AJAYA BHADRA KHANAL/TIKA RAM PRADHAN
Vice Chairman of Unified CPN-Maoist Narayan Kaji Shrestha ‘Prakash’ has been involved in dialogues with major parties since his party merged with CPN-Maoist to form Unified CPN-Maoist. In Nepal’s political sphere, he is one of the most familiar persons regarding issues of the peace process and the constitution drafting. Ajaya Bhadra Khanal and Tika Ram Pradhan of The Himalayan Times spoke to Shrestha on various issues including the internal struggle within the single largest party — the Unified CPN-Maoist.
Why is there so much infighting within the party? Is it because of the fast approaching deadline on peace and constitution?
The major questions are about ideological and political struggle. All the comrades are genuinely concerned about revolutionary transformation and whether the sacrifice of martyrs will go in vain.
The internal struggle has crossed all limits of discipline and friendliness and has turned unhealthy, irrational and indisciplined. A kind of factionalism has come to the fore.
Leaders, however, do not agree that the party has reached the stage of a split. We can resolve disputes through self-criticism on the part of all top leaders and take the major ideological contradictions to the general convention. We are confident that we can still unify the party and provide a way out to the nation by taking a unified stance, a single political line.
Are you still divided between peace, constitution and people’s revolt?
Some comrades think that if we trust parliamentary parties, we may fall into their trap, that there is no possibility of change through a new constitution and peace process. So they think the party should prepare the people for another movement. However, others believe that drafting a new constitution and the peace process is possible despite serious challenges ahead. We can still move ahead by seeking the support of people and we must try till the end.
We are still following the mandate of the Palungtar plenum. People’s revolt is not the mandate of the Palungtar plenum. The thrust of the plenum is that Nepali people will have to accept people’s revolt in case the CA is dissolved and the peace process derailed. In that situation, our party will lead the revolt.
Have you changed your stance on integration since May?
We have made a slight change in the party’s work plan but not in our tactical line. We are committed to the latest army integration plan. It’s true that we have given more focus on the political line of peace and constitution.
Why is your rival group claiming that the standing committee is going against the central committee directives?
We are abiding by the central committee’s decisions and there is no major difference in our position regarding army integration. There exists some misunderstanding on the decisions of the standing committee meeting, which has incorporated the concerns of dissenting leaders. We will be one-fold after clarification of some doubts and illusions. We will address the differences and accusations within the party, but they will not affect our commitment to peace and constitution.
What are the key obstacles to the peace process?
We have the official support of CPN-UML and unofficial support of top leaders of Nepali Congress on taking up the proposal floated by Nepali Army. But during the latest three-party meeting, NC backtracked from its earlier stance so the parties have failed to reach an agreement even on the modality of army integration, let alone determination of the number of combatants to be integrated.
We can never accept the standard of recruitment and that is the standard of integration the NC insists on.
NC has taken a conservative approach that is hindering the process of army integration. We are seriously concerned because the NC backtracked from its earlier stance. NC used to pile pressure on our party to determine the number of combatants to be integrated, but now they are reluctant to sort out the issue of number and modality.
The number of combatants to be integrated is not a problem. We have been demanding 10,000 but we are ready to be more flexible and fix it at around 8,000. We had urged the NC to finalise at least the modality and number, but they say everything should be finalised in a package deal. We are, however, still optimistic.
How can former Maoist combatants be a part of the border security force if the directorate is placed under Nepali Army?
We are for deploying the fifth force as Border Security Force or for security of national parks. But we can always manage the contradictions of deploying the army at the borders of a friendly country as per international practice. We, therefore, have urged the parties to develop a national security policy first.
Is it possible to meet the August 31 deadline?
We are still confident that the parties can prepare the first draft of the constitution on time if we forge consensus on conflicting issues soon. The only time consuming matter is agreement. Once we agree on issues, things will fall in place in no time.
Are you proposing Baburam Bhattarai as the next PM?
Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has already said he is not interested in becoming the next PM. So he has said there are several leaders in the party capable of becoming PM, including Bhattarai, myself and general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’. Among us Bhattarai is senior and therefore he can lead the next government.
Why have relations between India and the UCPN-M soured?
May be because we didn’t do what they were expecting. People might have thought there was some understanding between the Maoist leadership and the Indian establishment, which is not true. They might have thought we would not come in such a fierce manner on the issue of national sovereignty, which we did.
Another thing might be that the parliamentary parties were expecting us to join their system, but we have been struggling for a new political current instead of traditional parliamentary system ensuring political democratic values.
(Published in The Himalayan Times on July 7, 2011)
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