Lal Salam Blog: What is the history of the Party? 
Comrade Sushil: The CPB(MLM) was established on the 7 November 2001, and the party has been working with the exploited people in Bhutan, mostly we work with the people in the villages.
So what are the problems in Bhutan?
The biggest problem is the feudal monarchy. People's standard of living has been kept backwards because of the monarchy. This is why our glorious party is working to overthrow the feudal regime, and establish a peaceful society that can achieve socialism and communism.
Last year your party started a People's War in Bhutan...
No, we have not initiated a protracted people's war in Bhutan. Last year we did initiate some armed struggles, which is only a factor of the rural class struggle. Much of the media proclaimed this as the beginning of the Peoples War, but we are not at that phase. We are preparing for it.
So there will be more attacks, more bombs and more armed actions in the future?
Certainly. We are preparing for this. Without the armed struggle, we can't change the situation in our country. We cannot change state power.
So have you learnt much from the experiences of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)? Are there close or special links between your parties?
We do not have special or direct links with this party. Like communists all around the world, in Peru, India or the Philippines we have ideological links. We have a relationship with the CP Nepal (Maoist), but also with the CP India (Maoist), who are also waging an armed struggle. We don't receive any physical support, but we are all communists, and we are all internationalists.
We receive and give moral support.
The Maoists in Nepal have given up their People's War and taken a new tactic in pursuing the Constituent Assembly elections. Is this a correct tactic in your party's opinion?
We do not think that they have given up their goals. We think they are pursuing another way, another tactic to establish a people's state. We don't think they have established the proletarian dictatorship. So we, our party, does not think that they have achieved state power. We too will go for a Constituent Assembly at first, and only after that can we step or jump or leap forward to a New Democratic revolution. We think that the Maoists of Nepal face similar situations to us, and have similar actions, so we will continue to watch closely.
Last year the government of Bhutan held elections, in a very restricted and controlled way, but the western media still presented this as 'democracy'.
The international community has its formula and they see votes and call it democracy, but there is no such thing in Bhutan and it is not possible to impose a real democracy from the outside into Bhutan. Any 'democracy' that the regime brings into practice itself will be done in such a way so that real power continues to be restricted and kept in the hands of the old order, and not in the hands of the mass of exploited people. When I say this it does not mean that we are militarists. The people want peace, and don't want to live in terror but this regime suppresses and exploits the people.
It is not a hobby to carry out armed struggle, it is our only option for the liberation of our people.
If you care to reach people's war, do you think India would interfere to defend its interests?
On this the whole party is very much conscious. But in the present situation, India is not so dangerous to Bhutan. China is quite dangerous: 11,500 sq km of Bhutan's lands have been occupied and taken by China. So we are surrounded by two very large and powerful countries who are always looking to interfere into Bhutan. There are Indian Army camps established in Bhutan. Maybe at some point in the future there will be political intervention, and we can try to counter this with our allies by rousing grassroots support for our cause in India. If they try to intervene militarily it will be a heavy cost for them, a bloody and long civil war. We also want to establish the sovereignty of Bhutan, so we will always fight foreign influence, from India as well as China.
Is it true your party favors repatriation of refugees to Bhutan rather than resettlement in third countries?
We are not for resettlement, and we are not for repatriation. Moving people around like they are animals is not a solution. Some people have said our party was created to agitate for the repatriation of refugees, this is not the case. Our party was not established for refugees, but for all Bhutanese.
