Prachanda the mastermind behind the Maoist Insurgency in Nepal

Abstract

This study focuses on the leadership roles of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias "Prachanda", in the Maoist's political victory in Nepal. The Nepalese Maoist Insurgency under Prachanda's leadership, without strong evident external support and without achieving a military victory over the state, rose to power in a very short time. Prachanda chose an outdated ideology and launched armed struggle to put forward his grievances in spite of the country having restored democracy after thirty years of autocratic regime. The evidence shows that it was Prachanda's leadership qualities that facilitated the Maoists' growth in Nepal. They gained political success without military victory and eventually won an electoral victory in the Constituent Assembly. The main reasons for his success in this endeavor, which the findings show, are: 1) correct selection of the members in the party's top leadership positions; 2) thorough planning and timely implementation of a precise strategy; 3) the flexibility to switch his strategy from classic communist ideology of class struggle to identity issues, to form many ethnic fronts, to establish autonomous ethnic regions, and to raise caste and ethnic issues to mobilize the indigenous nationalities; and 4) timely switching to political settlements, in the presentworld context, after realizing military victory was unlikely.