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Posted by admin on July 12th, 2012
Book review by Yuba Nath Lamsal
Looks as if Nepal's civil war is a docudrama
being told and retold by people belonging to different ideological hues in a
different fashion that fits into their shoes. In such a case, truth is always
elusive as someone's truth may be otherwise for others. The saga and trajectory
of the decade-long Maoist armed insurgency travels similar course in a way a
true revolution takes—an arduous and zigzag travails.
There is definitely no dearth of literature on
Nepal's insurgency or `People's War'. The insurgency, indeed, gave a food for
thought for scholars, academics, writers, filmmakers and photographers. Books
have been written, working papers presented in numerous national and
international seminars and workshops and film and documentaries made on the
theme of the `People's War'. But not all portray the identical picture of the
mayhem that Nepal saw in the period of one decade. While some have glorified it,
others tended to demonize. There are yet another breed of writers who have tried
to mystify and even fantasize the Maoist armed insurgency and its principal
leadership.
Asymmetric and rival versions of different
people about Nepal's civil war make the readers often confused as to what
exactly was the real picture of the insurgency. As a result, a reader has to
figure out only through guesswork. And people understood the Maoist civil war on
their own way and made conclusion differently like the legendary story of an
elephant and a six blind persons who define an elephant by touching particular
organs of the giant but not looking at its entire body. This situation had
demanded writing the history of the Maoist insurgency in an objective manner by
someone who has seen it closely, felt and understood it more emotionally. Dr
Rishi Raj Baral is, perhaps, belongs to that breed, who had been part of this
armed insurgency. It is Dr Baral who had come up with a new book, which is under
review, not fantasizing this momentous period of ten years but presenting what
had actually happened during the civil war and analyzed in a true Marxist and
revolutionary perspective. His strenuous attempt to present the facts and their
revolutionary analysis has helped, to some extent, to fill the void in
understanding the civil war. The book contains the background, growth,
development and climax of the Maoist insurgency in a cohesive and realist
manner.
The name of the book is `Nepali Janauddha'
(Nepalese People's War) which is author's noble attempt in telling the truth
about the Maoist insurgency in Nepal. This book is, without any shade of doubt,
a true history of the Maoist `People's War' because the author saw and felt the
insurgency through his own eyes and experienced it personally. In other words,
the book is an eyewitness' account because Dr Baral himself remained in many of
the battle fronts.
The book contains valuable information different
trends and tides; twists and turns of Nepal's communist movement in general and
the Maoist armed insurgency in particular. As the book has mainly focused on the
`People's War', it contains a little about the history of Nepal's communist
movement, which may be a little bit injustice to those who made important
contribution and sacrifice for establishing the communist party in Nepal and
developing its organization and theoretical concept. The space the book has
allocated for the history of communist movement in Nepal, it is not sufficient.
The author should have given more time and space in detailing and explaining the
birth, growth and development of Nepal's communist movement and its analysis in
a more comprehensive way. There is no iota of doubt that the real application of
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism was the People's War. But efforts were made on various
occasions ever since the communist party of Nepal was established in 1949, which
should been dealt with more analytical details.
The decision to launch `People's War' is no doubt
a great leap in Nepal communist movement and also a source of inspiration for
all revolutionary communist across the globe. But it has both bright and dark
sides. The bright side is the development of revolution and carrying it to the
climax and the dark side is its vacillation and current state of confusion which
has created a great debate within the party and also outside for a long time.
The author has detailed and documented some of the issues of this great debate
and he two-line struggle in the Maoist party.
Divided into different parts, each chapter tells
the tale of living history of Maoist insurgency. Apart from the just recording
and describing the events, the author has his own analysis from revolutionary
point of view on multi-faceted aspects of the `People's War'. All aspects of
insurgency including the decision to launch the revolution, its military aspect,
international relations, relations with Nepali parties and with the fraternal
parties in the world and their contribution to Nepal's revolution, decisions and
action on establishing new power and state, two line struggle within the party,
the role of expansionist and imperialist forces to fail and foil Nepal's
revolution and the role of media and cultural movement and the role of the
principal leadership have been thoroughly discussed and analyzed. As a true
revolutionary, the author appears to be disappointed with the current political
line of the party, which he describes as inimical to revolutionary philosophy
based on Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. The book is not merely a documentation of
events, as history is often defined, but the author has given full insight of
the each and every event concerning the Maoist insurgency and its genuine
analysis. This is, therefore, a must read.
000
( Comrade Lamsal is the Member of International
Department of NCP-Maoist)
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