M A I N   N E W S

Prachanda admits India lent a hand
Tripti Nath
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 20
Maoists' supreme leader Puspha Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, today acknowledged that the historical pro-democracy movement in Nepal would not have been possible without India's support. In the same breath, he expressed the hope that India would continue to lend support to the small and poor Himalayan nation that is trying to establish a democratic republic.

Accompanied by his wife, Sita who is also adviser to the Central Committee of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and his Deputy, Dr Baburam Bhattari, Prachand said he was overwhelmed by the support of the Indian political leadership, including former Prime Ministers, I.K. Gujral, V.P. Singh and Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav.

Describing himself as “emotional'', Prachanda said the movement in Nepal is not just a movement of Nepal but also of India. He said during the 10-year-long resistance movement, he had to take refuge in India several times.

“In the course of my underground stay here, I developed an emotional bond and ideological relationship with the Indian people, political leaders and the ruling class but this is the first time that I am getting a chance to meet them. It still seems like a dream,’’ said the Chairman of the CPN(M) who surfaced in Kathmandu for the first time in 10 years on June 16, 2006 to meet Nepalese Prime Minister G.P Koirala at the latter’s residence in Baluwatar.

Prachanda told the gathering that he told the Nepalese Prime Minister on June 16 that time had come to present a new ideology to humankind.

Earlier in the day, Prachanda and Bhattari had an informal meeting with Nepalese leaders residing in India at the Maurya Sheraton Hotel where they are staying and assured them that the comprehensive peace accord with the seven-party alliance would be signed on November 21. “We will move forward to build a new Nepal.”

Laxman Panth, National President of the Nepali Jan Adhikari Suraksha Samiti (Bharat), Balkrishna Pandey, spokesperson of the Nepali Jan Sampark Samiti and Deepak Bhatt, Central leader of the Akhil Bharat Swatantra Nepali Vidyarthi Union, urged the Maoist leaders to protect the voting rights of the Nepalese immigrants in the election to the Constituent Assembly.

The meeting held at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party leader, D.P Tripathi, was attended by prominent Left leaders including CPM, CPI and All India Forward Bloc, General Secretaries Prakash Karat and A.B Bardhan and Debabrata Biswas and CPI National Secretary D. Raja.

Prachanda’s second-in-command, Dr Baburam Bhattari said their movement is presently a struggle to establish a democratic Republic. Asked why the signing of the comprehensive peace accord between the Seven-Party Alliance and the CPN(Maoist) had been deferred, Bhattari said, “The government prepared the draft without consulting us.’’

Asked if the People’s Revolution was worth it when it had caused so much bloodshed, Bhattari told TNS, ``It has caused very less bloodshed. Every revolution has to make a sacrifice. Look at the French Revolution, the American Civil War, the Russian Revolution, the Chinese Revolution. They have cost human lives. Revolution means strategic change, forward change. It costs lives. We have to pay a price for it.’’

Earlier in the day, Dr Bhattari said monarchy and the Nepal Army still posed a threat to the emerging democratic set up.