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Nepal: The Discontents after the Revolution
The split among the Maoists in Nepal is on account of ideological and organisational differences. The splinter party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), still grapples with its ideological line - whether or not to launch an insurrection - and faces a diffi cult future. But substantial numbers of people in Nepal, often disgruntled with the dysfunctional nature of the mainstream polity, have historically responded to the call of radical communists who are therefore here to stay.
There was little surprise in Kathmandu when a number of radical leaders from the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) split from the party in June 2012. They had, after all, been publicly sceptical of the party’s course since it abandoned People’s War and entered mainstream politics in 2006. For at least a year before the split, radical leaders such as Mohan Baidya “Kiran” and Ram Bahadur Thapa “Badal” had been trying to wrest control of the party from the “establishment faction” controlled by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” and, to a lesser extent, Baburam Bhattarai. The Maoist radicals had managed to form parallel committees in many districts in almost all of the party’s affiliate organisations (student unions, trade unions and ethnic front).
The size of the new Maoist party, which is led by Mohan Baidya, is not insignificant. It drew around 30% of the parent party’s central committee members and around a third of the Maoist members of the now dissolved Constituent Assembly. In addition, it also includes a large number of wartime cadres who feel abandoned by the parent party and has managed to attract popular support in Rolpa and other districts that were rebel strongholds during the conflict.
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