The unification process between the CPN-Revolutionary led by Mohan Baidya and the UCPN (Maoist) suffers a setback with Baidya still not prepared ideologically to merge with the mother party. Despite repeated attempts by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Baidya has been saying that a merger is meaningless without closing the “deep ideological divide”.

In a recent meeting with Dahal, Baidya conveyed his party’s position that it was not prepared to take ownership of the new constitution. The party had boycotted the CA process right with the second Constituent Assembly election.

“As there are other ideological differences too, it’s meaningless to go for unification,” a leader quoted Baidya as telling Dahal. Baidya, however, is pressed by his party colleagues to clear the hurdles to merger with the Maoists and other “revolutionary forces”.

CPN-R General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa, Secretary Dev Gurung and Spokesperson Pampha Bhusal want to merge the two parties without delay. They believe this move is necessary as the “Maoist movement is getting weaker”.

But Baidya would rather lead a small party than compromise on his ideological position. Baidya’s position is backed by leaders including CP Gajurel, Hari Bhakta Kandel and Indra Mohan Sigdel. They are not ready to take constitution promulgation as a major achievement as claimed by Dahal.

Due to the differences, Baidya has postponed the meeting of the party’s Central Working Committee for a month without consulting with the senior leaders, who call the postponement as a ploy to sabotage the unification agenda.

Maoist Spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma suggested that the ideological issues could be resolved through discussion after unification

The Maoist party, which launched a decade-long “People’s War” in 1996, joined peaceful politics in 2006. 

In the subsequent years, it suffered multiple splits as leaders kept on leaving the mother party, accusing it of “deviating from its ideology”. Baidya’s faction was the first to part ways with the Dahal-led party in 2012.

Following disputes with Dahal on the line of peace and constitution, Baidya’s team advocated “urban revolt to establish a people’s republic”. Later, Netra Bikram Chand broke away from Baidya’s force.

5 parties one on war-era cases

Protesting against the regular court dealing with the insurgency-era cases, four Maoist parties and the Naya Shakti Nepal on Thursday repeated their call for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to handle all the war-era cases as per the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. 

The offshoots of the then rebel party said in a statement on Thursday that they object to the government reviving war-era cases. “The judiciary is reluctant to hand all war-era cases over to the TRC, in violation of the peace accord,” read the statement. (PR)