For many of them it was something unexpected as party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, during such meetings in the past, would consult the top leaders and incorporate their views in his own document before putting it forward for discussion and endorsement. [break]
The presenting of alternative political documents means that there was no longer such reconciliation, or at least accommodation of views. Differences are so deep and the divisions so wide that the central committee is unlikely to be able to address them.
It´s now almost certain that the Maoist plenum, likely to be held in November, will have to take up this issue. “Given the widening differences it appears that only a party general convention can settle these issues,” says a leader loyal to Dr Baburam Bhattarai’s faction.
The fact that the party has not held its general convention for the last 19 years underscores how serious the differences in the Maoist party are this time.
The growing divisions in the Maoist party have two dimensions-- first, intense factionalism, which is more a reflection of clash of personalities, and second, differences on policies and strategies, which is more an outcome of differences in ideals and philosophy.
Faction-ridden politics
The Maoist party is vertically split into three factions -- led by Dahal, Mohan Baidya and Bhattarai, who represent three different ideological currents.
Dahal accuses Baidya of "ultra-leftism" and Bhattarai of "revisionism" within the Maoist movement. Similarly, Baidya dubs Dahal´s views "centrist" and Bhattarai´s "revisionist", while Bhattarai accuses Dahal of being a "wily leader on shaky ideological grounds ", and Baidya an "ultra-left adventurist".
The Baidya faction itself is divided into three groups. One group led by influential leader Netra Bikram Chand is for an alliance between Baidya and Bhattarai against Dahal, while another group led by Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Dev Gurung float an alliance between Dahal and Baidya.
Similarly, lower-rank leaders like Anil Sharma and Rishiraj Baral lead a group that is against both Dahal and Bhattarai, whom they accuse of deviating from communist ideology. "The internal party dynamics is more complex than it appears," says a central leader who has maintained a neutral position.
Bhattarai is comparatively weaker in the party than Baidya and Dahal.
"He did not care about his organizational strength and enjoyed being an ideologue ever since he joined the party 19 years ago. He just used the organizational channels of Dahal and Baidya and that has left him weak," observes a central leader.
But he argues that the leaders have begun a new trend of taking sides "issue-wise" rather than supporting the top leaders blindly, which is to the advantage of Bhattarai.
And there are clashes of egos and personalities. Bhattarai labels Baidya a "classical communist" whose thoughts are frozen in the past and who can never think pragmatic politics. Baidya is not only senior to Bhattarai in the party but also thinks that the latter is largely responsible for ´dragging the party into the dirty waters of multiparty politics´.
If Bhattarai sees Dahal as a man "obsessed with power", the latter sees Bhattarai as an "opportunist whose ambitions are fueled by India, the local feudal-class and the media."
To make things worse, these personality clashes are reinforced by growing and seemingly irreconcilable ideological differences.
Major differences
Dissatisfied with the current course of the party, Baidya is strongly pushing to prepare the ground for an urban uprising, the line passed by the party´s second national gathering held in the Indian city of Jalalabad in 2057 BS, and reinforced by the Kharipati national conclave two years back.
Baidya has demanded a thorough review of the party´s course since the signing of the 12-point agreement, and the launching of a "people´s revolt" to achieve communist political goals.
For Baidya, this is more of an ideological issue. He doesn´t have faith in multiparty democracy-- he never had-- and still adheres to the classic communist line of capturing the state and imposing one-party rule.
Bhattarai upholds the party decision to launch a revolt in theory, but strongly disagrees with Baidya about when the party should opt for it.
If uprising is the only option and an immediate priority for Baidya, it´s only a last resort for Bhattarai, who is for institutionalizing the current achievements and completion of the peace process and constitution-drafting with "optimum flexibility".
He is of the view that the party should rather work for economic transformation of the country by uprooting "feudalism" and speeding up the pace of development.
Dahal´s position is vague at best. He is for moving ahead with the agenda of peace and constitution while at the same time preparing the ground for an immediate revolt.
Though Baidya wants to launch an uprising, he doesn´t have any idea how to go about it.
"At this juncture, the party can neither take up arms, nor is there any possibility of an immediate revolt in the wake of the recent failure of the party´s indefinite strike against the Madhav Nepal-led government," says a central leader. "But Baidya completely ignores the ground reality; he knows what the party should do, but doesn´t know how to do it," adds the leader.
The three leaders also differ over how the party should view India.
While Baidya and Dahal are for declaring India the party´s "principal enemy", Bhattarai argues that doing so would be a self-defeating move at this juncture. He is of the view that the party should first uproot "domestic feudalism" and go for economic transformation before launching any struggle against India.
The Bhattarai faction also disagrees with Dahal´s strategy of joining hands with the royalists, whom the latter sees as nationalists. Rastriya Prajatantra Party--Nepal (RPP-Nepal) leaders have publicly claimed that Dahal has accepted the idea of "cultural monarchy", something which the Dahal camp has not refuted.
All these issues complicate the Maoist party´s position vis-a-vis the peace process as much as it complicates the state of the party itself. In beginning a discussion on all three political documents submitted by the top three leaders, the party has dared to take up this complication. It´s too early to say if it will be able to resolve it.
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