Biratnagar, Feb 25: Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Centre), Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda,’ has warned that any attempt to take away the people’s rights will come at a heavy cost, as the people are now fully aware and awakened.
Speaking at a public gathering in Ratuwamai Municipality, Morang, as part of the Maoist Terai-Madhes Awakening Campaign, he said that the rights people enjoy today were not granted out of mercy but were earned through struggle.
He criticized those who once mocked the republican movement by saying that “you can’t reach America riding a bullock cart” but are now trying to label the people’s hard-earned rights as a Maoist agenda and are conspiring to take them away. He vowed to move forward with the strength of united people’s power against such tendencies.
Prachanda acknowledged that excessive coordination with other political parties had weakened his party and its agendas. He noted that whenever the Maoists allied with the Nepali Congress or CPN UML, those parties became stronger while the Maoists remained weak. He declared that such a situation would no longer be allowed. Instead of aligning with corrupt, exploitative, and intermediary forces, he stated that the Maoists would now stand with the oppressed people to advance toward socialism.
Addressing the event in an area once associated with Girija Prasad Koirala and Madan Bhandari, he fondly remembered Koirala as a signatory of the Peace Agreement and Bhandari as a leader dedicated to revolutionary ideals. However, he accused the current government of prioritizing the interests of a select few elites rather than working toward the vision of these historical figures.
Prachanda highlighted his past efforts as Prime Minister. He claimed, “During my first term as Prime Minister, we waived agricultural loans up to Rs 30,000, in second term we built national consensus for constitution implementation and ended load-shedding, ushering in a new era of development, and in during third term, we launched a massive anti-corruption and good governance campaign.”
He also emphasized his government’s role in passing laws to grant citizenship to stateless individuals, providing justice to victims of loan sharking, cooperative fraud, and microfinance exploitation, and linking informal sector workers (both domestic and abroad) to the Social Security Fund.
Expressing satisfaction that major infrastructure projects such as the Mid-Hill Highway, Madan Bhandari Highway, and North-South Corridor were nearing completion, Prachanda claimed that corrupt elites were alarmed by his commitment to governance, social justice, and prosperity.
He alleged that corrupt and intermediary forces had manipulated Nepali Congress and CPN UML leaders into forming the current government in an undemocratic, unnatural, and non-transparent manner. He further accused the government of prioritizing the protection of corrupt individuals rather than fulfilling its intended objectives. #Prachanda #nepal #corruption
