KATHMANDU, Sept 4: Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai were caught off guard by an unexpected backlash in the party against the handover of keys of the weapons containers to the Special Committee on Thursday.
In deciding to hand over the keys of the contatiners to the Special Committee, Dahal and Bhattarai did something that they had been stating publicly they would do, nor was it completely against the party decision. [break]
So what prompted the party hardliners, led by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, to resist the party´s move all of a sudden? And what will be its repercussions on the peace process and on party unity?
Party leaders say that an intra-party power struggle, coupled with a clash of egos, has primarily led to the current crisis.
First of all, the crisis was triggered by the clash of egos among senior party leaders. The hardliners felt ignored--even humiliated-- when such a "huge" decision was taken without any consultations with them.
“Even the party general secretary, who is also chief of the PLA, was not informed about the move, and it is sad that we got to know of the decision only through media,” says leader Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma, a Maoist politburo member close to Baidya.
Party insiders say General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa took it personally when the weapons containers were handed over to the Special Committee without even informing--let alone consulting-- him. "So he upped the ante against the party establishment," says one party leader.
Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha added fuel to the fire and he had his reason for doing so. Both Bhattarai and Dahal were against appointing him as deputy prime minister in the new cabinet.
“Bhattarai was never close to Shrestha and Dahal also did not want to appoint him deputy prime minister as he personally felt betrayed by Shrestha after the latter switched alligeance during the Dhobighat incidence,” says a leader close to Bhattarai.
Thirdly, there is a core group of hardliners in the party led by influential leader Netra Bikram Chand, which thinks the party deviated from its course on deciding to quit the protracted people´s war during the Chunwang meeting in October, 2005, and it accuses Dahal and Bhattarai of “betrayal” of the revolution.
What hardliners aim to achieve?
According to party insiders, the hardliners, in launching their protest against the peace plan, want to kill two birds with one stone.
First, they want to disrupt the current course of the peace process, which they think is a deviation from the ideals of the revolution. And second, they want to draw the sympathy of party rank and file by projecting Dahal as a deviant from the ideology and themselves as the true revolutionaries. In other words, the hardliners just want to drag the process out and discredit the party establishment.
But the leaders rule out any possibility of a split in the party -- at least for now.
“We are working out some formula to move ahead unitedly. None of the factions is in a mood to split the party now,” says Ram Karki, who is close to Bhattarai.
Leaders close to Baidya also argue that they would not split the party no matter what. “Why should we split and lead a different party as we have not committed any mistake?” asks Bishwakarma.
But given the nature of the conflict the leaders argue that it would be difficult to keep party unity intact for long. “There are two radically opposite and mutually exclusive political lines and it´s not possible to take them together for ever," says a leader close to Dahal.
Implications for peace process
Accusing the party leadership of a “sell-out”, the party headliners have demanded a meeting of the Central Committee (CC) to review the current course of the peace process.
But the party establishment is adamant against calling a CC meeting.
“Why hold the CC on an issue that has already been settled,” says Karki.
The party establishment has argued that the decision of the last Standing Committee “to concretely bring the cantonments under the Special Committee” mandated the keys handover.
With strong opposition from the hardliners, Bhattarai and Dahal, despite commanding a comfortable majority in the CC that at least theoretically enables them to take any decision, seem to be in a deep dilemma.
If they press ahead with the peace process, it may trigger a split in the party, but if they try to appease the hardliners, who have threatened to split, it would ultimately derail the peace process.
Leaders close to Dahal and Bhattarai argue that the party would be eventually compelled to take forward the peace process irrespective of the consequences. “The prime minister is committed to the peace process and he will take it forward whatever the cost,” says Karki.
Related story
Let’s live in peace and embrace diversity
