KATHMANDU, Oct 25: Acknowledging past mistakes and admitting that the party has become increasingly leader-centric and Kathmandu-centric, the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) has launched a two-month nationwide public awareness campaign.
The campaign was formally inaugurated at a press conference at the party’s central office in Parisdanda on Saturday. It will run until December 11 (Mangsir 25).
Launching the campaign, NCP coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda, said senior leaders could no longer review the party’s achievements and failures on their own. The party must go to villages across the country, listen to public criticism and accept responsibility for its mistakes, he said.
“Leaders alone cannot review past achievements and failures anymore,” Prachanda said. “We must reach the people, hear criticism directly from them and take it seriously. We have launched this campaign to move forward with renewed determination to overcome the country’s many challenges.”
He urged party leaders and cadres to approach the public with humility and win people’s trust through their work rather than speeches.
In a public appeal issued alongside the campaign, the NCP acknowledged that its ties with farmers, workers, wage earners, the poor and oppressed communities, traditionally regarded as the communist movement’s core support base, had weakened.
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The appeal said the party had become more focused on leaders than the public and on the central leadership rather than villages. It concluded that politics disconnected from people’s lives and expectations could not be sustained.
The party said its main responsibility was to review its past work honestly, acknowledge mistakes and regain the public trust it had lost.
During the campaign, central leaders will lead teams to villages, wards and neighbourhoods to hold direct discussions with farmers, workers, youths, students, women, Dalits, indigenous nationalities, Madhesis, Tharus, minority communities, intellectuals, government employees and businesspeople.
The NCP said the campaign would go beyond listening to grievances and focus on initiating efforts to address them. Party teams will collect information from the grassroots on inflation, unemployment, black marketing, corruption, economic insecurity, delays in public services, landlessness and problems faced by migrant workers.
The party plans to compile the findings into reports and submit petitions and memorandums to the relevant government agencies. It will then return to the public to report on efforts to resolve the problems.
In its appeal, the NCP accused the current two-thirds majority government of failing to meet public expectations. It alleged that inflation, unemployment and youth migration had increased since the government took office. The party also accused the government of becoming intolerant of dissent, restricting freedom of expression and interfering in democratic institutions.
The NCP also criticised the state’s response to the devastating Bhotekoshi flood in Rasuwa, accusing authorities of serious negligence in the search and rescue of missing people and in responding to the loss of life and property. It demanded immediate relief for victims, safe resettlement and the swift reconstruction of damaged infrastructure.
‘No possibility of party unity with UML’
At the press conference, Prachanda ruled out any immediate possibility of party unity with the CPN UML.
“We can cooperate with anyone to protect national independence, democratic rights and the country’s interests, but that does not mean we will unite with the UML,” he said, arguing that the two parties had different political characteristics.
Prachanda said the Nepali Communist Party was formed through the merger of 26 communist groups of various sizes, including the then CPN Maoist Centre and the CPN Unified Socialist. He urged people not to spread confusion about the continued existence of the Maoist movement.
He also alleged that the two largest parties in parliament, the Nepali Congress and the UML, had joined forces to remove his party from government while it was working for good governance and social justice.
‘Claim that nothing was achieved in 35 years is baseless’
NCP co-coordinator Madhav Kumar Nepal challenged those who claim that established parties and their leaders had accomplished nothing over the past 35 years to substantiate their arguments with facts and evidence.
“How accurate is the claim that old parties and leaders did nothing and that nothing happened in the country? Such accusations cannot be based on subjective opinions. They must be supported by facts,” Nepal said. “If the facts confirm our shortcomings, we are ready to accept them. But if the facts refute the allegations, we will reject them.”
He said it was wrong to blame established parties for past failures while refusing to recognise their achievements, including work carried out under difficult circumstances. He added that established parties must correct their past mistakes and move forward.
During the campaign, which runs until December 11, the NCP also plans to complete pending organisational integration, renew party memberships and strengthen its organisation from the grassroots.
The party has called on its leaders and cadres to engage in labour and production, develop domestic capital, modernise agriculture and industry, and promote equitable distribution as the foundation for building socialism.