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VOL. 28, NO. 13, Dec 05, 2008 (Mangsir 20 2065 B.S.)
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Redder Shift
Maoist national convention endorses 'people's federal national republic' proposal – an euphemism for what other parties perceive as turn towards totalitarianism
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
At the end, the national convention of the senior cadres of the Maoists ended in the way that all the conventions of radical communists usually end – with leaders inventing hard-to-understand jargons to cover up the dissensions, dancing and shedding tears in a charged up emotional atmosphere.
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Dr. Bhattarai: Ideology shift |
As all eyes were on the increasing dispute within the Maoist party, the chairman and the current Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' was able to prevail in the end over his mentor-turned-challenger Mohan Baidya 'Kiran.'
And Prachanda had verbose explanation to all the dissensions and wrangling. He termed it as 'grand exercise of people's democracy within the party' – something which flew in the face of the fact that only a few days ago he had tried everything to convince Kiran not to submit a separate political report challenging his.
Anyway, days of debates and discussions – held again in typical radical communist fashion of group discussions – led to the situation where Prachanda could not bulldoze his report but had to accommodate some portions of Kiran's report.
Kiran who advocated outright march towards people's republic through people's revolt – for which he said the ground was ripe – was able to puncture Prachanda'a unquestioned sway over the party.
Subsequently, Prachanda who favored gradual march to people's republic through the consolidation of the federal democratic republic had to modify his report.
After four days of debate, the National Convention of Cadres passed a political report by party chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda,' proposing "people's federal national republic" as the party's future strategy. This was mixture of his and Kiran's strategies.
Immediately after the document was endorsed by the convention, the Maoist leaders went around making grandiose claims of new-found pillar of unity in the party.
The latest policy shift by the Maoists has attracted serious attention of the other parties. While opposition parties like Nepali Congress (NC) have already started accusing Maoists of not abandoning their dream to establish communist totalitarian state in Nepal, other parties in the ruling coalition are watching with anxiety.
However, this anxiety has not yet translated into anything dangerous for the stability of the Maoist-led government as was seen during the forging of alliance in the election of vice chairperson of the Constituent Assembly (CA).
A Maoist CA member representing Banke-4 constituency Purna Kumari Subedi was elected by majority to the position of vice chair of the Constituent Assembly (CA). Subedi bagged 346 votes in her favor. There were 69 votes against her and 90 abstentions. Her candidature had been backed by Maoists, Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) and Jana Morcha.
But the actual ramifications of the latest policy shift – even at tactical level – could be seen only in the coming days when the contentious issue of army integration has to be dealt with conclusively.
One fallout of the policy shift could be the increased unwillingness on the part of the Maoists to dissolve their separate army – under any pretext. They could, thus, linger the process of integration, say experts.
Likewise, the issue of writing new constitution could also face several new challenges beginning with renewed Maoist interest of drafting it in their party and ideological interest. This could, in turn, escalate tensions with other parties, and, ultimately, disrupt or even sabotage the whole process.
