The 93,000-strong Nepal army is reeling after the virtual sacking of eight brigadier generals by the Maoist defence minister with the prime minister’s full backing. The measure is being seen as a Maoist masterstroke against the Nepal army, the only force it fears could offer some resistance towards the journey towards the ‘people’s republic’ or in other words, the establishment of a one-party dictatorship.

Although several political parties including ruling coalition partners like Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Madheshi Janadhikar Forum stood by the opposition Nepali Congress to protest the move, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal managed to silence the former two. “Why are you supporting the Nepal army, a remnant of the feudalism that we all are committed to uproot?” The duo’s halfhearted protest turned out nothing more than a ritual.

The Maoists, ever since they joined the peace process in June 2006, have very successfully played the ‘divide and demolish game’, using the contradictions among non-Maoist parties to the hilt. First they projected the ‘monarchy’ even in its toothless form as the only enemy that all parties should fight and uproot together. The Nepali Congress that had ever since its foundation some 66 years ago remained an unwavering votary of ‘constitutional monarchy’ and multi-party democracy, became pro-republic after Prachanda promised Nepali Congress President G.P. Koirala that he would be the first president of the ‘Republic’ Nepal once the monarchy was uprooted.

Although this commitment was not honoured, which led to him sitting in the opposition, Koirala who is known for his weakness and lust for power, readily agreed to turn his party into a pro-republic one, ignoring the advice of many senior leaders that he should not fall prey to the Maoists’ game, and that they would next target the Nepal army, the independent judiciary, free media and religion, to erase any possible resistance to their openly stated aim of a people’s republic.

... contd.