NATIONAL 1 (Spotlight Weekly)]

A New Offensive

CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal’s recent statement accusing India, the palace and the Nepali Congress of promoting the Maoist insurgency sparks a new controversy

By KESHAB POUDEL

Although the CPN-UML’s report on the genesis and growth of the Maoist movement does not mention the roles of India or the Nepali Congress, the party’s general secretary, Madhav Kumar Nepal, has charged New Delhi, the palace and the ruling party for conspiring with the insurgents to destroy the UML.

Nepal : Meaningful utterances

This is the first time a leader of Nepal’s stature has accused India of having a hand in the Maoist movement. Other left parties and some leaders of Nepali Congress have been accusing elements within the palace of hobnobbing with the Maoists. The fact that Nepal’s accusations came after his recent widely reporting meeting with Maoist leaders in Silguri, in the eastern India state of West Bengal has not been lost on observers. No less intriguing is the fact that Nepal's statement came when a high-level Chinese military delegation arrived in town.

Since the reported failure of his meeting with top Maoist leaders in their hideout, Nepal has been making desperate efforts to unite the left parties in a front against the insurgents. He has met leaders of eight communist parties and the confabulations are continuing.

"I have a suspicion that the palace and the Nepali Congress are working within an Indian ‘grand design’ in backing the Maoists," said Nepal, who was one of eight Nepalese communist leaders who held discussions with Maoist leader Prachanda in Silgudi. (Kantipur\Himalayan Times, September 3)

Congress leaders dismiss such remarks as a regular part of communist "I don’t believe the words of Nepal who has often harped anti-Indian, anti-palace and anti-Congress statements whenever he has found himself in trouble. Anti-Indian statements seem to be easy way to catch votes for communist leaders," said Arjun Narsingh K.C., a central committee member of the Nepali Congress.

Nepal made the accusation while addressing a meeting of UML intellectuals. He urged them to play a more active role "in this crucial juncture when forces are making desperate moves to take away the rights and liberties gained by people following the restoration of democracy in 1990".

Whatever the eventual fallout of Nepal’s statement, it clearly shows that the existing political equations in the country seem to be changing. As the Maoists have been busy organizing rallies in different parts of the country and are planning one in Kathmandu in which they hope to bring in tens of thousands of people, other communist parties are already feeling the heat. Like the UML in 1990, underground Maoist leaders are receiving enthusiastic public receptions, as if other communist parties do not exist.

"There is a possibility that India may be backing the Maoists to force Nepal to come under its security umbrella," Nepal told the UML intellectuals. "Indian television channels are showing movements of Indian soldiers on the Nepalese border and there has been an increase in the frequency of important Indian personalities visiting Nepal. One, therefore, has grounds to suspect [India’s involvement]. Many countries have supported moves to crush internal rebellions in other countries and India’s involvement in Sri Lanka was a glaring example."

Nepali Congress president and former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala has often used the word ‘grand design’ in his public statements. However, the Congress septuagenarian has never made an effort to explain what he meant. Koirala used the term whenever he saw instability in his government and party. Nepal has gone a step ahead by specifying the elements involved in the ‘grand design’, at a time when all other communist parties, including the UML, are struggling for survival amid the Maoists’ evident interest in open politics.

Nepal is one of the prominent architects of the political instability of the last decade. His party blocked House of Representatives for more than 64 days during the winter session and called a three-day Nepal bandh, plunging the country into a round of political turmoil.

It was these UML-led violent activities to destabilize political system that Koirala considered part of a ‘grand design’. The Nepalese people deserve to know why the UML general secretary has chosen to use the same term at this particular juncture.