Janamat Party Chairman CK Raut has publicly expressed fears of a party split.
Raut, who is in the final stages of unification talks with the Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP), used the secretariat’s page on Monday to openly voice his concerns about a potential split in the party.
“Beware of the sweet-talking, party-splitting traitors trying to deceive you!” Raut said, adding, “Let us unite and become the pride of Tarai-Madhes.”
Raut has alleged that, at a time when people are rejoicing everywhere due to the historic unity about to take place in Tharuhat Madhes, some conspirators and rival parties have been mobilizing Janamat Party officials to split the party by investing vehicles and money ever since the unification process began.
He also claimed that some individuals within the party have been actively working to split it since the Dashain-Tihar festivals.
“Those who didn’t even give a single vote to the Janamat Party, didn’t even take a few days off from their jobs and come down from the hills to campaign in the elections, didn’t participate in any struggle or organizational expansion beyond occasionally showing up for photos, kept conspiring to defeat the party chairman himself. They said, ‘We will defeat the chairman and take control of the party,’” Raut alleged.
He said that the forces attempting to split the party have been visiting districts and holding meetings.
“It is a crime to try to tear apart a party that has the trust of 30 million people, to try to mislead the public, to split the party for positions, benefits, vehicles, and money,” he said. “Anyone can certainly join or leave the party at one's discretion, but making a wrong decision by falling into their trap is to ruin one’s own life. In the past, too, they misled some good workers into leaving [the party], but unfortunately, their condition is now quite pitiful.”
Another reason for Raut’s fear of a party split is his growing unpopularity within the party. He faces accusations of not allowing others to express their views or voice dissent in the party.
He has also been criticized within the party for attempting to strip those he dislikes of their parliamentary positions. Raut seeks explanations from party members almost every week and suspends those with responses he deems unsatisfactory.
Earlier, he had even decided to recall lawmakers under the proportional representation system, but it was not implemented.
In Madhes province, he made Satish Singh the chief minister instead of parliamentary party leader Mahesh Yadav.
Raut, who rose to prominence in politics by championing the “Madhes Swaraj” cause, is currently engaged in intense discussions for unification with the Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP).
The Janamat Party and the NUP have already finalized the name, flag, and election symbol of the unified party, and are now discussing the party’s policies.
A unification task force comprising three members from each party and separate statute replacement committees of the same size are working on the unification process.
Raut and NUP patron Resham Chaudhary are holding one-on-one talks to finalize the unification.
Chaudhary, who is also the founder of the NUP, said that the party unification has reached its final stages, with only the formal signing of documents to be submitted to the Election Commission remaining.
NUP leader Damodar Pandit said that preparations are underway to announce the unification by April 28.
The Janamat Party is an emerging force in Tarai-Madhes.
Raut, who did not position himself as a minister even after the party joined the government, harbors ambitions of reaching a higher position in power politics and wants to make the party a major force in Madhes. His goal also appears to include expanding the organization into the hills.
Resham Chaudhary formed the NUP while still in jail to consolidate the Tharuhat and Tharuwan movements that had fragmented after the Tikapur incident of August 24, 2015.
In the 2022 local elections, the NUP won over 100 positions, including municipal chiefs, deputy chiefs, and ward members, in Kailali district alone. The party has four parliamentarians in the federal Parliament. It also has representation in provincial assemblies, with seven lawmakers in Sudur Paschim, three lawmakers in Lumbini, and one lawmaker in Madhes.
The NUP is another rising force in western Tarai.
At a time when Tharus have not found significant space in other political parties, the NUP has captured a large share of representation from the community.
As these two parties aim to unite and become a force with influential powers nationwide and in Madhes, Janamat Chairman Raut is tormented by fears of a split in the party.
Some time ago, he took action against the party’s vice-chairman, Deepak Kumar Sah. Raut accused Sah, who also heads the party’s discipline committee, of conspiring with his wife to put him in a difficult position.
Sah was never seen in any important movement, work, or meeting of the party during the struggle, Raut alleged, but once the party came to power, he was the most proactive in securing benefits, transfers, promotions, and appointments for his people.
Raut further accused Sah of working with various power centers against the national chairman, inciting others, and contacting party workers in the districts and abroad to seek support for splitting the party.
