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Prachanda

Prachanda [the fierce one], nom de guerre of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, 1954-, Nepalese military and political leader, prime minister of Nepal (2008-9). Born into a Brahmin family, he earned a degree in agriculture and taught agricultural science. Politically a Communist, he became a member of the militant Maoist Communist party, rose rapidly in it, and soon was living underground. By the 1990s he had become chief military strategist and supreme commander of Nepal's Maoist rebels, and beginning in the mid-1990s he led a guerrilla insurgency. After a decade of bloody warfare and protracted negotiations, the rebels joined the government in 2006. In Apr., 2008, the Maoists won more than a third of the constituent assembly seats, and in Aug., 2008, Prachanda became prime minister. He resigned the following May when the president reversed his firing of the head of the army.

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Prachanda

Prachanda (प्रचण्ड, pɾəʦəɳɖə; born Pushpa Kumal Dahal on 11 December 1954) is the Post Officer of Nepal. A communist revolutionary, politician, and former guerrilla leader, he is the Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the largest political party in Nepal. Under his leadership, the CPN (M) launched the Nepalese Civil War on 13 February 1996, in which about 13,000 people died in fighting between the party and the government.

Prachanda's extension of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to take specific account of Nepal's situation is known as the Prachanda Path. "Prachanda" is a party name along the lines of "Lenin" and "Hồ Chí Minh". "Prachanda" literally means "the fierce one."

The Constituent Assembly elected Prachanda as Prime Minister on 15 August 2008. He was sworn in as Prime Minister on 18 August 2008.

Personal life and early career

Born in Nepal's Kaski district,some 140 km west of Nepali capital Kathmandu,in a paddy field in Dhikurpokhari VDC, Lewade Village. Prachanda spent much of his childhood in the Chitwan district. He received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (BSc-Ag) from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS) in Rampur, Chitwan, and was once employed at a rural development project sponsored by USAID, the project site being Jajarkot.

Moved by witnessing severe poverty among Nepalis, he has said, Prachanda was drawn to leftist political parties in his youth. In 1981 he joined the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Fourth Convention). He became general secretary (party leader) of the Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) in 1989. After a number of permutations, this party became the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). He lived underground even after the restoration of democracy in 1990. Until then a little-known figure, he controlled the clandestine wing of the party, while the parliamentary representation in the United People's Front was headed by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai. Since 1996, Prachanda has become internationally known as the leader of CPN (M), presiding over its military and political wings. The first biography on Nepal's Maoist Prime Minister---Prachanda: The Unknown Revolutionary---has been written by Indian journalist Anirban Roy, the Nepal Correspondent of Hindustan Times. Published by Mandala Book Point, Kathmandu, the book was released on September 19, 2008 by Chairman of Nepal's Constituent Assembly, Subhas Nembwang. The book---Prachanda: The Unknown Revolutionary---has brought to fore Prachanda's 25 year-long underground life. It is an intimate chronicle of the personal life of the man who has captured the world's imagination. The best-selling book is the fruit of talks with nearly 200 people who know the Maoist leader closely, ranging from his father, wife and children to comrades and politicians.

Maoist insurrection

On 4 February 1996, Bhattarai gave the government, led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, a list of 40 demands, threatening civil war if they were not met. The demands related to "nationalism, democracy and livelihood" and included such line items as the "domination of foreign capital in Nepali industries, business and finance should be stopped", and "discriminatory treaties, including the 1950 Nepal-India Treaty, should be abrogated", and "land under the control of the feudal system should be confiscated and distributed to the landless and the homeless. After that, and until 26 April 2006, Prachanda directed the military efforts of the CPN (M) towards establishing areas of control, particularly in the mountainous regions and western Nepal.

The 40 demands were reduced to 24 in subsequent political negotiations.

Relations with Bhattarai

In late 2004 or early 2005, relations between Prachanda and Bhattarai soured. This was reportedly due to disagreement on power sharing inside the party. Bhattarai was unhappy with the consolidation of power under Prachanda. At one point Prachanda expelled Bhattarai from the party (he was later reinstated). But in reality it was not like that the news which came in public media houses. They reconciled at least some of their differences.

Twelve point agreement

On 22 November 2005, Prachanda and the Seven Party Alliance released a "twelve-point agreement" that expressed areas of agreement between the CPN(M) and the parties that won a large majority in the last parliamentary election in 1999. Among other points, this document stated that a dictatorial monarchy of King Gyanendra is the chief impediment to progress in Nepal. It claimed further that the Maoists are committed to human rights and press freedoms and a multi-party system of government. It pledged self-criticism and the intention of the Maoists and the Seven Parties to not repeat past mistakes.

Ceasefires

Several ceasefires have occurred over the course of the Nepalese civil war. Most recently, on 26 April 2006, Prachanda announced a ceasefire with a stated duration of 90 days. The move followed weeks of massive protests—the April 2006 Nepalese general strike— in Kathmandu and elsewhere that had forced King Gyanendra to give up the personal dictatorship he had established on the February 1, 2005, and restore the parliament that was dissolved in May 2002.

After that a new government was established by the Seven-Party Alliance. The parliament and the new government supported the ceasefire and started negotiations with the Maoists on the basis of the twelve-point agreement. The two sides agreed that a new constituent assembly will be elected to write a new constitution, and decide on the fate of monarchy. The Maoists want this process to end with Nepal becoming a republic.

Interim government

Prachanda met for talks with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on 16 June 2006, in what was thought to be his first visit to the capital Kathmandu in more than a decade. This meeting resulted in an agreement to dissolve parliament, incorporate the CPN (M) into a new interim government, draft a new constitution, and disband the CPN (M)'s "people's governments" operating in rural Nepal. The two sides also agreed to disarm at a later date, under international supervision. On 18 September 2007, the CPN(M) pulled themselves out of the coalition government ahead of the Constituent Assembly election, demanding the declaration of a republic by parliament and a system of proportional representation in the election. The CPN(M) rejoined the government on 30 December 2007 after an agreement to abolish the monarchy following the election and to have a system of partial proportional representation in the election.

On 25 January 2008, the CPN(M) said that it wanted Prachanda to become President of Nepal when a republic is established. In the April 2008 Constituent Assembly election, he was elected from Kathmandu constituency-10, winning by a large margin and receiving nearly twice as many votes as his nearest rival, the candidate of the Nepali Congress. He also won overwhelmingly in Rolpa constituency-2, receiving 34,230 votes against 6,029 for Shanta Kumar Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN (UML)). With the CPN(M) appearing to have won the election, Prachanda pledged that the party would work together with other parties in crafting the new constitution, and he assured the international community, particularly India and China, that the party wanted good relations and cooperation. He also said that the party had expressed its commitment to multi-party democracy through the election.

Following power-sharing discussions that lasted several months, Prachanda was elected as Prime Minister by the Constituent Assembly on 15 August 2008. The CPN (UML), the Madeshi People's Rights Forum (MJF), and 18 other parties supported him, but the Nepali Congress supported Sher Bahadur Deuba. Prachanda received 464 votes, while Deuba received 113 votes. Prachanda was sworn in on 18 August. Eight members of his Cabinet—four from the CPN (M) and four from the MJF—were sworn in on 22 August. The CPN (UML) ministers were not sworn in on this occasion; they refused to take the oath due to an unfulfilled demand that the party receive the second-ranking position in the Cabinet.

One of Prachanda's first official duties as Prime Minister was to represent Nepal at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.