Bhattarai: Prachanda, Leader of Nepal’s New Era

This article appeared in the Nepali Maoist newspaper Red Star. It is a significant appraisal of the role that the Maoist leader Prachanda is playing today. It is written by Bhattarai, a major leader of the Maoist revolution in his own right.

“Europe gave birth to Napoleon Bonaparte in the capitalist era. Lenin was born to institutionalize socialist revolution. Nepalese people have given birth to Com. Prachanda to institutionalize the Federal Democratic Republic on the firm-basis of a decade long People’s War and the People’s Movement. We believe that he is the leader of the new era. A genuine new Nepal will be created under his leadership.”

Prachanda: leader of the New Era

By Baburam Bhattarai

Today, the history of Nepal will be written in gold. We have ended the epoch of the rule of feudalist monarchy, and entered into the era of Federal Democratic Republic. Unfortunately, for four months we were unable to elect our chariot driver for the new era. At the moment, we can hear the cries and excuses of the defeated. We know that the old train driver who drove the train for many years had become too old to drive. But he refused to hand over the authority to the new younger driver. Instead, he tried to pull the train back.

It was not that the Maoist could not assemble a national consensus; rather they were denied the possibility of forming a national consensus. Who were creating these obstacles? Yet, by overcoming these obstacles, the process is moving ahead. The march of history cannot be stopped. Listen, friends from Congress; this is not the time to weep and cry, instead it is time for all to respect and follow the verdict of history. During a certain period of history, the NC also was also more or less against the monarchy; the NC also struggled for democracy. Therefore, we worked together with the NC since the 12 point understanding; the Comprehensive Peace Accord; and the election of the CA up to the declaration of the Federal Democratic Republic. However, a new era demands a new leadership; the Nepalese people have demanded a new leadership for a new Nepal through the electoral mandate. The new leadership should have come into being right after the people’s verdict, but it was prevented from doing so. Because of this, we were forced to live without any leadership for four months.

Nepal: Prachanda of the CPN(M) makes first address as Prime Minister

This article appeared in Nepal News.

Nationalism, republic and socio-economic change; three mantras of new govt: PM Dahal

In his first message to the countrymen as the prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal has laid heavy emphasis on promotion and consolidation of nationalism, republic and socio-economic change.

“Certainly, there are high expectations from the public from the new government. We will fulfill their aspirations by working in objective and planned manner. For which, we have outlined a number of national priority issues,” he said.

“First and foremost is the protection of national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. If Nepal does not exist, then there is no meaning for anything else including the republic. But we have to strengthen the national unity based on full equality among people from Himal, Pahad, Terai and Madhes,” he said.