Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal spoke to Himal Khabarpatrika this week about the political deadlock with the other parties, the disagreements within his party and prospects for the peace process and constitution in 2011. Excerpts:
Himal Khabarpatrika: What is the reason we have this political deadlock?
Pushpa Kamal Dahal: Two schools of thought are on a collision course: one that wants to weaken the Maoists and another that says the Maoists should not be isolated. That is at the centre of the deadlock. The status quoists and reactionaries could never digest the fact that the Maoists became the biggest party. They think that if the constitution is written the Maoists will be dominant for the next few decades, and some reactionary foreign power centres support this view. There is a campaign afoot to weaken the Maoists.
Can you explain it a bit so we understand: who are these reactionaries and status quoists?
(Laughs) It will be difficult to state this categorically. In our view those who rely on outsiders to bolster their position instead of making the national interest their priority are status quoists and reactionaries. The progressives and agents of change are those who give priority to Nepal's independence, national interest, and want the country to be treated with equality and respect by foreigners. We can see some of these reactionary tendencies within NC, UML and even within our own party.
Really, even within your party?
I wouldn't say there are status quoists and revisionists within our party, but there is a debate about these tendencies. Even at the Palungtar Convention, one of the main debates was about interference by foreign reactionaries. Since the republic was established there has been collusion between domestic reactionaries, mercantile capitalists, lackeys and feudals with Indian monopoly capitalism. In our party, one side lays slightly more emphasis on nationalism and the other side a little more on people's democracy. There are feudal residues still around, but as long as democracy is not strengthened we won't have true sovereignty.
In Palungtar your colleagues accused you of economic anarchy and nouveau riche tendencies.
Yes, there was that accusation, but it wasn't directed at me. Certainly, there has been some class upliftment within the party. I referred to this even in my document, as did Kiranji and Baburamji.
Who is trying to make you weaker?
The NC mainstream and the other parties haven't yet come around to support our agenda. If they identified with state restructuring, right to self-determination, social justice and autonomy, their relations with the Maoists would not be so bad. These parties were under the misconception that they could force the Maoists to toe their line. We were united against the monarchy, now we disagree about the kind of new state structure we want. This can't happen by weakening the Maoist party. We emphasised state restructuring, and this brought us into a confrontation with mainstream traditionalists. We felt that with the end of the monarchy there should also be an end to Indian neo-colonialism.
Why are you getting closer to the monarchists, then?
We understand that there are two types of monarchists: one that will kowtow to foreigners, and another that is on the side of national sovereignty. The monarchists who are close to the Maoists are mostly nationalists.
You talk about national sovereignty but during the war you spent your time in India. Yesterday you were against the king, today you hobnob with his supporters?
Firstly, we were not in India because of its government, we were there because the Indian people loved us. In fact the Indian government chased us down, detained our cadre and handed them over to Nepal. The recent book by Bibek Shah mentions that the Indian Army gave us training in Dehra Dun. Nothing could be further from the truth, and it raises questions about the veracity of the rest of the book. I used to go back and forth while underground, but towards the end of the war I moved our headquarters to Rolpa and Rukum because I felt the revolution would be completed if I stayed on. India helped with the 12-point agreement, but I had proposed that the agreement be signed in Rolpa, not in Delhi.
You have been accusing Baburam Bhattarai of being pro-Indian, and you yourself are accused of being pro-palace.
The real debate within the party is between nationalism and people's democracy. This is normal within a communist party. We shouldn't, and haven't, been accusing each other of being pro-palace or pro-Indian. But if you are out to save our nationalism, you will automatically be pushed closer to yesterday's monarchists. It is also not correct to go around saying India is our main enemy. We are just against the cohabitation between Indian monopoly capitalists and Nepali feudal capitalists.
Isn't it contradictory to support ethnic and territorial federalism and be against pluralism?
Not at all. In today's reality we are for multi-party competition and federalism. Federalism reflects the citizens' need for linguistic and cultural identity within the framework of multi-party competition. Our philosophy is not pluralism, it is socialism and communism. Some are trying to force us to accept pluralism, how can we do that? What if we say the new constitution must accept communism. Will NC agree to that? To try to force us to agree to pluralism is to ask us to abandon our ideas, our philosophy, our ideals. We are for a dictatorship of the proletariat, however long it takes.
Are you dragging your feet on demobilisation of your fighters and constitution-writing?
This is the main political disagreement right now. We are not dragging our feet. The CPA states it very clearly: the Maoists are a political force with an army, and for lasting peace the old army and the Maoist army should be integrated into a new army. The power to say this comes from the Maoist army's ability to fight a ten-year war. What we need now is for the Maoists to accept the other political forces and the others to accept the Maoists. If that happens, integration will be easy and the peace process can be concluded. We are willing to hand over command of the cantonments to the Special Committee, we are willing to regroup and divide up our forces between those for integration and rehabilitation. But the other side is not ready for this.
Why do you need UNMIN so much?
At the beginning of the peace process, we felt the gap between us and the parties was too wide and we wanted the UN to have a role. If UNMIN leaves, the constitution, peace process, arms monitoring, all will have to be altered. We only have five more months. We are worried that to chase out UNMIN at this time may lead to the disintegration of the peace process. It is clear that the gurus of the ruling parties want UNMIN out.
The quarrel is about who becomes prime minister when the constitution is written and the peace process is concluded. Right?
No, the main quarrel is about whether or not we take into account the reality of the integration of armies. The task force I headed fixed a lot of disagreements in the constitution. If there is political will, the constitution won't be a problem. The main quarrel is between those who want peace and those who don't. If the Maoists are accepted as a power and are integrated with respect, everything else will fall into place.
Will the parliamentary session bring a new government?
I think there can be an agreement. There must be. There is no other way.
Full version of the interview in Nepali on: www.himalkhabar.com
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