KATHMANDU, Nov 24: A senior CPN-UML leader has accused Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal of using a bargaining ploy in proposing at the plenum to endorse the stance that India is the principal enemy of the party.
“The proposal is only a bargaining strategy of the Maoists,” CPN-UML spokesperson Pradip Gyawali said and urged the Maoist party not to adopt such a “flawed” policy toward the immediate neighbor.
Gyawali´s comment on the Maoist policy toward the southern neighbor comes a day after Maoist Chairman Dahal proposed at the ongoing plenum to endorse India as the party´s principal enemy and stressed the need for a struggle against India to resist “interference” from that side.
Speaking at an interaction organized by Reporters´ Club Nepal on Wednesday, Gyawali expressed the view that the plenum would not adopt such a policy toward India and that the Maoists would not be acting honestly if they were to implement that policy in practice.
Gyawali recalled that 10 out of the 40 points in the memorandum submitted by the UCPN (Maoist) to the then government before launching the “People´s War” in 1996, were directed at India. But, ironically, the leaders of the same party had enjoyed refuge in India throughout the conflict period.
Later, when the conflict was in full swing, the Maoist party had announced the launch of tunnel warfare against India, but it never materialized, Gyawali added. Over time, the same Dahal appeased India by saying that his party had turned down an arms supply offer from Pakistan´s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) when he was in India during the conflict period to take party in the Hindustan Times Summit. This was after his party had joined the peace process in 2006.
Gyawali also termed the proposed Maoist policy toward India flawed and wrong. “Yes, we do have problems with India about the broader, trade issues and the 1950 treaty. But we need unity among the political parties to resolve these issues. It will be costly for the Maoists and for the country to try to fire a gun at India from Chinese shoulders and vice versa.”
Speaking on the occasion, Nepali Congress leader Arjun Narsing KC accused Dahal of trying to promote anti-India nationalism in proposing such a policy toward that country.
“Such a policy does not serve the national interest. Yes, we have problems with India on many fronts, but these problems should be resolved diplomatically,” he said.
KC also accused the Maoists of trying to use China against India to serve the political interests of the party. “Both these neighbors are good friends of Nepal. They should not be used against each other,” KC said while speaking at the interaction at Reporters´ Club.
Former foreign minister and Co-chairman of Rastriya Janasakti Party Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani termed the proposed Maoist policy an expression of Maoist frustration at not being able to get back into power.
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