by K. Govindan THE COMMUNIST Party has formed a minority government in Nepal, having been called after the ruling July vote of no confidence, mainly due to internal divisions.
Multi-party politics were restored in Nepal fairly recently, and were only conceded by the autocratic King Birendra after mass protests in 1990 demanding democracy.
Through their leading role in the pro-democracy movement, the largely Maoist communist movement, which had been weak and splintered as a result of repression, illegality and ideological splits, grew and regrouped into several parties.
In the run-up to the elections some of these, led by the CP(UML) formed a Leftist ernment was implicated in corallegations that the Congress Party was selling off state assets to foreign (code for Indian) big business.
The new government will rely on parliamentary support from the dissident Bhattarai faction of the Congress Party, the monarchist Rashtriya Prajatantra Party and the left-wing Mazdoor Kisan party for its survival.
However the CP(UML) is locked in to the Stalinist politics of the popular front. It is determined to maintain an alliance with a section of the Nepali bourgeoisie. Party leaders had indicated from before the elections its willingness to form a coalition government with the pro-capitalist Bhattarai faction, inviting it to join the Leftist United Front.
As the Financial Times noted: "The international decline of communism and the advent of parliamentary politics in Nepal prompted the CP(UML) into emerging as more social democrat than socialist.' Radical policies are needed. Nepalis have a life expectancy of only 52 years. Only one in five can read and write. Clean water, health clinics and electricity are scarce resources.
Land
Land reform is promised, but the contrasting experiences of India and China show that it will be difficult to carry through without a revolutionary transformation of society.
Meanwhile, instead of expropriation, landlords will be compensated by allocation of shares in state firms - effectively transforming the agrarian capitalists into an industrial capitalist class.
According to the CP(UML) General Secretary, "The state will concentrate on public utility concerns, and industry will work in the private sector.' It appears that the only radical thing about the new ruling party is its name.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No.73-74, December 1994, Page 14