KATHMANDU, Dec 5: Despite several rounds of intra-party negotiations behind curtains, the top Maoist leaders continue to struggle to pin down the party´s “principal enemy”.
Party insiders say the negotiations have failed so far as Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has refused to budge from his stance that his party should declare both India and "domestic reactionaries" the principal enemy. [break]
Naming the party´s principal enemy is currently the most contentious issue in the Maoist party, with party Vice-chairman Dr Baburam vehemently opposing Dahal´s and Baidya´s bid to declare India the principal enemy..
Unable to settle the dispute, the weeklong Palungtar Plenum had entrusted the party Central Committee (CC) with the task.
According to sources, Bhattarai had agreed that “domestic reactionaries protected and directed by Indian expansionism” can be written down as the principal enemy, and party General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa and leader Netra Bikram Chand, who is right-hand man to Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, had given a green signal to that.
“We had hoped to resolve the disputes for now through changed wording in the document, but we have so far failed,” said a Maoist leader.
But Dahal, who was initially positive, clung to his earlier stance that “the fusion of domestic reactionaries and Indian expansionism” should be declared the principal enemy.
While Dahal and Baidya are for declaring both India and domestic reactionaries the principal enemy, Bhattarai is against launching struggles against India and has argued that the party should rather go after “domestic reactionaries only.”
The Maoist party, at its General Convention of Unity in 2048 B.S., stated: “The contradiction of the Nepali people with domestic reactionaries protected by Indian expansionism will be the principal contradiction.”
Ever since the Maoist-led government collapsed following the army chief controversy in May 2008, Dahal has turned against India. But the Bhattarai faction has argued that declaring the immediate neighbor the principal enemy will backfire and that Dahal is only avenging India, which is “playing its part not to let him become prime minister”.
Baidya, Bhattarai push power sharing, collective leadership
As per the mandate of the Palungtar Plenum, both the Baidya and Bhattarai factions have demanded their rightful shares in the party organization. Though the Baidya faction is the strongest in the party, it has been underrepresented in the leadership positions of the 30 state committees, departments, sister organizations and bureaus. Similar is the condition of the Bhattarai faction. Dahal´s faction has over 75 percent share in the leadership of state committees.
The Dahal faction continues to lead the Tamuwan, Tamsaling and Kochila state committees as well as the workers´ union, which are regarded as lucrative in terms of income.
Both Baidya and Bhattarai factions have demanded that Dahal subscribe to the idea of collective leadership in the party. “He just places his followers in the important positions. That´s why he holds a majority when you count the chiefs of state committees, bureaus, departments and state committees,” said a leader close to Baidya. He said both dissenting factions have objected to Dahal´s working style of “taking decisions unilaterally and endorsing them at party meetings later.”