Battle will continue, India should stay out: Maoist chief

Battle will continue, India should stay out: Maoist chief
December 2001

Times of India

In the first-ever communication from the Maoists after the ceasefire was broken with large-scale violence against the army, its supremo, Pushpan Kamal Dahal, alias Comrade Prachanda, told this paper they would continue their battle unless their demand for talks on a new constitution was met.
Prachanda, who along with other Maoist leaders is underground, hoped India would not interfere. He said he failed to understand why India, itself a republic, should oppose the people’s movement in Nepal against feudal monarchy. However, should it send troops in aid of Nepal, the Maoists would have no option but to wage a resistance struggle against it. He said the Maoists had been forced to resume armed action
because of the actions of the current Sher Bahadur Deuba government. But initially it was the Girija Koirala government which had unleashed terrorism against the party even while it was the third largest in Parliament. “The Deuba government under pressure from feudal royalists and the corrupt Girija clique not only made nationwide preparations for military offensive but even banned peaceful mass rallies,” he said.
Despite this, the Maoists had exercised restraint and asked for the convening of a constituent assembly, something that even King Tribhuvan had proclaimed in 1951, he said. But the government rejected this demand and “intensified preparations for a military offensive by procuring arms and ultra-modern military helicopters from the US. In this situation, we had no alternative but to continue with the people’s armed resistance.”
Prachanda argued that the “talks were reduced to meaningless drama” with the government attempting to force acceptance of the discredited feudal monarchy. Its demand for a virtual surrender by the revolutionary forces “had, in essence, closed the door for the fourth round of talks.” When asked whether the international coalition against terrorism would make it more difficult for the movement to survive, Prachanda said he saw no reason why it should. “We view the the September 11 events as terroristic, though we regard US imperialism as primarily responsible for that.” Prachanda said the Maoists were prepared to suspend their
armed activities and talk if the “right to determine their own political future is granted to the people.” Otherwise, their fight would continue.