Josy Joseph

Kathmandu: Throwing Marxian economic theories out of the window, citing the successes of South Korea and Malaysia, Nepal’s Maoists have come up with their own “fusion theory” for a glorious tomorrow for this impoverished Himalayan country.

This promise — as pathbreaking as their earlier decision to join the democratic process — came at the first interaction of the maoists with their erstwhile class enemies, Nepal’s business community.

The interaction started as a tense affair, with businessmen complaining about maoist atrocities, but ended with Prachanda delivering an unexpectedly “capitalistic” speech that received repeated applause from the crowd. In two hours, Prachanda and his party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), leapt several decades ahead of their contemporaries in South Asia and the rest of the world, leaving behind a trail of economic lessons for lesser mortals like comrade Prakash Karat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

“We are the Maoists of the 21st century,” Prachanda declared, after several businessmen raised their grievances and concerns. The maoists are set to dominate the constituent assembly.

Prachanda may end up becoming the country's first president and his deputy Baburam Bhattarai the first Prime Minister.

Prachanda said they would welcome investment from both home and abroad, though they would prefer local investment. Citing the examples of Malaysia and South Korea, he said they would unleash a "transitional economic system" based on their "fusion theory".

The Nepal maoists have always preached a fusion theory in their activities, bullet and ballot earlier, and now a "public-private partnership" in business, Prachanda said to applause from the Nepali businessmen.

"He spoke as if he has read our minds," a prominent hotelier told DNA as Prachanda and Dr Bhattarai left promising a new future for Nepal after a more than two hour meeting at a premier hotel here.

From the experiences of King Gyanendra and other parties such as CPN (UML) and Nepali Congress "we have learnt" not to be corrupt, to perform and to rule with a "strong hand" to provide Nepal a glorious future.

If the monarchy and such old parties can be thrown out, "we can also be thrown out," the maoist leader said.

Prachanda said they would pursue a radical agenda in politics, business and culture.

The effort would be to build a "modern Nepal, with a new political and industrial culture."

Prachanda admitted that many of his cadres may have committed atrocities against private businesses.

"Every historic change is accompanied by such transition mistakes," he said. He would now ensure a "balanced" protection for both labour and private businesses.

The Maoist leader also spoke of a harsh crackdown on corruption. "Someone said there are 50,000 corrupt people in this country," Prachanda said, adding that they would start the crackdown from top. That would automatically clean up most of the people at the bottom, he said.

"So,we won't need to clean up 50,000," he said to applause.

"A strong hand is needed to build a strong nation," Prachanda declared, and promised one.

Source : DNA