SPA leaders smell a rat in Prachanda’s call for alliance with ‘nationalist royalists’

SPA leaders smell a rat in Prachanda’s call for alliance with ‘nationalist royalists’

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=130444

By Sanjeev Ghimire

KATHMANDU, Dec 6 - Tuesday’s statement by Maoist Chairman Prachanda that an alliance of his party, other parliamentary parties and the “nationalist royalists” was necessary at this juncture to protect the national unity has evoked sharp criticisms from within the Seven-Party Alliance (SPA).
On the other hand, it has been cautiously welcomed by the forces, which are still considered loyal or were loyal to the monarchy in the past.

Prachanda’s latest statement has not gone down well even with the leaders of the CPN-UML, which allied with the Maoists to pass the motions seeking a republic and a fully proportional representation system for the CA polls through the special session of parliament only last month.

“The appeal for an alliance with a force opposed to Loktantra by a force that had fought for Loktantra cannot be taken normally no matter what logic is put forward to defend it,” said influential UML leader Amrit Kumar Bohara. “This kind of remark, which is apparently triggered by the Maoists’ consumerist ideology, only weakens the seven-party unity and our collective efforts to institutionalise democracy in the country.”

Stating that democracy, nationalism and peace process are inter-connected and that separating one from the rest would affect all, Bohara added it was natural that Prachanda’s remarks had raised many eyebrows.

He informed that the party leadership plans to seek a clarification on the Maoist leader’s intentions.

Another major faction of the SPA, the Nepali Congress, appears equally apprehensive of Prachanda’s remarks.

“This statement coming from the top leader of a party which claims to be the most revolutionary and most genuine republican is definitely surprising,” said NC spokesman Arjun Narsingh KC. “This (statement) has come at a time when the CA polls have been postponed and that too purely because of the Maoists. It’s known to everyone that both the Maoists and the king do not want the elections.”

KC also said that the remarks could have been an offshoot of the Maoist strategy “to divide others and take advantage.”

“It’s been a strategy of the Maoists to create division in different forces and take advantage. Prachanda’s latest remarks appear to be quite in line with this strategy,” KC added.

“I remember that Sharad Chandra Shah and Panchayati Prime Minister Marichman Singh—we all know both of them are hardcore royalists—once said that you could either be a royalist or a Maoist. There’s no third option,” he further said, “And now what Prachanda has said has made many worried.”

Even the likes of Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, who is said to have “cordial” relations with the Maoists, has publicly rebuffed the Maoist leader for his statement.

Talking to reporters in Chitwan district Thursday, Situala said that the royalists can never be nationalists as they were the “mentors of dictatorship”.

Reacting to Maoist Chairman Prachanda’s Tuesday’s remarks that the parties should forge unity with the “nationalist royalists”, the Home Minister said it was a dangerous mistake to consider the royalists as nationalists.

Maoist leader Barsha Man Pun ‘Ananta’, however, said that such a unity was needed to protect the national unity, which was being endangered due to the “unprecedented violence in Terai and the growing foreign interventions.”

He also revealed that the Maoists have in fact already started approaching the “nationalist royalists” in the political circle, bureaucracy and security wings to forge such an alliance.

“With the King sidelined, where will the genuine nationalist forces go?” he said. “We need to give them a space.”

However, he did not elaborate on the royalists the Maoists have approached so far.

Asked why the king himself could not be taken on board if the national unity was under such a grave threat, Ananta ruled out the possibility “because the monarchy itself is a threat.”

Co-chairman of the Rastriya Janshakti Party, Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani cautiously welcomed Prachanda’s statement.

“If it (the statement) is about political tolerance then it is welcome,” he said. “But we still have to wait and watch. The Maoists have made similar statements in the past only to forget them later.”

He, nevertheless, said mudslinging is not going to help bail the country out of the current quagmire and that “an alliance of the democrats and the forces in favour of national unity, including the Maoists, is the need of the hour”.

He went on to claim that if such an alliance could be forged then no foreign elements would be able to interfere in Nepal’s internal matters.

“But, remember the alliance must be based on a minimum political understanding to achieve the immediate national objective to draft a new democratic constitution,” he said. “Democracy here means respect for values such as civil liberties, press freedom and balance of power.”


Posted on: 2007-12-06 10:41:49 (Server Time)