Interview With Comrade Prachanda

Published in www.krishnasenonline.org, September 08,2005.

Interview With Comrade Prachanda

Comrade Chairman, why did you declare unilateral cease-fire all of a sudden?

To create environment in both the national and international level for a forward-looking political way out, to inspire the seven political parties to come in cooperation by clarifying their immediate slogan, to reinforce the movement of civil society, to increase political intervention upon the old state and to consolidate party’s relation with the broad masses by honouring their sentiment and aspiration etc. are the main motivating reasons behind the declaration of cease-fire.

The royal state has its own military. How will the ceasefire declared without its agreement succeed?

In our opinion, the development of the events of 3/4 days has justified the correctness of political intervention against the old state, the purpose with which the ceasefire was declared. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the important aspect of the psychological war against the royal army underlies in this ceasefire. To prove that the royal army is not in support of peace and way out from a new height is not less significant.

Royal state is speaking the language of repression. Does not this ceasefire become counter-productive in the situation when the parliamentarian seven political parties have not been able to come unitedly with a concrete program?

In my opinion, no question of it being counter-productive arises for its correctness lies in exposing worldwide the fascist character of the royal state and inspiring to change the vacillating and unclear character of parliamentarian seven political parties. Concretely speaking, the ceasefire has already played that role within 3/4 days.

Now, some rumour is spreading out that the ceasefire can be a respite for the royal state in the situation when the party is now acquiring military successes!

The political intervention that has been made by stepping at the footing of military success has never become a respite to the old state. None, who has seriously observed and understood the historical reality that the key of the development of Nepalese people’s war lies with the appropriate coordination of political and military intervention, can have such kind of talk. It is also necessary here to pay attention to the strategy of active defence, offend when attacked, of People’s Liberation Army.

What would you do if the royal government also by declaring ceasefire calls on you for a dialogue? Is it that you won’t have a dialogue in any case with the government?

Right now, we are not seeing any possibility and justification of dialogue with the royal government. If it makes such declaration and put forward clearly that it is ready to provide opportunity for the people to decide their fate then there can be dialogue in agreement of political parties and civil society. We are never absolute to talk with the aim of providing total right to the people.

There was an outside propaganda that an especial agenda on Nepal would be tabled in the general assembly of the United Nations and Gyanendra would participate in that. Is not this ceasefire declared aiming at influencing the forthcoming convention of the United Nations?

Definitely, there lies an objective of clarifying doubts remaining within different sections in the world on our party politics and exposing the old feudal power. But, it was not declared with the prime objective of influencing the forthcoming convention of the United Nations.

You have said in your statement that all from the UNO to the main neighbour and entire international community are showing concern on the present situation in Nepal from their own angle and are presenting their own kind of solution to the problem. Would you please clarify it further?

I think, the international concern, move and anxiety that is being shown on the present Nepalese civil war is known to and endured by all. Also it is not hidden that some of the power-centres are working with the strategy of isolating our movement by creating an alliance between king and the parliamentarian parties, some of them are working with the strategy of making the king agree with constitutional monarchy by creating a pressure of cooperation to a certain limit between our party and the parliamentarian parties, where as some of them are in favour of a real democracy and peace in Nepal. In this very context, it has been clarified in the statement that none can deny some of the elements are not trying to gain from by declaring Nepal a failed State. The essence of the aforesaid saying in the statement is to make the Nepalese people further clear by clarifying the reality that all of the international communities have no unified standpoint.

A short time before, India was very much offensive towards you and the previous CC meeting had raised the danger of Indian expansionism. Now, how has been the role of India?

Following the step of February 1, 2005, the fact is open that the discord and contradiction to a certain extent between the king of Nepal and the Indian ruling class has increased. In spite of class unity, today’s necessity is to try to use the contradiction emerged between them in favour of the democratic aspiration of the Nepalese people.

Comrade Chairman, the propaganda like, you declared ceasefire after meeting the foreign minister of India and according to India’s suggestion, is coming from the media of royal government. What is truth, would you clarify?

Nothing can be proved from such propaganda excepting that our declaration of ceasefire caused the brain of royal ringleaders to disfigure. The misinformation of the national betrayers that are killing the best sons and daughters, who love the national integrity and sovereignty of the country more than they do for their life, is nothing other than the excuse to hide their defeat. The fact that who is sensitive and responsible and who is criminal towards the interest of Nepal and Nepalese people is clear as daylight. The feudal palace’s move that the patriotic Nepalese people can be confused by planned misinformation has been too old. Nepalese people have been able to identify their real friend and foe. I challenge the lackeys of the feudal palace to prove that I met with any of the authorities of the Indian government and the ceasefire was declared according to their plan. This kind of misinformation can never save the feudal elements standing in the palisade to get thrown into the garbage can.

Will this ceasefire lead to a concrete result in the situation when, though objectively necessary, the dialogue and cooperation between the Maoist and seven political parties has not yet taken a concrete shape?

The decision the seven political parties took on the next day of our declaration clarifies the fact that our declaration of ceasefire has motivated them to go forward to the direction of taking concrete decision. But, because of vacillating, unclear and collaborationist stance of some of the leaders of the seven political parties, how resolutely they should have taken initiative and decision has not been observed. Nevertheless, we are optimistic that they will come forward with the passing of time.

Comrade Chairman, had this ceasefire been declared by having discussion with seven parliamentarian parties? Was this ceasefire declared to resolve the complexity arisen between the forces waging armed struggle and the peaceful movement?

The present decision of ceasefire has been taken based on our party’s political analysis not by having discussion with anyone else. It is not also true that this declaration has been done to resolve the complexity between peaceful and armed struggle. What is true has been said before.

Can the political movement against the feudal autocracy reach to its climax now? How much optimistic you are towards the possibility of a forward-looking political way out in the near future?

Nepal, in her political history, is in a serious turning point. In the immediate sense, the country can have a forward move only through people’s victory against the feudal power. We, on our behalf, are making efforts to make the people’s movement victorious by utilizing both the tactics of firmness and flexibility maximally as necessitates. The feudal autocratic monarchy has been in political isolation and confined within people’s encirclement from all sides. In this turning point of the history, it is necessary for all of us to push on. What is necessary here is to make ineffective the strategy of some of the international power centres and mainly the United States of America, which does not want this political way out to take place under the leadership of a revolutionary party, is another point to pay attention to.

All have raised the question of democracy. In fact, what kind of democratic republic you mean?

The democratic republic, which we are saying, is the transitional republic that can address the problems related to class, nationality, region and sex in today’s Nepal. Transitional means, it is a republic in between new democratic republic and parliamentary republic with Nepalese specificity.

What is Party’s opinion on the new decisions of the N.C. and UML?

Objectively our party has taken the NC’s decision to remove constitutional monarchy from their party constitution and go ahead for constituent assembly and the UML’s decision that they could go up to democratic republic through constituent assembly as positive and advanced ones, whatever be the reasons subjectively.

How are you looking at the role the civil society is playing now?

In the political movement in Nepal, the civil society has been playing a very important role since the period of anti Panchayat movement. The political clarity and mass mobilisation that is taking place under the initiative of intellectual personalities, including Devendra Raj Pandey, the civil society has become an imitable inspiration for the political parties. In this sense, we have high regard to the role of civil society.

For a party in war, the military success becomes a pressure against the enemy. Now, is not there any possibility of the Party being cornered because of the ceasefire? How much is there the possibility of conspiracy from different internal and external power-centres?

We must never understand the political and military intervention in an absolute sense. If military support for every political intervention and political correctness of every military success could not be justified the movement can fall prey to the conspiracies of national and foreign reactionary powers. We must never forget this salient particularity of Nepalese people’s war of ten years. Enemy’s business is always to conspire. The coordination of military and political intervention is unavoidable to make such kinds of conspiracies ineffective. In this sense, the present declaration of ceasefire is pushing the reactionaries into corner not us.

How possible you see to make the parliamentarian party confront against you by the palace fulfilling their demand of parliament?

Although the palace can move that pawn of conspiracy but right now it has not been imminent. Therefore, we have been appealing the parliamentarian parties to come forward directly to the interim government and constituent assembly for their slogan of reinstatement of parliament has already been outdated and turned to be a weapon for the palace to play.

What is the situation of inner-struggle within the party? Has it gone to the direction of resolution?

The problem of unhealthy inner-struggle has already been resolved. Healthy inner-struggle is the party life so it continues uninterruptedly.

A joint statement of Ganapathy, the general secretary of CPI (Maoist), and yours has come out. How will the communist movement in the region and the world go ahead?

Ideologically, we are confident on the fact that a new wave of revolution in South Asia and the world is coming up. Our joint statement with comrade Ganapathy is the expression of that identical ideological conviction.

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