The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (), abbreviated CPN (Maoist Centre) or CPN (MC), was a major political party in Nepal. The party was dissolved automatically when the central committee announced a merger with eight other communist parties and groups to form the Nepali Communist Party. On the other hand, a group led by party joint general secretary Janardan Sharma including Ram Karki, Anjana Bisankhe and Sudan Kirati formed the Progressive Campaign, Nepal, alleging that the party leadership had left their ideological base for a "musical chair of leadership."
Pushpa Kamal Dahal has served as the leader of the party since its foundation. The party held 32 seats in the House of Representatives, making them the third-largest parliamentary group. Dahal served as Prime Minister of Nepal as part of a ruling coalition following the 2022 general election for almost one-and-a-half years to 2024 July. The party has previously led three governments; in 2008 and 2016 under Dahal, and in 2013 under Baburam Bhattarai.
The party was formed in 1994 with the same name as its parent party Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre); it was renamed as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) in 1996. After the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre–Masal) and its electoral front, Janamorcha Nepal, merged with the party in 2009, the unified party came to be known as the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The party emerged in its current state in 2016 following the unification of various splinter groups with the party.
The party was dissolved on 17 May 2018, after merging with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) to create the Nepal Communist Party; however, it was revived on 8 March 2021 following a Supreme Court ruling in favor of Rishi Kattel, who had claimed the Nepal Communist Party name. The party claimed to have 750,000 members as of December 2021, making them the third-largest party in Nepal by membership.
History Founding (1994–1996) The party was formed in 1994 following a split in the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) into two factions, one led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the other led Nirmal Lama. The electoral front of the party, the United People's Front of Nepal, also split and the faction led by Baburam Bhattarai allied with the Pushpa Kamal Dahal led Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre). The two United People's Front of Nepal decided to register itself with the Election Commission, but the commission only recognized the Nirmal Lama-backed party. Baburam Bhattarai responded by calling for a boycott of the 1994 mid-term elections.
Preparations for struggle (1995–1996) The Unity Centre, led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, went completely underground after the split to begin preparations for its next phase of struggle. The party held its Third Plenum in March 1995, where the party renamed itself to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). It also decided that for "the true liberation of the people, all efforts must be concentrated for the development of a people's war that would usher in the new people's democratic form of government" and officially decided to give up its policy of taking part in parliamentary elections.
The March meeting was followed by six months of preparations to recast the old organizational structure into a fighting machine, and in September 1995, the 'Plan for the Historic Initiation of the People's War' was adopted by the Central Committee of the party. There then began a series of public meetings all over the country under the aegis of the United People's Front of Nepal as part of the final politico-ideological preparation. The party launched the 'Sija campaign' in Rolpa and Rukum, named after the Sisne and Jaljala mountains in the two districts, to propagate the ideology of Marxism–Leninism–Maoism.
In October 1995, during the Sija campaign, a fight broke out between supporters of the United People's Front of Nepal and other parties, mainly the Nepali Congress and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, at a village in the eastern part of Rukum. The newly formed government under Sher Bahadur Deuba moved swiftly to arrest the UPFN supporters, accusing them of creating public disorder. The police then launched 'Operation Romeo' in November 1995. Officially, Operation Romeo was labeled as an operation to control a rise in criminal activities in Rolpa. Operation Romeo resulted in gross violations of human rights, including the arbitrary arrest and detention of hundreds of members of left-of-center parties, rapes, executions and "disappearances". In the light of this action, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the party met briefly in January 1996 and made the final decision on the historic initiation of the 'People's War' for 13 February 1996.
On 4 February 1996, Baburam Bhattarai led a three-member delegation of the United People's Front of Nepal to present a memorandum to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The memorandum warned that unless the government took initiative to fulfill their 40-point demands by 17 February the UFPN would launch an armed revolution.
People's war (1996–2001)
On 13 February 1996, after Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had left for a state visit to India two days before, the office of the Small Farmer's Development Programme run by the Agricultural Development Bank was overrun in Gorkha district and the loan papers were destroyed. This was followed in the evening by attacks on police posts in Aathbiskot-Rari in Rukum, Holeri in Rolpa and Sindhuligadhi in Sindhuli. The 'People's War' was formally launched.
After the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) came into government in 1997, violence between both sides stopped but the issue could not be resolved. The government formed a taskforce to look into the 'Maoist Activities and a Search for Solutions' in April 1997 under CPN (UML) MP Prem Singh Dhami but the commission report was ultimately shelved in August of the same year. A local election was called in May 1997, but polls could not be held in 87 village development committees due to intimidation by the Maoists. The government in response attempted to introduce the Terrorist and Destructive Activities (Control and Punishment) Act in July 1997 at the initiative of deputy prime minister and home minister Bam Dev Gautam. The act would give the police wide-ranging powers against perceived 'terrorists'. But the government was forced to backtrack on the law before it was placed in front of the parliament owing to mass protests from the civil society, the media, and international organizations.
On 13 February 1998, the second anniversary of the 'people's war', the Maoists announced the existence of a Central Military Commission under Prachanda. By May 1998, 51 village development committees in Rolpa district and western Nepal were under Maoist control and they were operating a parallel administration called the 'People's Government'. When the new Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala went on tour of the Maoist influenced area he realized that the situation was getting out of hand. After an attack on Kalikatar in Tanahun, the home district of the home minister, Govinda Raj Joshi, the state moved swiftly and launched the 'Kilo Serra II'. The operation was meant to be a 'search and kill' operation to prevent Maoist movement from gaining strength. Unlike Operation Romeo, which was concentrated on the western hills, 'Kilo Serra Two' was spread out across all the Maoist controlled regions of the country. From mid-1998 an unprecedented number of Maoists and their supporters—as well as civilians caught in the middle—were killed. Almost five hundred people were killed under 'Kilo Serra Two'.
During the elections in 1999, the Maoists simply called for a boycott and did not disrupt the polls. In December 1999, the Krishna Prasad Bhattarai government formed the 'High-Level Committee to Provide Suggestions to Solve the Maoist Problem' under Sher Bahadur Deuba, and two months later authorised it to hold talks with the Maoists. Contact was established with the Maoist leadership, and the response was positive. A letter by Prachanda to a government intermediary stated that three minimum conditions need to fulfilled before any high-level negotiations and that they would cease all operations during this time. The conditions were, reveal the whereabouts of a central committee member of the CPN–Maoist along with others who had 'disappeared', initiate moves to release arrested workers and sympathizers; and end state terrorism and begin process to investigate the incident of arson and killing in Rukum district. After Krishna Prasad Bhattarai resigned and was replaced by Girija Prasad Koirala, the new prime minister declared: 'The first priority of the government will be to restore law and order in the country to protect lives of the people.'
Following this an 'Armed Nepal Bandh' was announced for 6 April 2000 and attacks on the police resumed. In late September, the Maoists overran Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpa. Following this attack the Royal Nepal Army was mobilized for security duty in 16 districts. The army could not be brought to the fight against the Maoists, however, due to disagreements between the Prime Minister and the King of Nepal, the supreme commander of the Royal Nepal Army.
Girija Prasad Koirala came in contact with the Maoist leadership during this time and the deputy prime minister, Ram Chandra Paudel, met with a Central Committee member of the CPN–Maoist. The breakthrough came to be a naught in the end as the government released a top Maoist leader after having him renounce his party at a press conference. In February 2001, informal talks with the government and the Maoists almost began but the Maoists backed out, asking for a postponement. Then on February 26, they announced that they had just conducted their second national conference and Pushpa Kamal Dahal was elected chairman. Furthermore, it was announced that the guiding ideology of the party will become Marxism–Leninism–Maoism–Prachanda Path.
In March 2001, the government published the names of 294 individuals who were in police custody charged with being sympathizers and members of the CPN–Maoist. Then in early April 2001, without any warnings, the Maoists carried out devastating attacks in police posts in Rukum and Dailekh districts within a week of each other, killing 70 policemen. The Maoists also announced that no negotiations would be held with the government until Girija Prasad Koirala stepped down. On 7 July 2001, the birthday of the new king Gyanendra, 41 policemen were killed by the Maoists in Gulmi, Lamjung and Nuwakot districts. Later that month, they attacked a police post in Rolpa and took 69 policemen hostage. The Koirala government immediately mobilized the army but when the soldiers failed to engage with the Maoists, Koirala resigned as Prime Minister. Sher Bahadur Deuba followed him as prime minister and immediately announced a ceasefire, which was reciprocated by the Maoist side with a ceasefire of their own.
People's Liberation Army (2001–2002)