Maoists More Belligerent After Full Central committee Meeting
Maoists More Belligerent After Full Central committee Meeting
By Dr. S.Chandrasekharan
It looks that the Maoists have taken a serious decision to continue and intensify the present agitation on "civilian supremacy" in the just ended full central committee meeting of three weeks of deliberations.
Full details of the decisions are not yet known and the Maoists as usual have not been forthcoming on the discussions and the decisions but some trends are seen.
Hisila Yami in her article of 5th August described the meeting as the most important meeting they have had after the famous Chunbang meeting of middle 2005 when the party decided to stop the military struggle and try joining the political mainstream.
In that meeting Prachanda emerged stronger in his party and was able to convince the majority of the members to find an alternative to the military struggle as the party had already reached the "offensive stage" and could not have gone further ahead in their struggle.
In the current meeting being described as important as the one in 2005, Prachanda does not appear to have strengthened his position and the party is now poised to take a harder line in the coming months. Hisila Yami described the present meeting as another "two line struggle" in which the party is supposed to have become stronger when it went through the process of "thesis, anti thesis and synthesis." What is more important, there is an admission that there were differences with one side taking the view that the party is sliding to the right, indulging in a luxurious lifestyle, creating inequalities within rank and file and minimising the importance of ideology while the other group favoured restructuring of the State, another form of struggle which may look rightist or reformist but in fact a struggle to restructure the monolithic state into federalism based on region, ethnic heritage, language etc.
One can guess the composition and leaders of the two groups. For the present Prachanda of the second group has succeeded but I suspect that he has given in a great deal to maintain the unity and his own position in the party. On the ground it would mean mobilisation of the masses on some issue or other, more intensified confrontation and agitation. For them mobilisation would always strengthen and not weaken the party. For them the differences have resulted in the party becoming "mature and responsible" (?)
On 3rd August, C.P. Gajurel, a senior politburo and standing committee member announced a series of protests for the "sake of civilian supremacy" which according to him is in grave danger. He said that their struggle will not hinder the peace process nor will it affect the constitution making process and in typical Maoists lingo he said that their struggle is supposed to consolidate both the processes! When the assembly is not being allowed to function for days together, when the supervisory committee on PLA integration/rehabilitation has not made any progress over the simple issue of representation, when street protests particularly in the Singa Durbar are intensified, how can the members including some from the Maoists in the committees convene and make any recommendations? To me it looks that the peace process will never be allowed to be completed for some time to come and for this the Maoists primarily as also the other two main parties are to blame
.Following the obstruction of the house from 7th, other affiliated units like the ANNISU -R have announced protest programmes. One senior member of the Maoists Amik Sherchan went to the extent of calling the President as "anti Nationalist."! The Students’ Union of the Maoists got on to a trivial issue of abolition of the "Proficiency certificates" of Tribuvan University. On 12th, the agitation became violent and a government vehicle was torched near Lainchaur in Kathmandu..
On the question of civilian supremacy which arose over the sacking of Gen. Katuwal- the issue has lost its relevance with the retirement of the Chief effective from the 10th of next month. As is the tradition, the Chief has already gone on a month’s leave and his successor has been named. What is needed now is a clear understanding of the powers of the President and Prime Minister and perhaps even the Army act may have to be amended. If need be, though not necessary, and as a face-saving formula, the issue can be discussed in the house. But will the Maoists stop at that and allow the present government to function when their intention is to somehow carry on the agitation on some issue or other?
On their part, the Maoists have also conveyed through intermediaries that they would be "flexible" in both integration and constitution making process. But how can any one believe them, when they have not adhered to their promises of returning the properties or disbanding the YCL. The committee meant to oversee the return of the properties, after six months of work has reported that the Maoists have not returned the properties of 33,000 families in 72 districts!
Foreign Minister’s Visit:
In connection with the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal on the 18th, Foreign Minster Sujatha Koirala was in Delhi for four days. She had talks with the Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, Finance Minster Pranab Mukherji and the Commerce Minster Anand Sharma. She sought India’s help in
* in promoting overall economic development.
* Indian investments in Nepal
* Facilitate bilateral trade.
Better management of border and boundary disputes figured in the talks. According to Sujatha Koirala, the Indian side had agreed to build a road across Terai, power transmission, control and management of Bagmati River, facilitating Nepal’s international trade through Bangladesh, reducing trade deficit etc
On trade with Bangladesh, when both countries are short of wheat and dhal, Nepal recently exported 2 lakh tons of wheat and one lakh ton of Masoor Dhal. Where did they get these from? Nepal’s commerce and supplies ministry should not become a "supply ministry."
The Indian side is said to have raised the issue of fake Indian currency being pumped into India from Nepal. The fake currencies originate from Pakistan!
Prime Minster Madhav Nepal due to visit India, has described his official five day visit as a "good will" visit and that no major pact will be inked on utilising water resources. I think the Indian side should have by now realised that no major agreement of utilising or sharing of water resources with Nepal is possible in the near future and in any long term planning for energy sufficiency in India, the power potential of Nepal should not be taken into consideration at all.
But the water issue in Nepal has become political not now but from the days of monarchy.. Except for one wise individual Kanak Mani Dixit, no one realises that more than the power or the money, regulation of the water resources which are causing immense damage to both sides of the border every year repeatedly has to be taken seriously by both sides and deal with it seriousoly without carrying on the old baggage in the interest of both the countries.