Betrayal of revolution: Baidya faction

REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, April 10: Accusing Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai of betraying the revolution, the Maoist radical faction on Wednesday evening called on the people to raise voices against the Special Committee decision to let the Nepal Army (NA) take charge of the PLA cantonments and the weapons containers.

“We strongly condemn the decision. We also appeal to the patriots, republicans, self-esteemed people as well as those who want forward looking changes to jump into action and oppose the move,” said Maoist Secretary CP Gajurel after a meeting of the radical faction in the evening.

The hard-line faction led by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya has termed the move the “height capitulationism and serious betrayal of the revolution in Nepal”.

Gajurel said the party leadership´s move has humiliated the PLA and betrayed the people. “It is surrender, not integration,” he argued. The hardliners have, however, stated that they don´t have any plan to foment unrest in the cantonments. “They had opted for integration though we had opined that the PLA personnel should opt for voluntary retirement. So it is wrong to say that we actually fomented the unrest,” said Gajurel.

The Baidya faction has decided to stage vehicular strike across the country from 10 - 11 am Wednesday, hold torch rallies in the evening and subsequently burn the effigies of Dahal and Bhattarai. The faction has also claimed that Dahal and Bhattarai are against a “pro-people” constitution.

Meanwhile, member of secretariat under the Special Committee Kul Prasad KC disagreed with the decision of the Special Committee to deploy NA personnel in the cantonments. He said allowing the NA to interfere without first concluding the process of integrating the Maoist combatants would mean a total surrender of the UCPN (Maoist). He said he would not participate in the process of bringing the Maoist combatants, cantonments and arms under NA control.