Multiparty democracy as such is a bourgeois democracy

How have you been doing these days?

Adhikari: I am still associated with the United Marxist Leninists’ Party, thus, some of my time goes into politics. Rest, I keep myself engaged in reading books. Now, we have our party in government, I suggest my friends who are in government to look into the problems faced by the people but not their personal issues. This is how most of my time goes.

You had been unwell for long. How are you feeling now?

Adhikari: I am yet to recover totally.

You were imprisoned for tens of years…17 years to be precise, for your efforts to liberate the people. Now your party is in government. Are you satisfied with the performance of your party in government?

Adhikari: This government is no different than previous governments. The prime duty of this government is to draft the new Constitution. And, to tell you frankly, I am strictly against extending the period of the Constituent Assembly. The government should take extra initiatives to complete the assigned job on time.

As far as our struggle was concerned, we were involved in Class Struggle. But, Madan Bhandari favored Peoples’ Multiparty democracy (Bahudaliya janabad) that is not totally a class struggle rather class coordination.

The Multiparty democracy as such is a bourgeois democracy. Until we practice bourgeois democracy Socialism is impossible. Unless we have no Socialism we will continue to have class structure in our society thus no equality. This the people have understood. Thus, the underdeveloped countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa must in an untied manner form an alliance against the US and European monopoly in World Trade and Economy. The world economy is totally under the grip of some capitalists and some of their multinational agencies.

Do you mean to say that your party has already quit the ideology?

Adhikari: I can’t say that the party has already quit the communist ideology but we cannot simply ignore our old customs just for the sake of Bahudaliya janabad.

Are you still hopeful that the constitution drafting will be completed on the stipulated time frame?

Adhikari: The constitution that we want is a people’s oriented constitution, a constitution that is based on socialist principles not just a general one.

How is it possible to draft a Socialist Constitution from the current constituent assembly?

Adhikari: It won’t be that difficult or time consuming affair to draft the socialist constitution. Even the Nepali Congress is established with the principles of socialism. UML, Maoists and other smaller parties too favor socialist constitution. Nepali Congress and Communists united then we have more than two-third majority in the CA. I think we can’t let this opportunity slip out of our hands. This is the right time we draft the socialist constitution.

Socialism is a mere slogan their activities demonstrate that they are capitalists. Isn’t that so?

Adhikari: Yes, you are right. In practice errors have been made. Nepali Congress, UML and even Maoists have been in power. People have quite rightly pointed out that some of our friends did not conduct well in government.

You have pointed out several times that Nepal is undergoing worst period as far as preserving Nationalism is concerned, but what is your government doing in this regard?

Adhikari: My point is that the present government should make Nepal a prosperous nation. It should take initiatives to regain our occupied lands from India. The government must stop further encroachment that is taking place in Susta, Kalapani, Bhadrapur, Dang and many more places every day. We also demand return of our lands that India continues to occupy even after the British left India. We must embark on another round of peoples’ uprising against India for return of those lost Nepal landmass.. We also demand relations with India established on equal footing with the complete scrapping of the treaty of 1950 and all other unequal treaties. There are other several issues of illegal construction of dams by India along the border that inundates Nepali villages during the rainy season each year. And, the Citizenship Act must also be immediately scrapped and all those citizenship awarded to the Indian nationals must be cancelled out rightly. I think Nepali people irrespective of class and caste must unite to defend Nepal and this is our duty as well.

We have successfully overthrown feudal monarchy now the time has come that Nepali people united once again to fight against the Indian expansionists and US imperialists for preserving our National Independence.

How you take the fresh movement waged by the Maoists as regards the preservation of national independence?

Adhikari: It is nice to listen that the Maoists have initiated the movement for the preservation of national independence. This is a nice move. I wish and congratulate the Maoists to continue with the movement that they have freshly initiated in the country’s favor. If they seek my contributions and suggestions then I am ready to extend my support to them to the best of my capabilities and knowledge. But when Prachanda was in power, he too had provided his silent nod to the Laxmanpur dam and asked for some Mega projects from Dr. Man Mohan Singh.

He should not behave in this manner.

Posted on : 2010-01-22 15:48:31

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