Baburam Bhattarai

Baburam Bhattarai
Baburam Bhattarai in 2011
Prime Minister of Nepal
In office 28 August 2011 (Wins) – Current
President	Ram Baran Yadav
Preceded by	Jhalanath Khanal
Personal details
Born	(1954-05-26) 26 May 1954 Gorkha, Nepal
Political party	Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)

Dr. Baburam Bhatterai (born 26 May 1954 in Gorkha district, Nepa) is a communist politician and currently the Prime Minister of Nepal. He is a senior Standing Committee Member and vice chairperson of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which began fighting a revolutionary People's War in Nepal in 1996 that changed the political system in Nepal from a monarchy system into republican system. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Gorkha in 2008 and became Finance Minister in the Cabinet formed after the election.

Maoist insurrection

Prachanda speaking at a rally in Pokhara.

On 4 February 1996, Bhattarai gave the government, led by Nepali Congress 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" (referring here to the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship), 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 whittled down to 24 in subsequent political negotiations.

Relation with Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda)

In late 2004 or early 2005, relations between Prachanda and Baburam 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, though he was later reinstated. They later reconciled at least some of their differences.

CPN (Maoist), after the king’s direct exercise over the government on 1 February 2005, met with serious discussion over the future policy of the party. Until then, Comrade Prachanda, Comrade Kiran and others were convinced that they would be able to rise to power having dialogue with the king’s government. Senior leader Dr. Bhattarai rejected this idea of the party since it came into discussion in the party. He insisted joining hands with other parties of the ‘mainstream’ politics. He put the view of working together with other parties to abolish monarchy in the nation and stressed that it is high time to work with other parties to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic. He stated that the party should move ahead with a strategy of democratic republic and multiparty system for a time being as the other parties would not accept a people’s republic immediately. The majority of the other senior leaders had rejected his opinion in the beginning, including Chairman Prachanda, and had made a decision to work together with the king.

Dr. Bhattarai including his supporters were punished and suspended for putting a view against the party decision. But after the King’s proclamation on 1 February 2005, the party realized that the policy they were pursuing was a wrong one. Immediately Dr. Bhattarai was released from his punishment and in a meeting held at Chunbang (a village in Rolpa), the party held discussion of Bhattarai’s idea. After which the party came forward with a strategy of democratic republic rather than a people’s republic. Dr. Bhattarai’s work-strategy has worked out to date, which put forward the party as a major key holder of the nation’s politics. Chairman Prachanda and Dr. Bhattarai seem at one side keeping some disagreement with the work strategy with the other senior leader Mohan Vaidya alias Kiran. The two leaders agree strengthening the newly established democratic republic rather than implementing a people’s republic immediately. They agree realizing the upcoming years, a ‘decade of economic revolution’ and changing the country’s economic profile. The relationship came to a twist when Dr. Bhattarai was not given a second position in the government by Comrade Prachanda. But it seems settled after Dr. Bhattarai agreed this decision by Chairman Prachanda.

Recently the relation between the two Maoist leaders came into media when Prachanda blamed India for supporting Bhattarai as future prime minister and for trying to use him to create a struggle inside the party. Bhattarai claimed that this issue came into existence with the master plan of deteriorating his reputation among the masses. These days Prachanda seems relatively closer with Kiran, another prominent Maoist leader. But the row came to an end when Prachanda clarified that it was just a tactical game played against India.

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.

Personal Life

Baburam Bhattarai was born in a village called Belbas in Khoplang VDC of Gorkha District. He was born in a low - middle classpeasant family. He has three siblings; one elder sister, one younger sister and one younger brother.

He completed his secondary school education from Amar Jyoti Janata Secondary School in Luintel, Gorkha, also known as Luintel School. In SLC-2026 BS/1970 AD, he scored the highest marks in Nepal among total examinees. After his SLC he joined I.Sc. in Amrit Science Campus, Kathmandu. In this level also he had been an outstanding student and topped the board again. After his brilliant performance he was awarded the Colombo Plan Scholarship for his further study.

(Honors)in 1977 from Chandigarh under the Colombo Plan Scholarship. “He had been an outstanding student,” says Lieut-Col I.J.S. Bakshi (retd), Principal of the college. It was during this time he became the founding President of All India Nepalese Student's Association. This organization ended up becoming his first step towards building his academic interests outside the field of architecture.

Bhattarai went to the Delhi School of Planning and Architecture for an M.Tech degree. This is where he fell in love with Hishila Yami, daughter of a former minister of Nepal Dharma Ratna Yami,and married her."

He completed his PhD degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi)in 1986. His Ph.D. thesis was later published as a book "The Nature of Underdevelopment and Regional Structure of Nepal- A Marxist Analysis".

On May 16, Baburam Bhattarai received death threat from a labour union leader close to Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Maoist spokesperson Dinanath Sharma confirmed the murder plan and censured the attempt through a press release.

He regular updates his website www.baburambhattarai.com about his views and stands.

Publications

Bhattarai has contributed a number of published works, including The Nature of Underdevelopment and Regional structure of Nepal: A Marxist Analysis (Adroit Publishers, Delhi, 2003) which is a cursory rewriting of his PhD thesis. Other works include Politico-Economic Rationale of People's War in Nepal (Utprerak Publications, Kathmandu, 1998), and Nepal! krantika adharharu (in Nepali) (Janadisha Publications, 2004). His books and articles were able to attract the attention of all the people of Nepal and abroad as well. Among his many well read newspaper articles is "Let’s Give No Legitimacy to the Beneficiaries of the New Kot Massacre" written in the aftermath of Palace Massacre of 2001. Similarly, it is widely believed that he is the principal author of the most successful Election Manifesto brought out by Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) in March 2008 in preparation of the Constituent Assembly Election held in April 2008.

See also

• Marxist analysis
• Prachanda