The Communist parties in India should come together to fight the elections as was the case in Nepal, former Nepal Prime Minister and chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) Jhala Nath Khanal has said.
He was addressing a meet-the-press at the Press Club here on Tuesday. Mr. Khanal is in the city in connection with the golden jubilee of the Santhigiri Ashram. Mr. Khanal, who has been to the State once before to attend a congress of the Communist Party of India, said he hoped the Communist parties fought the upcoming Lok Sabha elections together and did well.
Asked about his views on the future of the Communist parties, he said the party kept coming to power in Kerala alternately, but in Bengal and Tripura, they were losing. This, however, was a characteristic of the parliamentary system – sometimes parties won and at other times lost. As a Communist leader, he hoped that the Communist parties did well. This, however, depended on their agenda. If their agenda was one that resonated with the people, they would win.
When this did not happen, they lost. The Communist parties could grow only if they became the party of the people, he said.
On allegations of growing Hindu fundamentalism in India, Mr. Khanal said it was fundamentally a secular country, and he hoped it would remain so.
On Nepal’s approach to spirituality, he said it was a country of many civilisations and religions, but the State was secular and friendly to all of them. He denied the possibility of abolishing the secular Constitution and Nepal being declared a Hindu country, as the majority of the people wanted the Constitution to be secular. “Secularism is an irreversible trend,” he said.
On perception of Nepal’s growing closeness with China, Mr. Khanal said the country had good relations with both India and China, and it was keen on maintaining a balance in this relationship.
Nepal was a neutral country and wanted to be friends with both its neighbours so that it could learn from and cooperate with both for its development. “We want to develop our own model of international relations,” he asserted.
