On so-called Socialist Front

Capitalist class, to stick on state power, weaves myriads of frauds, conspiracies and trickeries in the parliamentary system. They deceive people staging diverse dramas- sometimes they unite the parties, next time they declare joint front and then on next while they decide to break down the party. In Nepal, ruling parties these days are busy deceiving people, trying to elongate tenure of government or to get in the government. Each and every activity of these parties seems intended to get into the government and earn endless property by hooks and crooks. For them, serving people is moreover a showing act rather than doing something. Recently formed the Socialist Front (SF) could be seen as a result of this tendency.

CPN Maoist, United Socialist, Janata Samajbadi Party and Biplav-led Communist Party jointly formed the Socialist Front on June 19th. According to the agreement made, each party will lead the front turn by turn with 6 months tenure. What is relevancy of the so-called Socialist Front? Why is it formed? These are the questions in debate these days in Nepali politics.

Most of Nepali people stand for the socialist system. Nepali people voted for ‘Communists’ in Federal, Provincial and Local elections. This could be a proof for this argument. It could be said that Nepali people, with faith upon Socialism, voted for the communist parties. Socialism essentially means socialization of means of production, mandatory and free universal education, free quality health services, guarantee of jobs, etc. But parties comprised in the SF, if analyzed thoroughly, are no more communist parties, then how can the front they formed be a socialist front?

Maoists follow Maoism. United Socialist Party led by Madav Nepal abandoned Mao Tse Tung thought when they were in CPN –UML. They follow Marxism and Leninism as their guiding principles. Communist Party – Biplav has a political program of New Revolution that rejects the Parliamentary system. Janata Samajbadi Party is an utter anti-communist. That means all the parties in the SF are theoretically incompatible parties. Then what could be their aim behind forming the SF, uniting theoretically incompatible parties, other than elongating Prachanda-led government and to pressurize the Nepali Congress (NC)? Hence SF is a next way of opportunism to incline in and/or to stick on the government.

In Parliamentary system, the largest most party leads the government and the second largest party sits on the opposition. But in Nepal, political parties neither follow parliamentary norms and values nor do they act in accordance with their principles. Beyond government, they hardly think about any other matters. They don’t care of peoples’ welfare. They always keep on worshipping to gain the chair on the top.

Prachanda, the supremo of 10 years long armed struggle is leading the government today. Prachanda government neither has done any good task nor there is any possibility of doing any such work, after so many months of its formation. Initially, Maoist formed government with UML’s support. Later Prachanda retained his premiership with support of NC. Prachanda wasted time urging other parties to get in the government. And now Prachanda is on the way to turbulence, engineering a next front outside the government. Eventually, Nepali ruling political parties seem indulged in the game play laid by India. Maoist Party is being used as a main player to create political turmoil in Nepal. How can anyone think the formation of the SF other than an Indian ploy? Prachanda openly admitted that an Indian businessman Pritam Sigh visited India many often to make him the Prime minister of Nepal.

Maoist Party, with an aim to win state power through violence, subsequently turns a parliamentary party within short span. Nevertheless many avatars of Maoist Party are yet to unfold. It played a role to weaken Nepal as a sovereign state and to make Nepal more dependent on India. It never step back to pass the Citizenship Law and the MCC pact that are designed to serve India and the US interest in Nepal. It left no stone turn over to stick on the government.  So, Nepali people find shadow of Lhendup Dorjee, a Sikkimese Prime-minister who merged independent Sikkim into India, on the faces of Maoist leaders.

Elated ruling Maoist in fact is losing public support every next day.  Maoist alone won 50 percent the First Past the Post (FPTP) seats in the 2007 elections. But now it is hard for them to win even a single seat all over the country unless supported by any other party. Maoist won’t have been standing till date, had they not contested the elections with alliances either with UML or Nepali Congress. In fact bourgeois elections majorly are depending on the misuses of money, muscle and state power. Election couldn’t be an apt parameter to judge any political party. Nevertheless Maoist is so much defamed among Nepali people these days that those Maoist leaders ruling from Singhadurbar and Provincal palaces have not sensed it yet. Maoists are struggling to defense own self indeed whatsoever might be seen on the outer cover. Prachanda wants to use the so-called SF as a mean to defend his party.

Emerging leaders of the NC are not happy with Maoist’s alluring with other parties out of the government. They are throwing signals of forming a new ruling alliance comprising the NC and the UML. UML is ready to join with any ruling alliance excluding the Maoists. This put the country in risk of falling in the quagmire of instability which after all will not do any good to the people.

NC is the largest party in the Parliament. But it is enforced to hand over the leadership of the government to the third large party-the Maoist Party. Against this background, to extend the longevity of the government, Maoist’s initiative of forming the SF, even including the Biplav faction definitely must have made the NC suspicious.  Dissatisfaction within the NC for the government’s performance, UML working to create division within the ruling alliance at any cost and the Maoist’s initiative to form next alliance out of the ruling alliance had arose a question on the longevity of the seating government. In such condition, there won’t be any amazement if the government dissolves.

Biplav faction was in violent insurgency blaming Prachanda led Maoist Party, a renegade.  It tried to participate in the government after it came in the peace process during Oli’s tenure. But it failed. Dharmendra Bastola and the team broke up from the Biplav-led party after there was contradiction within party on the question of participating or not to in the local elections. Bastola-led team is the majority faction in Biplav’s party. After Biplav faction won some of the local bodies during local elections in the Western part of the country, it made mentality to take part in the ruling alliance.

Janata Samajbadi Party led by Upendra Yadav is retaining its politics standing on the citizenship issue. But it is challenged by the peoples’ support towards the CK Raut’s Party. If Yadav had not contested the latest mid-term elections jointly with other parties, possibility of his victory is meager. His inclusion in the SA clarifies the real character of the SF.

United Socialist Party led by Madav Nepal could not prove its political significance yet. It has not done anything other than electing some of its MPs with assistance of the NC and refuting UML to collect support of the NC. If the condition remains same, most of USP workers would leave the party and eventually Madav Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal would save their faces merging the Party into the Maoist Party.

It is not the matter of ideology and thought only rather to join with parties with opposite ideology with mere objective to retain on government is against political ethics. To nomenclature the alliance a Socialist Front is none other than farce.

SF for some might be a positive initiative. But in fact it is a move only to fool the people. People neither can expect anything substantial from this alliance nor there is any such possibility. Maoist has given words to hand over the leadership of the government after 2.5 years to the NC. Against this backdrop, the SF could be seen as a conspiratorial move intended to breach the promise.  Conspiratorial moves in politics could serve interests of some, but it won’t work for people and the country in general.

Originally published in The Shramik Weekly in Nepali.

Translated into English by Suman.