Prachanda

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Prachanda
प्रचण्ड
Prachanda
Incumbent
Assumed office 
18 August 2008
President Ram Baran Yadav
Preceded by Girija Prasad Koirala
Born 11 December 1954 (1954-12-11) (age 53)
Kaski, Nepal
Political party CPN(Maoist)
Residence Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal
Website [1]

Prachanda (Nepali: प्रचण्ड, IPA: [pɾəʦəɳɖə]; born Pushpa Kamal Dahal on December 11, 1954) is the Prime Minister of Nepal.[1] A communist revolutionary, politician, and former guerrilla leader, he is the Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN (M)), the largest political party in Nepal. Under his leadership, the CPN (M) launched the Nepalese People's War on February 13, 1996, in which about 13,000 people would die in fighting between the rebels he led and the government.[2]

Prachanda's extension of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to take specific account of Nepal's situation is known as the Prachanda Path. "Prachanda" is a party name along the lines of "Lenin" and "Hồ Chí Minh". "Prachanda" literally means "the fierce one."

The Constituent Assembly elected Prachanda as Prime Minister on 15 August 2008.[3] He was sworn in as Prime Minister on 18 August 2008.[1]

Contents

[edit] Personal life and early career

Born in Nepal's Kaski district,[4] Prachanda spent much of his childhood in the Chitwan district. He received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (BSc-Ag) from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS) in Rampur, Chitwan, and was once employed at a rural development project sponsored by USAID, the project site being Jajarkot.[5]

Moved by witnessing severe poverty among Nepalis, he has said, Prachanda was drawn to leftist political parties in his youth. In 1981 he joined the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Fourth Convention).[6] He became general secretary (party leader) of the Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) in 1989. After a number of permutations, this party became the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). He lived underground even after the restoration of democracy in 1990. Until then a little-known figure, he controlled the clandestine wing of the party, while the parliamentary representation in the United People's Front was headed by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai. Since 1996, Prachanda has become internationally known as the leader of CPN (M), presiding over its military and political wings.

[edit] Maoist insurrection

Communism in Nepal
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Prachanda speaking at a rally in Pokhara.
Prachanda speaking at a rally in Pokhara.

On February 4, 1996, Bhattarai gave the government, led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, a list of 40 demands, threatening civil war if they were not met. The demands related to "nationalism, democracy and livelihood" and included such line items as the "domination of foreign capital in Nepali industries, business and finance should be stopped", and "discriminatory treaties, including the 1950 Nepal-India Treaty, should be abrogated", and "land under the control of the feudal system should be confiscated and distributed to the landless and the homeless."[7] After that, and until 26 April 2006, Prachanda directed the military efforts of the CPN (M) towards establishing areas of control, particularly in the mountainous regions and western Nepal.

The 40 demands were reduced to 24 in subsequent political negotiations.[8]

[edit] Relations with Bhattarai

In late 2004 or early 2005, relations between Prachanda and Bhattarai soured. [9] This was reportedly due to disagreement on power sharing inside the party. Bhattarai was unhappy with the consolidation of power under Prachanda. At one point Prachanda expelled Bhattarai from the party (he was later reinstated). But in reality it was not like that the news which came in public media houses. They reconciled at least some of their differences. [10] [11]

[edit] Twelve point agreement

On November 22, 2005 Prachanda and the Seven Party Alliance released a "twelve-point agreement" that expressed areas of agreement between the CPN(M) and the parties that won a large majority in the last parliamentary election in 1999. Among other points, this document stated that a dictatorial monarchy of King Gyanendra is the chief impediment to progress in Nepal. It claimed further that the Maoists are committed to human rights and press freedoms and a multi-party system of government. It pledged self-criticism and the intention of the Maoists and the Seven Parties to not repeat past mistakes. [12]

[edit] Ceasefires

Several ceasefires have occurred over the course of the Nepalese civil war.[13] Most recently, on April 26, 2006, Prachanda announced a ceasefire with a stated duration of 90 days. The move followed weeks of massive protests—the April 2006 Nepalese general strike— in Kathmandu and elsewhere that had forced King Gyanendra to give up the personal dictatorship he had established on the February 1, 2005, and restore the parliament that was dissolved in May 2002.

After that a new government was established by the Seven-Party Alliance. The parliament and the new government supported the ceasefire and started negotiations with the Maoists on the basis of the twelve-point agreement. The two sides agreed that a new constituent assembly will be elected to write a new constitution, and decide on the fate of monarchy. The Maoists want this process to end with Nepal becoming a republic.[14]

[edit] Interim government

Prachanda met for talks with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on June 16, 2006, in what was thought to be his first visit to the capital Kathmandu in more than a decade.[15][16] This meeting resulted in an agreement to dissolve parliament, incorporate the CPN (M) into a new interim government, draft a new constitution, and disband the CPN (M)'s "people's governments" operating in rural Nepal. The two sides also agreed to disarm at a later date, under international supervision.[17] On September 18, 2007, the CPN(M) pulled themselves out of the coalition government ahead of the Constituent Assembly election, demanding the declaration of a republic by parliament and a system of proportional representation in the election. The CPN(M) rejoined the government on December 30, 2007 after an agreement to abolish the monarchy following the election and to have a system of partial proportional representation in the election.[18]

On January 25, 2008, the CPN(M) said that it wanted Prachanda to become President of Nepal when a republic is established.[19] In the April 2008 Constituent Assembly election, he was elected from Kathmandu constituency-10, winning by a large margin and receiving nearly twice as many votes as his nearest rival, the candidate of the Nepali Congress.[20] He also won overwhelmingly in Rolpa constituency-2, receiving 34,230 votes against 6,029 for Shanta Kumar Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN (UML)).[21] With the CPN(M) appearing to have won the election, Prachanda pledged that the party would work together with other parties in crafting the new constitution, and he assured the international community, particularly India and China, that the party wanted good relations and cooperation. He also said that the party had expressed its commitment to multi-party democracy through the election.[22]

Following power-sharing discussions that lasted several months, Prachanda was elected as Prime Minister by the Constituent Assembly on August 15, 2008. The CPN (UML), the Madeshi People's Rights Forum, and 18 other parties supported him,[23] but the Nepali Congress supported Sher Bahadur Deuba. Prachanda received 464 votes, while Deuba received 113 votes.[3] Prachanda was sworn in on August 18.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "PM Dahal sworn in", Nepalnews, August 18, 2008.
  2. ^ "Maoist Leader Becomes Nepalese PM," BBC, August 15, 2008
  3. ^ a b "Ex-rebels' chief chosen as Nepal's new PM", Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), August 15, 2008.
  4. ^ "Profile: Prachanda, from commander to prime minister." Chinaview.cn, August 15, 2008
  5. ^ Somini Sengupta,and he was also the teacher in high school in Aarught of Gorkha district."Where Maoists Still Matter," New York Times, October 30, 2005
  6. ^ http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/others/feature/aug/news_feature01.php
  7. ^ Baburam Bhattarai, "40 Point Demand", South Asia Intelligence Review, February 4, 1996
  8. ^ "Maoists Demand Interim Constitution," Kathmandu Post, April 28, 2003
  9. ^ Singh Khadka, "Nepal's Maoist leadership divisions," BBC, May 6, 2005
  10. ^ Charles Haviland, "Meeting Nepal's Maoist leader", BBC, June 16, 2005
  11. ^ Sanjay Upadhya, Nepal: Maoists hide More Than They Reveal", Scoop, February 16, 2005
  12. ^ Unofficial translation, "The 12-point agreement between the Maoists and the seven-party alliance as listed in statement by Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday," Nepal News, November 25, 2005
  13. ^ Kamala Sarup (ed.), "Maoists declare three-month long ceasefire," Peace Journalism/Nepal News, September 3, 2005
  14. ^ "Nepal Maoist rebels declare truce," BBC, April 27, 2006
  15. ^ "Maoists to join Nepal government," BBC, June 16, 2006
  16. ^ "Power Play," Times of India Online November 3, 2001
  17. ^ Maseeh Rahman, "After a decade of fighting, Nepal's Maoist rebels embrace government," The Guardian, June 17, 2006
  18. ^ "Nepal Maoists rejoin cabinet after monarchy deal," Reuters, December 30, 2007
  19. ^ "Nepal Maoists want their chief as president", Reuters (AlertNet), January 25, 2008.
  20. ^ "Chairman Prachanda triumphs in Ktm-10 as his party takes initial lead", Nepalnews, April 12, 2008.
  21. ^ "Prachanda wins from Rolpa-2 as well", Nepalnews, April 13, 2008.
  22. ^ ""We want to continue working with parties and the int'l community," says Prachanda", Nepalnews, April 12, 2008.
  23. ^ Fenner, Robert; Agrawal, Anoop (2008-08-16). "Former Nepal Rebel Prachanda Chosen as Prime Minister (Update1)", Bloomberg. Retrieved on 2008-08-17. 

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Girija Prasad Koirala		 Prime Minister of Nepal
2008 – present		 Incumbent
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Prime Ministers of Nepal

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