Beleaguered UCPN (M)

The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) had never faced a challenge as serious as this. As soon as the rival factions in the Maoist parties reached a truce—however temporary and unstable that may be — the party is now finding itself right in the soup with the twin challenges of internal dissent, arising mainly from the members of the Young Communist League (YCL) and the PLA, and a mounting pressure from the opposition parties to comply with past agreements. The incidents involving the YCL members and PLA combatants are particularly embarrassing for the party since they have at once exposed its past lies and deceptions and the current resentments and divisions in the party rank and file.



The current frictions in the cantonments and the padlocking of the Maoist party offices by the YCL members in the far west have exposed the following things: The Maoists breached the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and kept several thousands of their hard core fighters out of the cantonment in the disguise of the members of Young Communist League and the cantonments were instead filled by thousands of fake combatants.



Many combatants who had already left the cantonments were recalled when the government announced the voluntary retirement scheme and the party reached an agreement with them to share the voluntary retirement amount they were entitle to receive. All these speak volume about the Maoist party’s moral bankruptcy and how shamelessly it can misuse the state coffer for its own benefit. This very culture of running after money, which has taken deep roots in the Maoist party, is ironically, creating havoc in the party. Many PLA combatants seem determined that they are not going to go without getting a fair share in spoils of the “People’s War”.



The Maoist leadership so thoroughly exposed and discredited faces a determined opposition this time around. The alliance of seventeen parties, led by the NC and UML, has taken a firm stance that the Maoist party must fulfill all its commitments regarding the peace process. When the Maoist leaders meet the NC and UML leaders tomorrow at Gokarna Resort for a comprehensive dialogue it will be either in the defensive or be in complete denial mode.



A realization that it has made mistakes by stalling the peace process and by legalizing the war-era land deals approved by the Maoist “people’s government” will help rebuild trust and create an environment for a constructive dialogue. On the contrary, continuation of its belligerent posture will further erode trust among the parties. How Maoist party addresses its internal challenges and whether it can strike a deal with other parties on peace and constitution will largely decide it future, and also the future course of Nepali politics.

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