The Netra Bikram Chand-led NCP has applied to the Election Commission on Tuesday for party registration under the new name 'Communist Party Nepal'.
What you should know
The Communist Party of Nepal, led by Netra Bikram Chand, which has been pursuing a policy of popular rebellion, has finally come to the path of parliamentary competitive politics. The NCP, which has taken a policy of participating in the elections and pursuing a policy of ‘agrarian revolution leading to a unified socialist revolution’, has applied to the Election Commission on Tuesday for party registration.
It has applied for party registration under the new name ‘Communist Party Nepal’. The Commission has called for party registration by Kartik 21 for the House of Representatives elections announced on Falgun 21.
Talking to Kantipur after submitting the application to the Commission, NCP General Secretary Netra Bikram Chand said that he is going to start the election to change the wrong beliefs within the parliamentary political system and work in favor of the people.
‘According to the current changing context, all issues can be addressed in an integrated manner from all sectors, from the streets, among the people, and from the parliament. We have an idea that should be done,’ he said, ‘We have various experiences. Rather than transforming the wrong things in it, getting caught up in the wrong things, political forces should play a leading role in transforming the wrong things.’
He also claimed that he would do the work that the old parliamentary parties could not change.
‘So far, not much success has been seen. But someone has to take up that challenge! Therefore, by transforming wrong institutions and wrong beliefs, the people's representatives will build new ones in accordance with the people's feelings and expectations,' he said.
NCP spokesperson Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma claimed that it would prove to be 'special and historic' after registering the application. He also said that by participating in the election, they would stand in favor of the 'liberation of the country and the people'.
The NCP, which has maintained the line of 'unified revolution' for the past three years, has tried to stand out differently from other parties by promoting agricultural production. According to the NCP, it is farming on about 120 bighas of land.
NCP senior leader and former MP Santosh Budhamagar said that even if his party participates in the election, it will work differently from other parties. 'We are not participating in the election to immerse ourselves in parliamentary politics,' he said. 'Our policy is that a socialist revolution with Nepali characteristics can be carried out even by participating in the election.'
Even though the NCP tested itself as an independent candidate in the last local elections, it was not able to win. It had fielded two dozen independent candidates.
After the Maoists took the path of peace and the constitution, leaders including Chand formed another Maoist party under the leadership of Mohan Vaidya. Saying that Vaidya was unable to carry out a 'people's uprising', he formed the NCP and practiced armed rebellion. But when the armed rebellion he started failed to move forward, he accepted peaceful politics and made a three-point agreement with the then KP Sharma Oli government.
After separating from the Maoists in Asad 2069, leaders including Chand had formed another Maoist party under the leadership of Mohan Vaidya by putting forward a strategy of people's uprising. Vaidya concluded that he could not carry out the policy of people's uprising. After the policy of people's uprising could not be implemented, Chand separated from Vaidya in Mangsir 2071 and formed the Nepal Communist Party (NCP). After that, the leadership of Chand and others went underground.
After the CPN started illegal activities, the then KP Sharma Oli government banned the CPN on 28 Falgun 2017. 6 people including policemen, teachers, and ordinary people lost their lives due to the CPN's violent activities. 12 CPN cadres died. More than 100 CPN cadres were charged with violent activities. The Oli government lifted the ban on the CPN after it promised to participate in peaceful competition.
After the government and the CPN reached a three-point agreement on 21 Falgun 2077, the CPN led by Chand also participated in peaceful politics. After the agreement, the leaders including Chand who were in underground mode came to public view.
The CPN's central committee held in 2081 Baisakh had decided to unite with the Maoists. Although General Secretary Chand and other leaders discussed this with Maoist coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal, it has not been successful. Chand had proposed that the party should have the status of a separate party, not a faction, instead of uniting with the Maoists. He has been claiming that communist polarization will only strengthen after the older generation of leaders leave.
Last year, Chand had presented the document of the agricultural revolution at the party central committee meeting. He had mentioned in the report that socialism would be used while moving forward on the path of agricultural revolution.
‘It is necessary to give a new height to the original approach of integrated ownership developed in the economic sector and the self-reliance implemented in practice.’ For this, it is necessary to adopt a new and different path in economic work and practice,’ General Secretary Chand wrote in the report. ‘It is appropriate to call this a new path of integrated ownership, collective production and individual responsibility.’ This will express the use of socialism within the party, while production will lead to self-reliance and prosperity.’
We have moved forward because we can transform wrong beliefs: Chand (Interview)
