A Maoist on the hustings
Mar 19th 2008 | KATHMANDU
From The Economist print edition
A former revolutionary fighter hopes to take over through the ballot box
How democratic shall I be, wonders PrachandaFOR years the only available photograph of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda (“awesome”), the founder and leader of Nepal's Maoists, showed him at a party gathering in a remote part of Nepal around 2001. The image stuck of a reclusive, unsmiling guerrilla leader, prepared to live underground for decades to wage war on feudalism.
Since he emerged above ground two years ago, the contrast has been marked. Twice-postponed elections to a constituent assembly are due on April 10th. Prachanda's campaign machine is in overdrive. He addresses rallies everywhere. His beaming face, minus the beard but richly moustachioed, is on posters all over the country. His hair is brushed back in a style that has become popular among party colleagues, who nickname it the janabadi (“pro-people”) style.
The makeover worries some Maoists. Party bigwigs, some former fighters complain, are getting top medical care, live in posh houses and ride expensive cars captured in wartime. They lament that ordinary Maoists are homeless: they can no longer demand accommodation at gunpoint. The old ethos of equality has gone.
Prachanda dismisses these charges, but if he gets his way, he may indeed be heading for luxury. Smiling, he says he is confident his party will win the election and that he will in time become the first president of a Nepalese republic. The monarchy is due to be abolished and he says that as long as King Gyanendra abides by the constitution he will be pardoned and allowed to stay in the country as a common citizen. Maoists these days, says their leader, encourage the accumulation of capital. If his party forms the government, says Prachanda, he will use the law to push through land reform and the emancipation of lowly castes.
Other parties scorn Prachandra's claim to become president. They point out that the country's future system of government has yet to be decided. Also undecided, they say, is how far the Maoists are committed to democracy. Top party officials have jettisoned the grey uniforms they sported during peace talks in 2006—a sign, Prachanda says, that the party is pluralist, not totalitarian. Prachanda himself says the party will accept the “verdict of the masses”. But he refuses to rule out a return to violence if “other sections of the people derail the peace process”. There are frequent reports that party activists, often from the detested Young Communist League, violently disrupt meetings of other parties, shouting that these have no right to operate on “Maoist territory”.
And the party's behaviour in running some ministries, such as the information ministry, has raised eyebrows. State television, once a mouthpiece for the king, runs regular propaganda programmes including pro-Maoist discussions and shows of “revolutionary songs”. No airtime is given to reported Maoist misdeeds. The election code of conduct requires state media not to favour particular parties.
Mar 19th 2008 | KATHMANDU
From The Economist print edition
A former revolutionary fighter hopes to take over through the ballot box
How democratic shall I be, wonders PrachandaFOR years the only available photograph of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda (“awesome”), the founder and leader of Nepal's Maoists, showed him at a party gathering in a remote part of Nepal around 2001. The image stuck of a reclusive, unsmiling guerrilla leader, prepared to live underground for decades to wage war on feudalism.
Since he emerged above ground two years ago, the contrast has been marked. Twice-postponed elections to a constituent assembly are due on April 10th. Prachanda's campaign machine is in overdrive. He addresses rallies everywhere. His beaming face, minus the beard but richly moustachioed, is on posters all over the country. His hair is brushed back in a style that has become popular among party colleagues, who nickname it the janabadi (“pro-people”) style.
The makeover worries some Maoists. Party bigwigs, some former fighters complain, are getting top medical care, live in posh houses and ride expensive cars captured in wartime. They lament that ordinary Maoists are homeless: they can no longer demand accommodation at gunpoint. The old ethos of equality has gone.
Prachanda dismisses these charges, but if he gets his way, he may indeed be heading for luxury. Smiling, he says he is confident his party will win the election and that he will in time become the first president of a Nepalese republic. The monarchy is due to be abolished and he says that as long as King Gyanendra abides by the constitution he will be pardoned and allowed to stay in the country as a common citizen. Maoists these days, says their leader, encourage the accumulation of capital. If his party forms the government, says Prachanda, he will use the law to push through land reform and the emancipation of lowly castes.
Other parties scorn Prachandra's claim to become president. They point out that the country's future system of government has yet to be decided. Also undecided, they say, is how far the Maoists are committed to democracy. Top party officials have jettisoned the grey uniforms they sported during peace talks in 2006—a sign, Prachanda says, that the party is pluralist, not totalitarian. Prachanda himself says the party will accept the “verdict of the masses”. But he refuses to rule out a return to violence if “other sections of the people derail the peace process”. There are frequent reports that party activists, often from the detested Young Communist League, violently disrupt meetings of other parties, shouting that these have no right to operate on “Maoist territory”.
And the party's behaviour in running some ministries, such as the information ministry, has raised eyebrows. State television, once a mouthpiece for the king, runs regular propaganda programmes including pro-Maoist discussions and shows of “revolutionary songs”. No airtime is given to reported Maoist misdeeds. The election code of conduct requires state media not to favour particular parties.
