Ritu Raj Subedi

With the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR), the country has entered the murky waters of politics. The Kathmandu streets have been turned into a theatre of protests. Political and pressure groups of different hues are venting their ire on a daily basis. But it is the Reds who are dominating the roadshow. Two factions of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) are competing with each other to display their strength through rallies and gatherings across the country. As Kathmandu is the nerve centre of national politics, both sides are bent on landing their supporters here to expand their influence and exert pressure on the institutions that hold the key to change the current course of politics. One observer has quipped that even in the aftermath of the NCP division, the communists are omnipresent - in the government, on the street and even in the jungle in reference to the Biplav-led outlawed group.
Prachanda-Nepal faction of NCP is drumming up public support for the restoration of parliament. On the other hand, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has stepped up measures to hold the elections slated for April and May this year at all cost. The Supreme Court has continued the hearing on the writs filed against the HoR dissolution and is likely to give its historic verdict by the end of February, as per the media reports. But the on-going legal process has least impacted the frenzied campaigns of NCP’s rival factions.

Paradoxical discourses
Paradoxical moves and discourses have come to the fore, with the widening rift between the two groups of the NCP. It is difficult to find ideological purity and coherence in their words and actions. The HoR dissolution had brought cheers to the monarchists and anti-federalists. They had expected to hear ‘good news’ from the mouth of PM Oli during a recent mass meeting organised by his camp. They had expected that the PM would go to the extent of reversing secularism and federalism but much to their dismay, he reiterated his commitment to these basic tenets of the constitution. Pro-Hindu forces had all gone agog after the PM visited Pashupatinath, the most pious shrine of Hindu devotees, and performed a special puja there.
But Oli’s nemeses from rival faction were quick to dismiss communist PM’s Pashupatinath visit, accusing him of playing the ‘Hindu card’ with a motive of expanding the support base ahead of midterm polls. Now with the biggest god of Hindus drawn into the quarrel of NCP, the pro-royalists have found a cause in it to defend the PM’s move in the court. A host of royalist advocates, including Bal Krishna Neupane, Bishnu Bhattarai and Surendra Bhandari argued in support of HoR dissolution, stating that the PM had the prerogative to dissolve it. Interestingly, some of them went on to attack the republican system while presenting their incisive arguments against the demand of House revival. Bhattarai, also former central committee member of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, linked the HoR dissolution to the failure of present constitution and federalism and claimed that the 1990 constitution was better than the current one.
Like ‘Pashupatinath,’ there are other wedge issues that will shape the future contours of the two splinter groups. Prachanda-Nepal faction had observed Janyudhha Diwas (People’s War) Day on Fagun 1, the day when the decade-long Maoist insurgency kicked off. Those critical of ruthless armed conflict are still unable to come to terms with it because of reckless violence, death and destruction which are associated with it. There is a strong constituency within the NCP that prefers to sit on the fence. They hesitate to join the Prachanda-Nepal faction even if they oppose the PM’s controversial move of House dissolution. In Prachanda’s face, they see the horrific days of ‘people’s war’ though the former rebels joined peaceful politics and assimilated into parliamentary democracy.
When the erstwhile CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre merged into the NCP, the UML leaders showed no qualms about the term ‘Janayuddha.’ Their common political document had recognised it and the NCP also formally marked Janayuddha Diwas following the unification. PM Oli, a vitriolic critic of Maoist insurgency, always skipped Janayuddha Diwas. Their ideological differences continued to persist, hindering the timely conclusion of the unification process. Then, the sceptics described the unification as a marriage of convenience aimed to secure victory in the federal elections in 2107. In the heat of the moment, Prachanda once blamed that Oli agreed to unify with the former’s party only to secure the PM’s chair.

‘Soft heart’
Following the vertical split of the party, Minister for Home Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal, who oversaw the military affairs during the Maoist war, has ditched his former boss Prachanda and become a trusted lieutenant of Oli. Despite his disdain for Maoist bellicose movement, PM Oli has shown ‘soft heart’ for the former disappointed Maoist militia for two reasons – to strengthen the organisation of his faction and to further chip away at the fading craze of Prachanda among his former fellows. The PM held a meeting of former PLA commanders at his own official residence in Baluwatar recently and assured them of financial and medical support.
This sounds strange but in politics anything appears to be possible. This is a reason why a host of former Maoist stalwarts have sided with Oli in this critical moment of party split. However, PM Oli’s continuous gibes at the Maoist insurgency must have pricked their consciousness. Sometime back, while speaking at a function organised by his faction, Oli had compared the Maoist insurgency with a rotten pumpkin in the presence of former Maoist heavyweights, who had no option but to grin and bear it.

(Deputy Executive Editor of The Rising Nepal, Subedi writes regularly on politics, foreign affairs and other contemporary issues. subedirituraj@yahoo.com)