UCPN-M meeting

The central committee meeting of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist has begun amidst a growing clash of personalities and policies within the party. Dissatisfied with party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s political proposal presented at the central committee meeting, two vice-chairmen of the party, Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Mohan Baidya, have submitted their own proposals. The once-again simmering dispute in the Maoist party is as much about personality clashes as it is about ideological and policy level differences. The two vice-chairmen decided to put forward their own proposals after they came to know that Chairman Dahal had alleged he did not get enough support from the party’s leaders for his bid to become prime minister a second time. If there is no longer any warmth in the relationship between Dahal and Baidya, the Dahal-Bhattarai relationship has also chilled significantly after Dahal accused Bhattarai of being pro-Indian. Ever since that accusation, neither Dahal nor Bhattarai has tried to patch up; instead, both seem to be in a mood to go against each other.



The ideological differences among these three leaders-- who lead three different factions among the Maoists -- are no less serious. The Baidya faction, frozen in the past, sees the current political course that the party has taken as useless and wants to revert to some form of violence or rebellion. Bhattarai’s faction sees merit in continuing the current political course and argues for consolidation of the present gains—republic and commitment to federalism. This faction argues that the party should stay within the framework of multiparty competition and believes the party can advance its cause through that process. Party Chairman Dahal doesn’t have a particular political line and takes sides with either Baidya or Bhattarai depending upon who best serves his interests at a particular point in time. Since Bhattarai and Baidya no longer seem willing to be used against each other, Dahal’s strategy is increasingly in trouble.



As the UCPN-M, the largest party in the Constituent Assembly and the key stakeholder in the peace process, remains mired in internal conflicts and has lost its political direction, it raises serious questions about the party’s future and also the conclusion of the peace process. It’s unfortunate that the party, which abandoned war four years ago, still remains divided over which political course it should take from here on. When Shyam Saran, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s special envoy, met Dahal and Bhattarai during his last visit here, this is what he had said to them: You should now decide once and for all whether you want to remain committed to multiparty democracy or revert to insurgency. So long as the country’s major political forces and the international community have questions about Maoist commitments to democracy and peace it’s not going to help the Maoist party, nor is that going to help the country.

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