'If The Leadership Has A Horse To Ride, All Cadres Cannot Expect To Have It'
The top Nepal Maoist on the problems revolutionary parties encounter in maintaining their ideological purity and India's role in Nepal
In December 2007,
featured a story on Prachanda (The Rado Maoist), chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, detailing the remarkable change in his lifestyle after he emerged from the bush to join mainstream politics. We said he sports an expensive Rado watch, travels in an airconditioned Pajero, loves his daily two pegs of Johnnie Walker whisky, and has been accused of promoting his children in the party hierarchy. On a cold January morning this year, the Maoist supremo, dressed in a trendy tracksuit, met
's Manoj Dahal and sportingly fielded questions on his new lifestyle, the problems revolutionary parties encounter in maintaining their ideological purity and India's role in Nepal. Excerpts:
From being an underground outfit to joining competitive mainstream politics, the Maoists have come a long way. What are the major challenges you have encountered in this switch?
Competitive politics demands compromises. Is it possible for a revolutionary party to maintain its ideological purity?
For 10 years, your cadres fought for a different ideology and objective. Don't they feel betrayed now?
Questions have been raised about the gap between the lifestyle of Maoist leaders, including you, and cadres. Is the gap enormous?
So, the change in lifestyle isn't a big issue for you.
How will you mobilise money for the election to the Constituent Assembly in April?
You keep referring to imperialist and foreign forces working to the detriment of the country's interest. Who are these forces?
What has been India's role in the peace process? Have the Maoists softened their anti-India stance?
Is the open Indo-Nepal border a problem then?
Do you think China's interest in Nepal has grown in the recent past?
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