Should we still expect anything from Pushpa Kamal Dahal?

Should we still expect anything from Pushpa Kamal Dahal?

It takes no longer time for somebody/someone to deviate from their original identity. Original identity, here, indicates how someone/somebody was initially acknowledged and recognized than that of now. Undoubtedly, it is the same case with the deviation of ‘people’s leader’ Prachanda to the Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, whose major enemy, India during People’s war, has now become his closest friend. This has clearly been proved after the honor and respect Pushpa Kamal Dahal as Nepal’s head of the state received from the neighboring India during his four-day state visit to the southern neighbor.

During his India visit, Prachanda said that he would not sign any controversial deals with India but would lay a ‘strong foundation’ for mutual trust after bilateral ties went through ‘some bitter experience’ over the recent Madhesi Stir. He clearly knows that without pleasing the southern neighbor, his political life and parliamentarian life cannot go further. Thus, it became his foremost priority to please India by any means and decided to choose India as his first official visit. 

Dahal could have never thought of his life would be so luxurious, so comfortable, so relaxed. The person, who struggled a lot in his lifetime in order to make proletariat free from every kind of oppression, has now become an enemy for the same class. The then Prachanda has now become Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who only used the martyrs as a ladder to the state. Undoubtedly, there have been so many differences between two different opposite identities of a single man. In this case, Pushpa Kamal Dahal cannot be an exception.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal could have forgotten for what he initiated the decade-long People’s War in Nepal, but the entire population, who actively participated in the War, can never forget the dreams that Prachanda had showed to them. During the War, Prachanda used to say that Nepal could be completely free from foreign intervention, especially from the Indian expansionism. But in contrast, the then Indian expansionism has now become his real and closest friend. This is his absolute deviation from his ideology.

He might be so happy to be the head of the state once again. It is true that he could not accomplish the responsibilities as the head of the state after he became the first Prime Minister of the democratic Nepal in 2008. He decided to resign as the Prime Minister after the showdown between him and the President Ram Baran Yadav, who clashed over the firing of head of the army, Rukmangad Katuwal. But during his second tenure as the Prime Minister, he proudly says that he has now such experience and won’t let the chance be missed in order to be a successful Prime Minister. For him, being successful means to keep the incumbent coalition for long. This clearly shows that he seems to be very familiar with the parliamentarian system. How can a proletarian leader be experienced to adapt in the parliamentarian system? Isn’t it his another deviation from real identity?

When the People’s War in Nepal was about to clinch its height, the poor were assured of being rich, the discrimination among people in the name of caste, class, religion, gender would be ended. The peasants, the women, the Dalits, were assured of getting rights. But now, Pushpa Kamal Dahal seems to have purposefully forgotten the past. Prachanda, who used to be the leader of the oppressed class, has now become the leader of the oppressors. Now, it is clear that he deliberately forgot all the commitments and seems reluctant to fulfill those commitments he made during the People’s War.  

In sum, Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s Party, the Maoist (Centre) is now a group of opportunists. It will be fair to say that his party is the centre of one who takes advantage of any opportunity to achieve an end, often with no regard for principles or consequences. The party and the leaders have adopted the line of revisionism, being deviated from the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Undoubtedly, a serious ideological deviation has bedeviled him as well as his clique. It is a grave betrayal against the proletariat and their dream of revolution. Even after recognizing his real character, should we still expect anything at all from him?  

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September 18, 2016