Maoist insurgency and changes it brought in Nepalese politics
The CPN-Maoist is a breakaway faction of the United People’s Front Nepal that believe in the ideals of Chinese cultural revolution. The CPN-Maoist took shape when the political wing of Nepal’s radical left parties, the Samyukta Jana Morcha Nepal (SJMN) or United People’s Front Nepal, split in late 1995. At that time, the SJMN had been the third strongest force with only 9 MPs in the Pratinidhi Sabha or the 205-seat House of Representatives (the lower houses of Nepal’s bi-cameral legislature).
The splinter groups around Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Comrade “Prachanda” (the Feirce One) , now called itself CPN-Maoist. Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, the former convenor of the SJMN, emerged as a spokesman of this new party trying hard for a common line of the Maoist forces. After the downfall of the leftist government led by Mana Mohan Adhikari in September 1995 and the following harsh government action against the Maoists activists in western Nepal, the CPN-Maoist found it most opportune moment for a revolution.
In the past, the popular People’s Movement of 1989-90 for the restoration of democracy in Nepal observed active participation of various communist groups operating under the umbrella organization of United National People’s Movement (UNPM). However, the outcome of the People’s Movement was not satisfactory to these groups. So, in order to fight the May 1991 elections, they formed a two-tier organization, revolutionary front and political front, known as the Communist Party of Nepal-Unity Centre and United People’s Front of Nepal (UPFN) respectively. The UPFN emerged as the third largest group in the Parliament and also performed well in the local bodies’ elections of 1992. Gradually, however, ideological and personality clashes led to the disintegration of Unity Centre and the UPFN split into two factions, led by Nirmal Lama and Niranjan Govind Vaidiya at one end and Comrade Prachanda and Bhattarai on the other end. Subsequently, the decision by Prachanda not to participate in the 1994 elections led to the creation of CPN-M in 1995 as an underground unit.
Thus, although they participated in the country’s first parliamentary system, their disappointment with the never-ending political squabbling and their anger at the devastating poor condition of the rural people eventually left them with no other options than to take up the arm.
When the government of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba disregarded a 40-point demand presented by the Maoists, the party started its violent activities against state institutions and individuals in some districts of western and mid-western Nepal, especially in Gorkha, Rolpa, Rukum, Jajarkot and Salyan. The Maoists call it a “people’s war” aimed to establish a communist republic based on a new people’s democracy. The Nepalese goverment, represented by the established political parties, outlawed the Maoist party, calling its campaign a terrorist activity and put bounties (cash prizes) on the heads of its leaders.
By the middle of 2006, the Maoist violence and the state action to contain it has claimed over 13,000 lives across the country, more than half of them were Maoist cadres and workers themselves. More than half of the country has been affected by the insurgency. In the beginning, the Maoists were weak and resorted to guerilla attacks by small groups. Gradually they grew stronger and started to build a big army using big guns like artilleries, machine guns, sub machine guns, SLR’s (self loaded rifles) and AK-47s against army barracks and police posts. The governments changed very often since the Maoists started their campaign as they could not reach at the root cause of the trouble, ie. political, social and economic environment which gave rise to the militants. Sending in more and more police or even army troops was no solution. What the government needed to deal with the problem was not police or army but the implementation of effective politics that improve the lot of the rural poor.