Nepal’s Maoist rebels are working under the leadership of 52 years old, revolutionary Pushpa Kamal Dahal. He is better known under his nom-de-guerre of Prachanda (Fierce One). Born in Annapurna region of Nepal and the former agricultural student, he is now an undisputed leader of the Maoists, and supreme commander of their army. He stands as a devoted revolutionary, the one who initiated the bloody 10-year civil war in the indigent Himalayan nation against the constitutional monarchy, which has left more than 13,000 people dead.
Since the time he set out to begin his journey of creating a powerful force to set up communistrepublic in Nepal, nobody had actually known a lot about him until recently when he started making frequent public appearances in order to stimulate the recent protests. Now, the end result of the Nepal 2006 Revolution has severely reduced the power of the king. Prachanda now shares the power in the government as much as the other members of the cabinet.
In an interview with BBC, the rebel leader said he has three daughters and a son, who all play their parts in the movement led by their father whereas his wife also works as a Maoist official.
Almost a year before, Prachanda was rarely seen in public and there were rumors of him slipping between India and Nepal through the long and porous border. He gave his first TV interview with BBC where he looked more like a school teacher, surprisingly mild mannered and shy than somebody who can empower a revolutionary force. This portrait of his was unexpectedly a sharp contrast to the image people had of him as a ruthless leader responsible for killings and spreading terror across Nepal.

Its other influential leader is a former architect, Baburam Bhattarai, who was previously president of the United People's Front of Nepal (UNPFN), a leftist party that has contested elections since 1990. He heads the rebel United Revolutionary People's Council, the Maoists' equivalent of a central government. Maoist leader, Bhattarai with his piercing eyes and a cloth cap, seen often flanking with Prachanda fits more easily with the traditional view of what revolutionaries look like.

Both the leaders seem to have a good relationship except some friction that crop up at times. Prachanda, though mild tempered turned out to be tough internally as he expelled both Bhattarai and his wife from the party because he was furious at their anti-party activities. It took months before they patched up again and reinstated Bhattarai.
Prachanda had participated in the country’s first parliamentary elections in 1991 but his disappointment with political squabbling and resentment at the difficulties faced by the rural poor are what prompted him to take up the arms. He was inspired by Peru’s Shining Path rebels and he dreamt of establishing a communist republic in Nepal. He envisioned the eradication of class, caste and gender barriers. Adhering to strict moral has been his nature; he wants to ban alcohol, gambling and inflow of “vulgar literature” from India and United States.
Now that the peace agreement has been signed, he seems willing to compromise even on the controversial issue of accepting a role for the king of Nepal as long as that is the people’s will.
In an another interview with Prateek Pradhan, an editor of Kathmandu Post daily, Prachanda spoke his mind on various facets of politics and insurgency. When asked about what goals they have he answered, “Since we belong to a communist party, our maximum goals are socialism and communism. Those are the maximum goals of all those accepting Marxism, Leninism and Maoism as philosophical and ideological assumptions. Given the international power balance and the overall economic, political and social realities of the country, we can't attain those goals at the moment. We must accept this ground reality. We have mentioned democratic republic and constituent assembly, with the understanding that we should be flexible given the balance in the class struggle and international situation. This is a policy, not tactics. This is a necessary process for the bourgeoisie and the national capitalists alike, let alone the middle-class.”
To learn more about Prachandra, check out his full interviews.

-Watch live video of Nepali Maoist leader Prachandra’s exclusive interview with the BBC's Charles Haviland

-Interview with Prateek Pradhan

-Interview with Sidharth Varadarajan