By Anirban Roy
Kathamandu:
CONTINUING WITH its mudslinging at the US, Nepal’s Maoists have also fired a salvo at New Delhi, accusing it of “meddling” in Nepali politics. Maoist chief Prachanda said that New Delhi’s stress on a coalition between the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) indicated the beginning of foreign imperialism in Nepal.
Lambasting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his suggestion to the General Secretary of UML, Madhav Kumar, to work in tandem with the Nepali Congress, Prachanda said it was a threat to the ruling eight-party alliance. “It is an open intervention in Nepali politics,” Prachanda said, adding that the statement at the crucial juncture when eightparty coalition was working for a democratic republic and preparing for Constituent Assembly polls was a “bad sign”. He claimed that New Delhi’s statement has enraged the Maoists, adding that it is wrong on India’s part to promote some parties, and distance others. “We demand an answer Why did he (Manmohan Singh) say that?” he demanded. In fact, Prachanda was not euphoric when Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi did not meet him during his last visit to New Delhi in October last year. Prachanda also claimed India should have suggested the eight parties to move ahead united as Nepal is now passing through a critical political transition. “Nepali people can suggest and direct the political parties and it is not the job of New Delhi and the US,” he said. Maoists deny ULFA link NEPAL’s MAOISTS on Wednesday claimed that they did not have any relationship with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). ‘Lieutenant’ of ULFA, Ghanakanta Bora, who surrendered on Monday in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district, had revealed that the underground outfit had set up operational bases in Nepal with active support of the Maoists. Senior Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai, who has a doctorate from Jawaharlal Nehru University, said, “Our party’s clear position is that the struggle of various organisations in India is their internal matter” “Nepal’s Maoists had never been in contact with the ULFA,” he added, anirban20@yahoo.co.uk
– Hindustan Times (June 08, 2007)
