NATIONAL7Spotlight Weekly)]

Unity For A Cause

For the first time in five years, all left parties come closer together against the government

By A CORRESPONDENT

For the workers of left political parties, it was a good opportunity to share the platform against the government. But they were forced to forego the chance to rattle the market by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who accepted their demand to reduce the price of kerosene.

The left parties called off their planned two-day strike at the last minute. The stoppage would have come in the midst of a five-day international conference of the World-Wide Fund for Nature during which more than 500 delegates from around the world were in Nepal.

For the first time in five years, all left parties, including the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist, backed the agitation called by nine left parties.

Left Unity : Uncertain course

At a time when other parties, including the Nepali Congress, are mired in internal wrangling, the left parties also agreed to support the demands of Nepalese soldiers that served in the British Army.

Political analysts were surprised by the unity demonstrated by all left parties, who have serious differences on many major issues. Though there are two groups in the left agitation -- the CPN-ML leads a nine-party left front whereas the CPN-UML heads a four-party grouping -- the comrades said their unity was intended to send a message.

"It showed that we can stand for the cause of the common people irrespective of our ideology," said Yubaraj Gyawali, CPN-UML leader. "The UML always supports the demands of the common people.

A common cause was not the only reason that brought all the left parties on the same platform. There may have been some political compulsions. All left parties are now fighting for survival. This time they must have realized that they must unite to stand.

Nepal has seen few occasions when all left forces have sat together. In 1990, all left parties backed the political agitation launched by the Nepali Congress against the Panchayat system. In the election of the 1991, all left forces agreed to share seats among themselves.

After the 1991 elections, all left parties launched rounds of agitation against the Congress government led by Girija Prasad Koirala. Left unity has always brought political instability.

"There is no cause which binds them together. The ideals of Mao, Marx and Lenin are not what always guides them," says Dr. Surendra K.C. who did his doctorate on the Nepal's Communist movement. "In the movement of 1990, all communist forces joined hands with what they regularly described as anti-national forces."

Communists leaders says their unity is always in the interest of the nation. "Whenever the country and nationalism are in crisis, communists are only forces who have clear ideas on the way ahead.

"Had CPN-ML favored general strike and backed our demand, we would have forced the government to accept all the demands, including maintaining the status quo on the price rise," said MP Lilamani Pokharel, leader of United People Forum.

"The CPN-ML aborted the proposal to go against the government. We are considering whether to continue the alliance."

As left parties are still searching for a common agenda for an alliance against the Congress government, the possibility of a fresh round of agitation cannot be ruled out.

"We will continue our struggle against the reactionary government led by Girija Prasad Koirala," says Chitra Bahadur K.C. leader of CPN-Masal.

In any case, by calling of the Nepal Bandh, the left parties also may have managed ward off to some degree a perennial criticism: that they prefer disruption in place of conciliation to achieve political goals.