Prachanda wants to pre-empt regression by declaring republic (Nepalnews analysis)
By Sanjaya Dhakal
In a meaningful departure from his earlier stance, Maoist chairman Prachanda has said that the issue of constituent assembly has now been overshadowed and that the interim parliament should declare republic right away to pre-empt regression by the royalists and reactionaries.
Addressing a public gathering in Narayani Rangashala in Birgunj on Thursday,chairman Prachanda said that the statement made by an army general recently in Pokhara and the Democracy Day message by King Gyanendra were part of a larger conspiracy to derail the CA elections.
In what appears to be his strategy to "deal with those conspiracies," Prachanda said the country no longer needs to wait for CA to decide on issues like the fate of monarchy.
Unlike in the past when the Maoists had demonstrated that the holding of CA elections is of seminal importance to them, Prachanda said in Birgunj that greater priority now should be accorded to declaring republic through the interim parliament. He even claimed that his party will soon table a proposal to this effect in the parliament.
Referring to recent unrest in Madhes and upsurge of demands on ethnic rights, Prachanda said the country was witnessing the last-ditch effort by the counter-revolutionaries who he said had stolen the slogans belonging to the revolutionaries.
"There is a calculated conspiracy to tarnish the image of Maoists in Madhes," he said.
Prachanda, along with his senior comrade Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, is in a whirlwind tour of Terai cities for the past one week. His tour came in the wake of three-weeks-long violent unrest in Terai, which got intensified after a Maoist cadre shot one agitator to death. He has already addressed public in Biratnagar and Janakpur where he made attempts to pacify the Madhesi crowd by reiterating that the Maoists had not abandoned their cause for autonomy with the right to self-determination.
The tour was organised soon after the political analysts in Kathmandustarted saying that the unrest had dented Maoists' popularity in the region. The expansion of organisations like Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) and the sudden arrival of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) have served to aggravate Maoist anxiety that "more revolutionary-sounding" movements were displacing them from the region. The fact that the MJF and JTMM are being spearheaded by the very persons who were once under the Maoist umbrella has furthered their 'fear and hatred.'
Given their visceral dislike to the likes of MJF and JTMM, it was due no less to the pressure of the Maoists that the government was bound to table a constitution amendment proposal at the parliament to resolve Madhes crisis even before sitting for formal talks with them – though the government had already sent formal invitations to them to come for talks.
It is also equally meaningful that the MJF has been continuously demanding the resignation of Home Minister Krishna Sitaula – who is not only the Man Friday of Prime Minister Koirala but also a darling to the Maoist leadership - as a pre-condition for talks. It was, therefore, not unnatural when Maoist MPs came to his defense when lawmakers of Nepali Congress (NC) party
themselves asked for Sitaula's resignation at the parliament.
On his part, the MJF chief Upendra Yadav has already threatened to re-launch Madhes agitation from February 26 if the pre-condition is not met.
Amid the hectic political developments, the latest remarks by Prachanda are sure to shift the focus of debate in the coming days. nepalnews.com sd Feb23 07
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