Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chief ideologue Baburam Bhattarai, 53, won a seat to the Constituent Assembly from Gorkha, defeating his nearest rival by a massive margin of over 40,000 votes. After the polls, he spoke to Binod Bhattarai on the main challenges ahead, especially with regard to the economy. Binod Bhattarai: How do you explain your party's sweep of the polls?
Baburam Bhattarai: This is no ordinary parliamentary election. This is an election to a Constituent Assembly, which will institutionalise a democratic republic after the abolition of feudalism and monarchy. Our party fought relentlessly and consistently against feudalism and monarchy, and waged 10 years of armed struggle, then a 19-day people's movement [in April 2006]. The people acknowledged our contribution to this change. That's why the people wanted to give us the opportunity to implement the political agenda we had articulated – the Constituent Assembly, republicanism, federal restructuring of the state and socio-economic transformation. This is the political agenda put forward by us, and the Nepali people wanted to give us the responsibility to implement this. How will you ensure that your party will not be like other communist parties – for example, the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML), which is accused of compromising ideology while trying to balance present-day realities?
We are in a different context. The UML participated in the old state structure, which was a monarchical set up with a different state, economic and social system. In our case, we are participating in a new state system, which will be democratic, republican and federal. Our challenges are different from those faced by the UML and others. Today, when even China has realised that economic policies are vital to usher in socialism, how will you balance your economic ideals with the realities of policies pursued by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund?
Every country has to follow its own policy to suit concrete conditions. In our case, we are doing away with feudalism and monarchy, and our main political and economic agenda is to build a republican, democratic set-up and a developing industrial economy. In that sense, our immediate agenda is not socialism but to build a strong economic foundation which will pave the way for the transition to socialism. Our immediate agenda is to develop industrial capitalism in order to abolish all remnants of feudalism. What are the main challenges of the new government?