Visiting India after a gap of five long years, Nepal’s Maoist leader Prachanda appears to be effecting a “course correction” as he reaches out to India, seeking greater economic co-operation between the two.
He has also told New Delhi that Nepal’s economic stability would also address both India and China’s security concerns.
Prachanda, or to give his real name Pushpa Kamal Dahal, heads the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and is well-known for his anti-India rhetoric. But on Monday, Prachanda who is here on a four-day visit, was singing an entirely different tune in his attempts to win India’s trust.
Delivering a lecture titled “India-Nepal Relations: Vision for the Next Decade” at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) on Monday evening, Mr Prachanda called upon the two countries to “give a new impetus to their bilateral relations” and said he would like these ties to “develop on the basis of true friendship, cordiality and mutual co-operation.”
As for the logic behind the tripartite economic co-operation mooted by him comprising Nepal, India and China, the Maoist leader said: “In the changed globalised context and in view of growing economic relations between India and China, trilateral co-operation is possible and would not be a distant dream.”
Describing the tripartite proposal as “our vision for the future”, Prachanda assured India that he does not “wish to undermine or replace our bilateral relationship which has been existing for centuries....Nepal’s development is possible with the cooperation of our friends which is in the best interest of Nepal, India and China.”
Asked about his change in philosophy from one that was anti-India to one where he is advocating friendly ties, the Maoist leader said: “We tried to understand the entire dynamics of change at the global level, we tried to understand the positive and negative example of the international Communist movement and we tried to understand the dynamics of our philosophy itself. Revolution cannot be repeated, it can only be developed. With this new philosophy, we have already transformed.”
The Maoist leader has already met foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai and BJP president Rajnath Singh. He is expected to meet external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, NSA Shiv Shankar Menon and PM Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.
On his proposal for tripartite economic co-operation, the Maoist leader also said that Nepal, sandwiched “ between two economic giants cannot and should not remain out of touch with development in the vicinity”.
He added: “Having two rapidly growing economies in the neighbourhood, it would be unfathomable for Nepal to remain underdeveloped and backward.” According to him, an economically sound and developed Nepal would also be in the larger interests of India and China. Moreover, he believes that, “A prosperous and developed Nepal is the best way to ensure security, peace and stability in the region.”