Maoist leaders admit in private that the party leadership is fast losing control over the cadres, who remain deeply divided and suspicious of each other and are following their respective top leaders. [break]
On Saturday, Maoist Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai publicly vented his anger against the "conspiracy" hatched by some in the party to ´humiliate´ him by inviting another leader as chief guest at a function in his home district of Gorkha.
In a show of strength against rival factions, several dozen two-wheelers and four-wheelers escorted Bhattarai all the way from Abu Khareni to Gorkha district headquarters where he addressed emotionally charged party cadres and challenged the ´conspirators´.
The Gorkha incident is the latest example of faction-ridden politics bedeviling the Maoist party.
While senior leaders still argue that internal disputes in a communist party are not unnatural, party insiders say the leadership of the highly centralized party is now helpless in the face of the growing factionalism and looming internal crisis.
"Factionalism has begun paralyzing the whole party machinery, things are fast slipping out of hand," says a Maoist leader close to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
The Maoist party has been divided vertically into three factions led by Dahal, Senior Vice-chairman Baidya and Vice-chairman Bhattarai respectively.
Factionalism in the party´s sister organizations is so intense the party leadership has not been able to hold their long overdue national convention for years.
Faced with intense factional disputes and wrangling while conducting the general conventions of its student and peasant wings four months back, the party leadership rather chose to put off the conventions of the rest of the sister organizations, numbering more than three dozen.
While the party struggled hard to give full shape to its student wing central committee, the peasant wing continues to be hamstrung by factionalism and does not yet have its top office-bearers.
And internal divisions in its workers´ union is a matter of public shame for the Maoist party, with union leaders not only accusing each other of financial embezzlement and sellout but also brawling openly. Defiant unionists have publicly challenged the party decision to resolve the issues and vowed not to abide by it. "This union is very handy in terms of money and muscle. So the chairman doesn´t want to take action against its current chief (Salikram Jammakattel), who has always been loyal to him," says a leader close to Bhattarai.
Similar is the situaiton at the Maoist Civil Servants Union, which is dominated by the Baidya faction. The Dahal faction has now demanded the resignation of union chief Rukma Lamichhane if the Baidya faction forces workers union chief Jamakattel to resign.
The All Nepal Women´s Association (Revolutionary) and All Nepal Teachers Association, among others, are also undergoing similar crises and have not been able to hold their national conventions and choose new leaderships.
"The monolithic party structure that worked quite well during the insurgency could not adjust to the open society," argues Maoist leader Ram Karki, who is close to Bhattarai.
According to him, the factionalism has to do with internal power base as well as the huge financial resources needed to succeed in politics.
Leaders close to Baidya and Bhattarai heap blame for the current disarray on Dahal for running the party without following ´democratic principles´.
But a leader close to Dahal decries the ´mudslinging´ against the ´main leadership´.
"I won´t even talk to you on the issue. This (allegation) is what the chairman gets for his sacrifice," says the leader.
However, leaders close to Baidya put the blame on lack of ´internal democratization´ in the party.
"The party should have been a centralized expression of the collective leadership, but it has been an arbitrary expression of singular leadership," argues a senior Maoist leader close to Baidya.
He points out the need for a party congress to first constitute a democratically elected leadership. "Without making the party democratic how can you expect the sister organizations to be democratic and healthy?" he asks, adding that the top leadership will not be able to regain control of combative cadres and sister organizations if things are not brought back onto track immediately.
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