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By Deepak Joshi Pokhrel

It seems the former rebels, Maoist Center, are passing through the most difficult phase ever since it joined peaceful politics. Once the largest party, it has now been relegated to a third party in the parliament, and its position could even decline in the next general election. While it is losing its political strength across the country, the recent interim order of the Supreme Court shattered yet another attempt to institutionalize its “people war.” This is truly a major setback for the former rebels, who are already losing their charisma in terms of political strength.

The Maoist Center led the decade-long insurgency observes the first day of the Nepali month of Falgun as the “people’s war” day. As a matter of fact, the Dahal-led government in 2023 announced a public holiday to commemorate the day despite serious reservations from several quarters, including its coalition partner, compelling the Supreme Court to intervene. 

A year after scrapping the decision of the erstwhile Dahal-led government to announce a public holiday to mark the day, the top court issued an interim order not to use “Janayuddha” in government documents. The interim order has directed the federal and Madhesh provincial governments not to use it until the final verdict.

This is not the first time the court shot down the attempt of the third largest party to institutionalize “people’s war.” On December 28, last year, the Supreme Court annulled the government’s decision to declare Falgun 1 a public holiday as the people’s war day.

Just to recall, the national budget presented by Barshaman Pun, the finance minister of the erstwhile government led by Dahal on May 28 for the current fiscal year had mentioned “people’s war.” Similarly, the Madhesh Province had also used the term. This contravened the constitution of Nepal 2015 because article 42 (5) of the constitution uses “armed conflict” to refer to the Maoist insurgency.

The unconstitutional move on the part of the Maoist Center drew widespread flak across the country. Many people, especially the decade-long armed conflict victims, blamed Maoists, saying they were trying to glorify the violence and killing. The political opponents of the Maoists opposed the move, saying that marking the day as a public holiday is a glorification of the conflict, and hence it is unacceptable.

It is generally believed that during the eight years of Constitution drafting, the Maoist Center invested all its efforts to put the term into the constitution. Likewise, it is also said that Maoists want to expand their influence by institutionalizing the people’s war. While the Maoists’ position is declining in terms of political aspects, the move to institutionalize people’s war could be its last effort to revive its lost lustre.

Highly placed reports say that several sittings were held to come to the conclusion that issues that cannot be decided by consensus should be put to vote. People’s war was one such issue that was put to vote, but it was rejected by the majority. With this, the Maoists have been resorting to pressure tactics to make their demands heard.

Following the recent interim order of the apex court, the Maoists have been expressing dissatisfaction, saying this is undemocratic. To say, the interim order has angered the Maoist to its core. The deputy general secretary of the party, Janardhan Sharma, on his Facebook account, wrote, ‘A ban is a mockery of democracy.’ It is understandable that what led the deputy general secretary to come up with such remarks. It remains to be seen how we will justify his claims.

At a time when the country is struggling with many challenges, the Maoists are hell-bent on institutionalizing “people’s war.” The economy is in shambles. The quality of education is not par standard. Further, the trust of people in public institutions is in a declining stage. The unemployment and mass exodus of competent youth to other countries are the other key problems facing the country. Instead of supporting the government with innovative ideas and visions to address these key challenges, the Maoists are raising an issue that is a sort of archaic one for now.

Nevertheless, this scribe, through this piece, is not attempting to undermine the contribution of people who fought the repressive forces to give us what we call democracy. My submission is that we should work towards translating the vision of those martyrs into reality and make Nepal a prosperous country from social, economic, cultural, and political aspects.

Nearly two decades have passed since the end of the Maoist armed insurgency. But many people are raising key questions: What has been the achievement of insurgency? How the Maoists will justify the killing of over 17,000 people. Let alone any achievement, the people are now questioning the rationality of a decade-long armed conflict. We hope the Maoists will provide us with a convincing explanation.

As a party that has transitioned itself from rebel to ruler, the Maoists should not indulge in petty issues wasting their time and resources. Rather, it should focus on re-establishing its lost strength and make a strong comeback in the next general election. The people who are fed up with the false and airy promises of the Nepali Congress and UML have been pinning high hopes on the Maoists to address their day-to-day problems. Let’s hope Maoists acknowledge people’s expectations and put all their efforts into meeting their demands and not engaging in petty issues.