social justice. For this, we—together with inputs from experts as well as the private sector—shall prepare a program of economic development and prosperity, and shall implement it with ardent speed and intensity. Moreover, we shall espouse a unique and realistic development policy that will ensure that the fruits of development reach all class, region and community in an equitable manner, that is based on an appropriate collaboration between the state and private sector, that contributes towards the balanced development of agriculture, industry and service sectors, that fairly incorporates both labour and technology as well as domestic and international investment. Environmental protection and sustainable development will be the cornerstone of our developmental policy. Attention will also be paid to the mental happiness/peace of people alongside their material prosperity. We will not indulge in hollow sloganeering and rhetoric; we believe in actual practice. We will build a prosperous and equitable Nepal not in some remote future but in our own lifetime.
3.Inclusive, Proportional Representative, Participatory Democracy
Another important commitment of NFN is to transform the existing formal and ritualistic exercise of democracy, both within the party and the state, into an inclusive, proportional representative and participatory democracy that reflects the country's peculiar situation and demands. We will be fully committed to the foundational principles of a republic, federalism, secularism and inclusive proportional representative democracy. We will ensure inclusive proportional representation of varied class, nationality, region, gender and other marginalized communities from the himalayan, hilly as well as the tarai-madhes belts, in all party and state organs. We will pay special attention to the representation of youths in all areas. To end the prevailing utterly centralized autocratic character of parties and the state, we shall practice direct and participatory democracy. To end the hegemony and abuse of power by some individual and/or family, we shall practice the principles of—one person, one executive post, and two tenures—right to reject and right to recall elected representative.
We believe that the mixed electoral system and parliamentary system of rule that have been adopted in the current Nepali constitution will not bring political stability in Nepal, and without political stability it is impossible to achieve economic development and prosperity. The above-mentioned systems need to be changed, and for that the constitution must be amended. For this, NFN will conduct a nation-wide campaign for the separation of legislative and executive functions so that there will be proportional electoral system for the legislative assembly and direct electoral system for the executive.
4.Good Governance, Good Conduct
The main elements that shall distinguish NFN from the old parties are good governance and good/moral conduct. This is important because politics and corruption have become synonymous with each other in Nepal today. Many surveys have shown that political parties and politicians are some of the most corrupt institutions/people in the country. Similarly, bureaucracy, judiciary and security bodies have become hubs of corruption and unaccountability. Therefore, one of the major responsibilities of NFN will be to rescue politics and public services from the quagmire of corruption, and uphold good governance and good conduct. To achieve this, first, we want to redefine politics as a way of conducting voluntary social service and not as some private career-building project. We shall maintain transparency, accountability, rule of law and zero tolerance to corruption in all our conducts and financial transactions. If any cases of corruption, misconduct or fraudulence be found and proved against any of our leaders or cadres, immediate action shall be taken against them. Simple lifestyle, humble behavior, respect for labor, social harmony and progressive culture shall be the cultural identity of NFN. Independent and impartial ombudsman groups will be formed at different levels of our party to evaluate our conducts and to run enquiries on public allegations against our leaders or carders, the decisions of which shall be unequivocally accepted/implemented by the party. We will do as we speak—selflessly, in favor of the people.
5.Enriched/Enhanced Socialism
Nepal has only recently entered into a capitalist stage after battling out of an autocratic unitary feudal system. However, feudal remnants still pervade our economic, social and cultural arena. Therefore, our immediate task is to eliminate these feudal remnants, develop national industrial capital as well as to improvise and rectify bourgeois democracy. However, we also acknowledge that it is not an easy or simple task for a small underdeveloped nation like ours to build an independent national industrial capitalism, given the current world schema of globalized monopoly capitalism. In such a context, capitalism is more likely to be characterized by dependency and cronyism that increases class and regional inequality. Therefore, it is important to transform the nascent national industrial capitalism towards the path of socialism. The state must be responsible for guaranteeing education and health services for all, as well as for providing social security. However, a repetition or reproduction of state-controlled or autocratic socialist models of the twentieth century is impossible today. Therefore, in accordance with the demands of the twenty first century and the specificities of Nepalese situation, NFN will develop a new model of enriched socialism. This attempt will be based on furthering the methodology/principle of dialectical and historical materialism as propounded by Marx and developed by other thinkers. This will not be a socialism that is enforced from above, or one that distributes poverty, nor will it be an autocratic system that is centered on an individual. Rather, this socialism will be built from below, will distribute prosperity, will unfetter the individual's initiative, and will be participatory. NFN's immediate task will be to focus on the development of national industrial capital and lay the foundations of enriched socialism. New Force Nepal is not a non-ideological group of people. Rather, it will be a transformative progressive force that will embrace and build upon human being's latest achievements in areas of knowledge and science.