Nepalis Speak Out On Federalism

The debate on federalism in Nepal, and how to share political power and natural resources, has centred on the issue of recognizing ethnic groups. A constitution still remains to be written six years after a decade of civil war ended, but the Constituent Assembly, elected to draft a new constitution and function as a parliament, has been dissolved.

An understanding of how to recognize identity, and how to balance diversity, is still unresolved. And what does identity mean. individual, group, or national?

The devolution of power from Kathmandu is another difficult issue. Nine out of 10 people live outside cities, and most are small-scale farmers. If state restructuring is not properly planned, taking into account the distribution of Nepal’s natural resources, people will eventually be at each other’s throats.

In a survey published in May 2012, [ http://www.nepalitimes.com.np/ads/himal%20_survey_2012.pdf ] 73 percent of the 3,200 participants said federal units should not be ethnically based, 13 percent said they should, and another 14 percent either did not know or want to respond.

As party leaders try to forge a consensus government to continue the debate on state restructuring – three months after parliament disbanded, people generally are of the view that federalism is good for the country but should not be based on ethnicity because it is a dangerous issue to build states based on one’s ethnicity. Nepal has over 100 ethnic groups, and what if every ethnic and caste group wants their own state? How will the nation deal with such a situation?

The main problem is that this issue has not been clearly explained to ordinary people, who are the ones who will be victims of misunderstanding. The issue of ethnic-based federalism has to be explained to the masses, and that has unfortunately not happened yet. So far, the issue has been confined to political debates, and the politicians and journalists have done a poor job in communicating with the people.

They have not interacted with them at all on such a sensitive subject. Nepalese society has yet to become equal among all ethnic groups, but that does mean it has to take such a drastic decision of dividing the country into ethnic states?

Others, however, believe that Nepa should rebuild the nation with the concept of federal states based on its ethnicities. This is very important for oppressed ethnic groups. Federalism gives them a chance to make the society equal in every way in education, economy, political participation and representation in the government.

The high-caste community is worried because of their assumption that they will be evicted from the new federal states. The fact is that they are afraid of losing their power that they have been enjoying for hundreds of years.

The political leaders have a responsibility to explain to all Nepali people that this will never divide the nation. They are of the opinion that it will unite the country, which has been always divided based on one group’s dominance in every sector, and that being the high castes.

They say that the people should be more open minded, but it depends on how the political leaders will guide them, and until now are only misleading them. We hope that federalism will also create a new society that treats women equal to men, and not as second-class citizens.

Some say that people have always been brainwashed by the leaders and misused by their leaders. They have acted so irresponsibly towards their citizens who are now very sceptical of them. If you look at the issue of federalism – they have done such a poor job of educating people on its concepts. In fact, they have not even met the ordinary people to ask their views on federalism.

There are many in Nepal who are really scared to even talk about ethnic-based federalism because we still don’t know the details of how a federal state will be like, what will be the norms and rules.

Instead, there are many politicians and their leaders who often make people nervous by saying that the restructuring of the state, based on federalism, will only divide the country and cause ethnic war. It is time that they went to the villages and educate the people first, and get their vote on whether they want federalism or not. They cannot decide for the whole Nepali population by sitting in their party offices.

Will federalism make the lives better for the common man? Will their children have free education? Will they have water in our villages? Will they have jobs in the villages? Will it make women’s status better?

Instead, political leaders go to the villages only when they need votes. They come and organize mass meetings, delivering angry speeches. People only hear them insulting each other’s political parties.

Dalits say that for so long, and even until now, they have been suppressed and discriminated [against] by the high castes. They thus feel that it will be a big political change for the low-caste community and they thus generally support federalism. They look at it as ending all forms of discrimination.

They think that federalism will finally give them a state that are able to run on their own, even if it is run by a certain ethnic group.

They say that if they continue with the same old system then there is no hope, because even after being ruled under so many democratic parties, they never helped to end discrimination. People in Kathmandu think that discrimination against Dalits has ended. They should visit the villages and see the reality.

A recent UN publication [ http://reliefweb.int/report/nepal/field-bulletin-issue-42-federalism-discourse-three-districts-eastern-region ] notes that the debate, at times violent, over how to restructure the country has largely overlooked “the relationship between the states and the centre, the form of governance within the provinces, or even the rights of various populations within these proposed states.”

A Nepali constitutional lawyer and UN consultant on a constitution-building project, [ http://www.ccd.org.np/ ] Budhi Karki says the federalist debate delaying the constitution is only one hurdle in state-building.

People have been heavily obsessed about things to put into the constitution, but my concern is whether promises will materialize. Implementation is the challenge.

Nepali Muslims Want Political Power

Muslims call for constitutional input

Sheikh Islam, a local community leader in Mantikar, a tiny mountain village of 1,000 inhabitants in Nepal, has said recently that the Muslims in Nepal are Nepali as well. “We are a growing segment of society and we hope to have our voices heard as political leaders write a new constitution,” he said.

According to the Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics, 4.2 percent of Nepal’s 30 million inhabitants are Muslim //www.cbs.gov.np/index.php

More than 90 percent live in the Terai – the southern plains bordering India – one of the country’s most densely populated and poorest areas, where they are predominant in the Banke, Parsa, Kapilvastu, and Rautahat districts.

Nepal’s Constituent Assembly (CA), [http://www.can.gov.np/en ] a legislative body elected in 2008 to draft the next constitution, is working to complete the task by 27 May – its 5th deadline.

More than five years since the end of a decade-long civil war between Maoist forces and the government, in which 13,000 people died,  many Muslims complain that they have been left out of the drafting process.

“Here in our village, we are struggling to make life tolerable and our community has hopes that Muslims will have a voice in the drafting process,” Sheikh Islam noted.

His optimism does not appear to be widely shared among Muslims, who are under-represented in government. The 2007 interim constitution was the first time in Nepal’s history that Muslims were officially represented. Of the 329 members of the interim parliament, four are Muslim – much lower than the 4.2 percent in the overall population.

Nepal’s political leaders aim to develop a federal system that can incorporate the more than 100 ethnic groups in the former Hindu monarchy.

“In many ways, the Muslims in Nepal struggle like everyone else, but with the rising fear of Islam across the world, Nepalese remain scared of Muslims, which is why we are pressing for change,” said Sheikh Islam.

Making things tougher is an incident that occurred on 24 April. Muslim activists and politicians demonstrated at the District Administrative Office in Kathmandu, a prohibited zone that is off-limits to protesters, demanding that their voices be heard in the drafting of the constitution and their identity and religious background be supported – 23 were detained. Some in the community perceive this as a crackdown on Muslim activism and further action has been threatened.

A broad alliance of 31 Muslim groups submitted a 10-point memorandum to the CA in mid-April, calling for the formation of a constitutional commission and a federation that recognizes the Muslim community as an integral aspect of Nepali society. They also asked the state to adopt a policy of positive discrimination towards the community.

“We would really like to be able to build more mosques, expand our traditions and be able to publicly practice our faith without being fearful of repression,” said Sadrul Miya Haq, a Muslim MP and coordinator of the National Muslim Struggle Alliance (NMSA). “Fundamentally, the Muslim demands are part of the need to create freedom of religion that does not keep Nepal only Hindu.”

As the deadline for Nepal’s constitution approaches,  many contentious issues among Nepal’s ethnic, caste, regional and political groups remain to be resolved.  Analysts warn of further political instability unless a constitution can be agreed upon soon, while NMSA says it will launch a second phase of protests on 2 May to ensure constitutional guarantees for Muslims.

Shortest Man in the World is in Nepal

A pensioner has stepped forward with a big claim – that he is the world’s shortest man.

Chandra Bahadur Dangi, a 72-year-old Nepali, is just 56 centimetres or 22 inches tall.

Mr Dangi says he has always been ashamed of his height but his life could be on the verge of changing if he gets official recognition in the Guinness Book of Records.

Dangi, who lived in a village called Reemkholi, a few hundred miles from Kathmandu,

says his height has meant he has been laughed at in freakshows and spurned by women.

Dangi, who has five brothers are all normal height, hopes to receive recognition to make up for the years of hardship.

He said: ‘I think things will be better now. I hope that I will be famous all over the world. I want to visit foreign countries and meet people from around the world.’

The cause of Mr Dangi’s height problem has not been diagnosed but it is suspected that he suffers primordial dwarfism which begins in the womb.

Experts from the Guinness World records travelled toNepalto measure the man.

He claims to weigh just 12 kilos.

The current record is held by Filipino Junrey Balawing, who measures 59.93 centimetres.

He claimed the title last year from Khagendra Thapa Magar, 18, whose height is 67 centimetres.

The shortest to have ever lived was Gul Mohammed fromIndiawho measured 57cm when he died at age 40 in 1997.

When Will the Nepalese Stop Being Afraid of Their Gods: Menstrual Quarantine

The Nepalese custom of  ’Chhaupadi’ which involves the practice of segregating menstruating women from their houses and men is a sad reflection on the status of women in Nepal. It was outlawed by Nepal’s supreme court in 2005 but continues as the policy makers and politicians appear to have better things to do. The practice is mainly observed in the western region of Nepal.

Every month, girls and women sleep alone in a dark, windowless mud hut called `goth.’ It is usually furnished with a thin mat, a metal plate and bowl on the ground. They are forbidden from entering their family’s houses during the menstrual cycle for fear of what might happen.

A three-year-old initiative in Achham District to create ‘chhaupadi’-free zones is slowly catching on, but remains stalled by a division between younger and older generations: the latter warn of disastrous consequences if menstruating women, considered toxic, step inside their houses.

The Hindu gods will punish menstruating women, their family, land and livestock in any number of catastrophic ways if they try to contaminate their homes, they believe.

But many young women nowadays do not believe in such things. The older family members however continue to disallow it.

Dangers of isolation
Women practising ‘chhaupadi’ have reported rapes, snake bites and a lack of nutrition because they are not allowed to cook for themselves or eat dairy products, according to a local women-run advocacy organization called the Paralegal Committee. The group launched the ‘chhaupadi’-free movement three years ago.

Tula Shahi, a local restaurant owner and health expert recalled how she once did not eat for seven days while in the ‘goth’ because there was no one to cook for her. Now she, like all of the Paralegal members, no longer uses a ‘goth’.

Women and children aren’t eating properly, and because it is cold inside the ‘goth’ they can become sick easily. In part because of this, campaign started to work with families and to convince them to let girls come inside the house. Of course it is difficult. There is a need to talk a lot about what people are afraid of, especially with the gods and the goddesses.”

After three years, 75 percent of her Village Development Committee (VDC), a municipality called Janalibandali, is ‘chhaupadi’-free, but the remaining 25 percent remains “quite far off”.

Mixed progress
 Mangalsen VDC, a small town of less than 10,000 and capital of Achham District, presents a mixed picture of progress.

Chandra Khadka, a male spiritual healer who lives more than an hour from Mangalsen, began encouraging girls to leave the ‘goth’ two years ago. “I wanted to become a part of society, so whatever society decides, I am following that,” the 68-year-old said of his decision to keep pace with the anti-’chhaupadi’ trend in Achham.

But bucking tradition can create ruinous consequences for women who independently shun the ‘goth’.

After seven years of practising ‘chhaupadi’, Lakshmi Regma refused to stay in the ‘goth’ after she was selected as a village facilitator, a community mobilizer funded by the government. But when her three-month-old son later died of natural causes, people began to talk about her role in his death. “People said he died because I didn’t go in the ‘goth’,” Regma said. “If something happens to your family, people will blame the girl.” Adding that such pressure and superstition puts an unreasonable burden on girls.

Even though she is head of the household, Nirmala Nepali, 14, is not taking any chances with crossing the elders in her Dalit community. Nepali has cared for her two younger siblings for the past seven years since her mother died of AIDS, but she still listens to an elder neighbour, who instructed her when she had her first period five months ago.

“If I go inside, the grandmother will become crazy,” Nepali said from outside her ‘goth’. “So I stay here.”

Unified Communist Party of Nepal Analysis of the Situation in Nepal

Historical background
Nepal is a country of 30 million people, the majority of whom live in rural areas and work in agriculture. There is very poor infrastructure in most of the country. Much of it is concentrated in urban areas, especially the capital Kathmandu. Nepal is heavily influenced by its neighbour, India, which sees it partly as a buffer against China, and for similar reasons also by the US government.

The agrarian structure of Nepal has for a long time been dominated by feudal or semi-feudal relations of production. This is marked by heavy-handed oppression, casteism, violence against women, and so on.  Nepal has many ethnic communities, who have been discriminated against. Although much of the agrarian output has been incorporated into a more dominant market circulation, the relations of production have hardly changed. Moreover, there is very little industrialization. In cities, workers have hard lives, and are often not paid enough. Many Nepalese migrate to other countries (like India or Qatar) to work and send money home.

In this context there was a monarchy that ruled over Nepal up until 1990. Then, a movement of political parties tried to change things into a constitutional monarchy and establish a democratic process. However, many of the political parties relied on vote banks that operated through feudal landowners. Nothing concretely changed for most Nepalese people, as the political parties sought to maintain rather than change the overall structure of Nepalese society and economy, and maintained subservience to foreign interests. In the 2000s, the monarchy had re-established near full control. Moreover, due to their control of the Royal Nepal Army they always had a considerable leverage against civilian politicians.

One of Nepal’s communist parties decided not to take part in the electoral charade in the 1990s. Instead, slowly and painstakingly they organized in the countryside and built up support amongst the masses. They fought feudalism, casteism and violence against women in every village. In 1996, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (now the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)) turned from electoral politics and started a people’s war against the monarchy and feudalism in the countryside. Although they started out relatively small, their program attracted massive support throughout the country such that, by the mid-2000s, they were more-or-less militarily matched with government forces. The Maoists entered a peace process to end the monarchy with the support of traditional parties. In 2006, the monarchy was ended, and a Constituent Assembly was elected in 2008.

Current situation
To everyone’s surprise, the Maoists emerged as the largest party in the Constituent Assembly, having secured the largest number of votes. They were in government from 2008-09, but the other parties did not accept their governance and sought to destabilize as much as they could, particularly through not supporting the Maoists in establishing civilian control over the military. Again, surprising everyone, the Maoists decided to resign from government rather than cling on at all costs. After a lot of wrangling, only recently (in the past couple of months) was a coalition reached with the Maoists and the Communist Party (United Marxist Leninist), which, despite its name, is actually a very mainstream party.

But now there are two tendencies within the Maoist party. The right faction wants to abandon mass mobilization for eventual seizure of power and seeks only to operate through the Constituent Assembly and parliamentary politics. This faction is now represented by Baburam Bhattarai and the head of the Maoists, Prachanda. On the other hand the left faction seeks to engage with the Constituent Assembly secondarily to mass mobilization that forces political elites to actually implement fundamental change in the socio-economic structure, and indeed, to bring to power the vast masses of Nepal. this faction is represented by Kiran (Mohan Baidya).

Although the Maoist party had sought to indeed mobilize the masses and go for a revolt, the chair, Prachanda switched over to Bhattarai’s position. This vacillation was not received well by the majority of the Party’s rank and file. Moreover, the average person in the cities is becoming disillusioned with the Maoists. Their tilt toward parliamentary politics makes everyone think that they are the same old, and their political games makes everyone think they are only interested in power for the sake of power like everyone else.

Kiran’s document thus seeks to break the change of the Maoists from a revolutionary party into another status quo party. The aim is to mobilize the masses to actually effect a change in the socio-economic structure of Nepal — against class, against caste, against gender discrimination.

The struggle within the Maoist party can be decisive for the future of Nepal, and South Asia as we know it.
Note:

(This proposal was presented by senior vice-chairman Mohan Vaidya or comrade Kiran in the party’s central committee meeting held in April 2011. Kiran presented the document to register his dissenting views in the party after chairman ‘Prachanda’ proposed a new proposal with focus on peace and constitution deviating from the political line of ‘people’s insurrection’ adopted by party’s sixth extended meeting held in November 2010 at Palungtar of Gorkha district. This document will be brought out later with modifications based on CCM’s suggestions)

Political Proposal

Honourable chairman and all fellow comrades,

Revolutionary Greetings!

“The immediate political proposal” presented by comrade chairman in the politburo meeting held on April 20, 2011 and also in the present central committee meeting is against the fundamental spirit of the political line adopted by the central committee meeting held soon after the Palungtar extended meeting. Expressing my dissenting opinion on chairman’s proposal, I, therefore, would like to present a separate political proposal in this meeting.

1.      Two main problems at present:

The country is now at a grave political crisis. We have now two main problems; they are: problems related to class struggle or national struggle and the problems related to two-line struggle. The problem concerning national struggle is related to the problem in correctly identifying the class enemy and the problem in effectively advancing the struggle against it. Now the reactionaries, on the one hand, are conspiring to convert our party, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), into a reformist and status-quo party by entrapping it into the parliamentary quagmire and if they fail to do so, they are plotting to resort to carry out suppression against our party. We must understand this reality properly. In the same way, the two-line struggle in the party is getting complicated and this is also the expression of class struggle. We also must be serious on the issue of properly understanding the two-line struggle and advancing it in a comradely manner.

Now martyrs’ families, families of disappeared warriors, and injured and disabled fighters are waiting our party to realize their aspirations and dreams of liberation. The entire Nepali people including workers, peasants, women, Dalits, Janajaties (nationalities), Muslims and all backward people and classes as well as the international proletariat, too, are watching at our party as a centre of hope for their bright future. We must pay our attention to all these factors.

A true communist party and its leaders must seek scientific solution to these problems. Otherwise, the validity of such leadership will automatically come to an end. We must be very serious on this issue.

2.      On Comrade Chairman’s proposal

The ‘political proposal’ presented by comrade chairman is against the line, policy and sentiment of the ‘political proposal’ of the central committee meeting which was the continuation of the sixth expanded meeting held at Palungtar. In this context, it is necessary to give due attention to the following matters:

First, in the pretext of “clarifying confusions in the political line and modifying the plans of actions in view of the new developments and time pressure” comrade Chairman’s proposal has rejected the political line adopted by the central committee convened as per the directives of the Palungtar expanded meeting. Right here, comrade Chairman, in his proposal, has avoided the issue concerning the review of the situation after the Palungtar meeting while on the other he has incorporated his own views in it. Herein has been used sophism against dialectic materialism.

Second, in accordance with the mandate of the Palungtar plenum, the document that was adopted after the thorough analysis of national and international situation by the central committee stated: “The party has adopted the establishment of people’s federal republic as the immediate tactics. It has adopted a clear-cut policy of organising mass insurrection to establish people’s federal republic or People’s Republic through struggles from three fronts like constitution, peace and government by prioritising to street struggle and by building four preparations and four bases. The party has also made it clear that it has to move ahead by consolidating the movement taking up issues of national independence, people’s supremacy and other burning issues directly related to the people including their livelihood. Now it is urgent for the party to go into practice by formulating action plans on the basis of this political line”.

But the political proposal presented now has stated, “it is necessary to push ahead the process of army integration and rehabilitation as part of four preparations and building four bases, prepare a unified draft of the constitution and take it to the people for debate, despite differences on some key issues including the ones related to restructuring of the state, form of governance and the electoral system”. What is clear from this is that the proposed proposal does not go with the spirit of earlier report adopted by the central committee as directed by the Palungtar plenum and the present proposal has rejected in essence the political line adopted by the central committee held after the Palungtar plenum. By abandoning the line of people’s insurrection, a policy and plan of integrating army and writing constitution in a capitulationist way has been brought out.

Third, stating that the imperialists, expansionists and reactionaries have intensified the “conspiracies of breaking the peace process, dissolving the Constituent Assembly, imposing tyranny on the people and seizing the achievements of the People’s War and mass movement”, the chairman’s political proposal has stated that it is necessary to immediately integrate the army and prepare a unified draft constitution to foil such conspiracies. This logic is based on pessimistic and capitulationist thinking that considers reactionaries stronger than their real strength and sees only the negative aspects of the situation. This is based on subjectivism as opposed to materialist dialectics which says that political line or tactic should be decided on the basis of concrete analysis of the concrete situation.

Fourth, this document does not contain any correct and scientific answer to the question why the revolutionary line could not be implemented. Putting in secondary position the role of main leadership, who could not focus on four bases and four preparations for people’s insurrection, this document has made the secondary reasons like, “factionalism in the party, anarchism, confusion, doubts and divisive and hostile activities appeared in some of the state committees and frontal organisations” principal.

Fifth, comrade chairman, in various places of his report, has, as usual, mentioned about three trends in the party, but there are only two trends in the party at present. The trends of parliamentarism and vacillationism mentioned in chairman’s proposal are not two separate trends but have now basically become one.

3.      Some Ideological Questions:

In order to develop the communist party into a new kind of communist party and to effectively advance the tasks of revolution, it is necessary at present to pay due attention to some ideological questions. These ideological questions are as follows:

First, it is the question of one divides into two or two combine into one. This is a question of intense struggle between dialectics and eclecticism in the realm of philosophy and class struggle and class collaboration in the realm of politics. One divides into two is related with materialist dialectics and class struggle, and two combine into one is related with eclecticism and class collaboration. In this crucial juncture, we must firmly stand in favour of materialist dialectics as opposed to eclecticism, and the theory of class struggle as opposed to class collaboration.

The second is the relationship between imperialism and revisionism.  Engels had said that parties of bourgeois labours or aristocratic labours were built inEngland, the first monopolistic country. Later, with the development of capitalism into imperialism, Lenin had specially shed light on the fact that revisionist parties of aristocratic labours were built in various countries and this process started creating splits in the communist movement. Now the imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism, has also been projecting itself in newer forms. In this situation, the alliance between imperialism and revisionism is also being developed into newer guises. Factionalism, division and opportunism in any revolutionary communist party are the expressions of this alliance. True revolutionary communists must be alert on this alliance between imperialism and revisionism.

Third, it is a question that seeks to turn the tactic of Constituent Assembly into a strategy. In the process of bourgeois democratic revolution, proletariat can adopt the tactic of Constituent Assembly and this can be viewed as a correct tactic as well. But we must be alert that such tactic should not turn into strategy. It is because reactionaries too can utilize the Constituent Assembly for their interest. If the constituent assembly goes away from the grip of the proletariat it will have no any meaning and validity. In such a situation, people’s constitution cannot be written from the constituent assembly.

Fourth, it is a question related to opposition of revolutionary Marxism and favouritism of revisionism in the name of creativity, originality and newness. An irrefutable fact, which has been proved correct from the history of world communist movement and the Nepalese communist movement too, is that various shades of right revisionists have been attacking revolutionary Marxism and Marxists in the name of creativity, originality and newness. The revisionists describe revolutionary Marxism as old Marxism, dogmatism and conservative Marxism and in the same way they describe revolutionary Marxists as traditionalists, conservatives and dogmatists. Right from Bernstein to now, the entire right revisionists, so-called neo-lefts and the post-modernists have been doing exactly the same. Many revolutionaries also get scared of this reactionary onslaught and it is necessary to be clear on this matter as well.

Fifth, it is the question of understanding liquidationism. The characteristic of liquidationism is to abandon revolutionary ideology and communist party guided by revolutionary ideology and revolutionary political line and struggle, and to emphasise on legalism in all fronts. It is also necessary to become alert to ensure that we are not going to be degenerated into liquidationism.

4.      Brief review of the situation after Palungtar meeting:

The two-line struggle had reached to its climax in the extended meeting of the central committee held in Palungtar, the Gorkha district. Finally, the meeting reached to a conclusion with the mandate of transformation, unity and people’s insurrection. In the central committee meeting held after the Palungtar plenum, a political document was adopted by integrating positive aspects of the reports of comrade Prachanda and comrade Kiran, on the one hand, and a decision was taken to discuss the rest of the issues in appropriate forums and settle them in the next national conference or congress, on the other. In addition to the conclusion of people’s federal republic, position on the defence of national independence and decision of principal contradiction of the Nepalese people to be jointly with domestic reactionaries and Indian expansionism, the meeting had also taken up decision to make four preparations and strengthen four bases for the people’s insurrection, while, on the other, a five-point methodology had been adopted on the issues related to two-line struggle. This kind of decision had rekindled a new hope and enthusiasm in the entire rank and file of the party and among the people. But concrete progress could not be made in the process of translating the political line into plan and then to practice.

Despite many complications, political training programmes both at the central and local level were held in different regions after the meeting, but the situation did not develop as to go ahead with concrete plans. The implementation of the party’s political line was obstructed not only by those who had disagreement in it but also from a large section of those who had agreed. In addition to this, the main leadership exhibited dual character through which he accepted the political line in words but disagreed to implement it in practice. Efforts were also made to create rift and create enmity from top to the bottom among those comrades who had agreement on the political line. Some of the specificities of dual character or dualism found in comrade chairman are: he talks of people’s insurrection with one section of the party but strongly opposes it with the other, he says the constitution will in no case be written but on the other he says the constitution will be written by any means within the mid-night of May 28, he says people’s volunteer is indispensable with one section of comrades while he says it to be wrong with the other, not only that, he forms a government based on seven-point agreement but on the other he tries to topple it by going back to 12-point agreements etc. One can find innumerable such characteristics in him. From such facts what has been clear is that there has not yet been any revolutionary transformation in the main leadership of the party. The main leadership is, in this way, basically responsible for the failure of implementing political line of the party.

Paying attention to the entire situation right from the Palungtar plenum to now, it seems in the main leadership (a) to have developed a trend of class elevation by way of increasing mistrust upon the lower class people and the broad masses but trust upon the upper or reactionary classes (b) to be shifting ideologically from eclecticism to vulgar evolutionism (c) to be increasing inclination towards reformism and national capitulationism from centrist weaknesses politically. Special efforts are necessary to correct this situation and take the ideological struggle to a newer height.

Finally, what must be mentioned here is that comrade chairman has raised a question why the methodology decided to handle the two-line struggle was not implemented. This is a serious matter. The situation becomes serious when ideological and political line stand at one pole and the method and principle of democratic centralism stand at the other. This issue requires massive and intensive discussion.

5.      Present political situation:

Now on the one hand the process of imperialist globalization has been deepening in a swifter manner while on the other, the competition among imperialist powers has also been gradually intensifying. The contradiction between imperialism and the oppressed nations and people is the principal contradiction in the present day world. In addition to that, Asia, Africa and Latin Americaare the storm centres of revolution and the revolution is the main trend in the world at present.

At this juncture, the contradiction formed of the Nepalese people on one side and the domestic reaction under the leadership of comprador bourgeoisie and Indian expansionism on the other is the principal contradiction. The process of ingratiation and neo-colonisation has intensified in Nepal. Not only has there been serious conspiracy against constitution writing process through the Constituent Assembly but at the sometime our national independence is also under threat. In this situation, it is necessary to turn the existing political crisis into the revolutionary crisis, for which we must be serious.

At this crucial time, it is necessary to analyze the political situation mentioned in the political report presented by comrade chairman and discuss the conclusion made on the basis of that analysis. In that proposal, it has been stated that the possibility of implementing the plan of utilizing the political crisis to turn it into revolutionary crisis by May 28 is getting impossible. In the report it has been directly or indirectly pointed out that there will be a constitutional vacuum on May 28 and at that situation it has shown a possibility of presidential rule or some kind of coup could be staged. In view of this situation, the chairman’s report has drawn such a conclusion that needs army integration and preparation of the draft constitution. Here in the chairman’s report we need to become clear that neither the situation has been analysed correctly nor has been the conclusion drawn scientifically. In fact, it is a capitulationist conclusion made on the basis of subjective analysis of the situation. As a matter of fact, there would not be any constitutional crisis even if the constitution was not promulgated by May 28. It is so because the Interim Constitution has such a provision that states that the Constituent Assembly will continue to exist until the new constitution is promulgated. If anyone tries to stage a coup by violating the constitutional provision, it develops a situation in which a storm of strong mass movement can develop and it creates a strong possibility that can change the political crisis into a revolutionary crisis. The revolutionaries need to pay special attention to utilize this situation in favour of people’s insurrection. But comrade chairman’s attention has never been drawn towards that possibility.

In the same way, some responsible people, one the one hand, are deliberately blocking the constitution writing process and, at the same time, spreading rumour to confuse and convince the people that the Maoists have obstructed the constitution writing process.

In addition to this, some planned criminal activities like explosions; shooting of the prisoners inside prison, fatal assault upon Energy Minister and shooting of the staff of diplomatic mission of a certain country have been carried out. These incidents are seriously linked with the issue of national independence. Now the question of writing constitution is related not only with democracy but also with the issue of national independence.

In such a situation, the fury of Nepalese people against domestic and international reactionaries is deepening. People want to conclude the peace process in a revolutionary way, write constitution through the Constituent Assembly and solve the problems related to people’s livelihood, for which they have established and accepted the UCPN (Maoist) as a dependable and trustworthy party. In the situation when the constitution is not written and the danger on national independence grows, it is certain that people’s fury would further intensify.

In overall sense, the objective situation for revolution or people’s insurrection is still favourable.  But the subjective situation is weak. In spite of this, if we unify our party and complete the tasks related to four preparations and four bases, we cannot rule out the possibility of transforming the political crisis into revolutionary crisis and give the people’s insurrection a practical shape within the thought of time. Hence, we, correctly assessing the revolutionary objective situation, need to pay special attention to the preparation of subjective situation.

6.      Immediate Political Line, Policy and Plan:

The main political line of the revolution to be completed in a country like Nepal which is in a semi-feudal and semi-colonial condition is based on a great goal of advancing to socialism and communism after completing new democratic revolution. The new democratic revolution to be accomplished inNepalis based on the strategy of unifying patriotic, democratic and leftist forces and the broad mass against feudalism and imperialism under the leadership of proletariat. In order to accomplish this type of revolution in the particular context of today’s national and international politics, the question of establishing of people’s federal republic, protection of national independence and resolution of basic problems of livelihood are the issues of main political tactic of our party. This type of main strategic tactic is inseparably related with peace, constitution and people’s insurrection.

The resistance of repression, counter-revolution or the conspiracy of imposing autocracy on the people cannot be carried out by integrating armies in a capitulationist way and writing status-quo constitution. This can be done by intervening from the government, mobilizing the people on the streets and effectively advancing the exposure campaign and also by giving practical shape to the tasks concerning the four preparations and four bases.

People’s insurrection is not something that can be accomplished in the predetermined time. Instead it is based on the addition i.e. synthesis of objective and subjective situations. People’s insurrection cannot succeed in the predetermined time does not mean that one should integrate army in a capitulationist way and write status-quo constitution. The people’s insurrection can take place at any time and especial emphasis should be given for its preparation.

In this context, we need to move ahead in the following ways:

a.       On the Constitution:

• To mention ‘People’sFederalRepublic’ in the preamble of the constitution.
• To make the report of the state restructuring committee its basis.
• To make largest number of votes in the sub-committee for the form of governance its basis.
• Priority to be given to workers, peasants, women, oppressed, nationalities and the people belonging to backward areas including Madhesh.
• To write a constitution that is anti-feudalism and anti-imperialism in content.
• The party should draft a brief constitution based on these subjects and take it to the people.

b.      On Army Integration:

• Not to accept regrouping without deciding the modality.
• To formulate security policy prior to the army integration.
• To integrate People’s Liberation Army as a separate or mixed force and its command to remain with the People’s Liberation Army.
• To give People’s Liberation Army the responsibility of border security force.

c.       On relation between the constitution and army integration:

• To establish People’s Liberation Army as the principal force that changed Nepal
• To complete simultaneously the formulation of people’s constitution and army integration

d.   On the government:

• To continue with the present government
• To send representatives to the cabinet on proportionate and inclusive basis
• To struggle to build a new type of communist party by freeing it from all kinds of wrong thinking and trends like groupism and factionalism
• To effectively organise party, youth and front committees in the local level
• To mobilize these three weapons in the tasks of mass mobilisation, people’s service and exposure campaigns effectively.
• To form a united front of patriotic, democratic and leftist forces in the local and central level in consideration of the present national necessity
• To manage the division of labour from top to bottom

5. On the organizational task:

f     On mobilization of people, service to the people and exposure campaign

The main issues of this campaign are as follows:

• Peace and constitution
• The defence of national independence and sovereignty, annulment of unequal treaties and agreements including 1950 Treaty, resistance against external interference including border encroachment.
• Campaign against killing, hooliganism and insecurity
• To provide Rs one million to the family of the martyrs, to make the disappeared warriors public to give appropriate relief to injured and disabled fighters
• To launch campaign to control price hike and corruption
• To withdraw entire old and new cases charged against Maoists

April 22, 2011

Kiran

Vice chairperson 

UCPN (Maoist)