Basudev Misra:
Pokhara, 25 May: On Jestha 2 (mid-May), Maoist Chairman Prachanda began a journey focused on the Mid-Hill Highway from Baitadi. Along the way, he met with party cadres, listened to the grievances of martyrs’ families and ex-combatants scattered across remote hills. He even managed to go for a “morning walk” while delivering messages to the youth.
Now in opposition, Prachanda finds himself with more free time, yet burdened with the responsibility of strengthening his weakened party. A fully proportional and directly elected presidential system has always been his bottom line. At one time, the Maoist party had projected him as the first president of a republican Nepal. However, by the time the constitution was promulgated in 2015, the Maoists themselves had abandoned that agenda. Still, the image of Prachanda as the first president was painted on walls for some time. Opponents even mocked him as the “wall president.”
During his Mid-Hill campaign, perhaps seeing the faded murals of himself on walls reminded Prachanda of the need for a strong executive to bring political stability to the country. At a declaration rally in Pokhara on Saturday, he emphasized this agenda over criticizing the government. He had entered Kaski on Friday and intended to deliver this message at a public gathering in Chipledhunga, Pokhara. However, due to the weather, the event was moved to a party palace in the morning. When the sky cleared later in the day, Prachanda was visibly disappointed. He blamed the weather, meteorologists, and even Google for misleading them. He said they had planned for Pokhara to host the biggest rally of the campaign, but that plan couldn’t materialize.
The former Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment to bringing a directly elected executive presidential system to the country, stating, “From the beginning, we have advocated for a directly elected executive president, but due to opposition from the Congress and UML, it wasn’t possible. When it seemed that the constitution wouldn’t be drafted and the country would fall into a deeper crisis if we insisted on it, we agreed to proceed while writing a ‘note of dissent.’ We said that we would raise the issue again during the constitution’s review ten years later, and take it to the people.”
Given that the ruling UML and Congress have now agreed to pursue constitutional amendments, Prachanda not only delivered a new message from Pokhara but also hinted that if political consensus is reached again, he will push his agenda forward.
He stressed the need to educate the people in order to amend the constitution and move toward a directly elected executive presidency. He also mentioned the need to reform the electoral system. Prachanda claimed that the Mid-Hill Public Awareness Campaign turned out to be much larger than his party had expected, becoming not just a Maoist Center campaign, but a people’s campaign.
“Wherever we went, regardless of which party held leadership at the local level, no one hesitated to welcome and support our campaign,” Prachanda said. “In fact, it became almost a competition — who would welcome us better. This campaign became a national effort, a shared campaign of all.”
He remarked that along with expanding connections, the campaign began to resemble a party unification movement. According to him, in the Tarai and Madhesh alone, eight to ten thousand leaders and cadres from various parties joined the campaign. He said the campaign had become a source of energy for the party, and that a new economic revolution and new campaigns would be necessary moving forward.
