Yechuri to Indian Maoists: Draw positive lesson from Nepal

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury has said the Maoists in India should draw a positive lesson from the electoral victory of Maoists in Nepal.

According to The Hindu daily, Yechuri said that the Maoists in India should follow the path to join the political mainstream. "The path of democracy needs to be followed to ride to power," he said in Kolkata Monday.

Asked whether the Maoists' ascendancy to power in Nepal would strengthen the Maoists in India, Yechu said that this should not be the case.

"Rather they should draw a positive lesson," he said, adding, "We would like to congratulate the Maoists and the people of Nepal for holding the election, although the verdict of the people in its entirety will be known only later, as the election process there was a complex one. But it is a good beginning for the consolidation of the democratic process in the country."

Indian Maoist outfits known as Naxalites have been waging armed struggle in states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh and have turned down repeated calls from the central government for dialogue. nepalnews.com mk Apr 15 08