Maoist politburo meeting

Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) has begun its politburo meeting in the capital. This meeting is important for at least two reasons. First is the party´s internal dynamics. The party has remained embroiled for far too long over the issue of leadership of the proposed national consensus government. Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has so far maintained that he will lead such a government if the party gets a chance to form it. Not just that, the party chairman also seems determined to block any other leader from within his party leading such a government. And that is the main bone of contention within the party right now. There is a growing voice in the Maoist party, mainly from the younger leaders, that the party should be ready for an alternative from within the party if there is not enough support from other parties for Chairman Dahal as the next prime minister.



Seen in a larger perspective, the problem marring the Maoist party is lack of internal democracy and absence of tolerance and respect among the leaders at the top. The party hasn´t held its general convention for the last 18 years; as a result, the financial and organizational power of the party remains tightly concentrated in the hands of the all-powerful chairman. Dahal doesn´t want to loosen his grip on the party and hasn´t conceded any platform to other leaders from which they can challenge him. The ongoing controversy over government leadership is a small opening which the Babauram Bhattarai camp is trying to exploit for challenging Dahal. In a desperate attempt to close off this avenue, the Maoist party standing committee, at the behest of Dahal, has several times decided that the chairman is the party´s sole candidate for prime minister. But the controversy has only deepened. The politburo meeting will be a real test for both the Bhattarai and Dahal factions, with each side trying desperately to prevail.



But this internal row is not the only issue that the politburo meeting is grappling with. It will also have to take an important decision about how the party wants to move ahead in national politics. Two weeks after the political parties provided a new leash of life to the Constituent Assembly, politics remains deadlocked as before. The Maoist party is now under tremendous pressure to decide what it wants to do with the current peace process. Unless the Maoists offer a credible roadmap to conclude the peace process, and possibly take some steps in earnest in that direction, the other political parties don´t seem interested in working together. Not that the other parties don´t have to make concessions, but the first gesture must come from the Maoists. Unfortunately, the Maoist party remains split over whether to work in cooperation with other parties or go it alone, in its own way. This is another tough decision the politburo will have to take.

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