Maoists to shun private property
BY GHANASHYAM OJHA
KATHMANDU, Jan 30 - In a drive to create a communist 'commune', the CPN-Maoist has initiated collecting details of individual property of its leaders and cadres to transfer them in the name of the party.
The party has formed a monitoring committee under the coordination of Mohan Baidhya aka Kiran, a senior Maoist leader, to prepare the details of individual property.
"The committee will soon discuss the modalities of collecting details of the private property of Maoist comrades before transferring them in the name of the party," said Kiran.
He also said the decision was taken on the basis that the Maoists always fought against the concept of retaining private property. "We want to form a proletarian society," he said.
Although the Maoist had decided against holding private property through its National Conference in 2001 and had formed a committee under the coordination of Haribhakta Kandel in 2004, it could not complete the task
"The Kandel-committee had begun collecting details of individual property of all leaders and cadres. But it couldn't complete the task, as we were at war," said Dina Nath Sharma, Maoist central leader and recently selected lawmaker.
Sharma, who claims to have already submitted his private property to the party, said the communists are by nature proletarian. "If we hold private property, how can we remain different from other capitalist parties," Sharma said.
He also said Maoist leaders and cadres shouldn't claim individual property and they are not supposed to have their individual expectations besides the party. "They must accept what the party decides for them," Sharma said. "It is the real commitment of a communist toward the party."
He also said Maoist senior leaders Prachanda, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, Krishna Bahadur Mahara and some other central leaders have already submitted their private property to the party.
"Party cadres have occupied our houses and they will begin cultivating the land also," Sharma said. "Until now, our cadres were not able to cultivate our land due to security reasons."
Kiran-committee, a very powerful committee, has also been authorized to formulate provisions in policing the party. "My committee formulates policies to purify the party," Kiran said. "The collection of private property is also a part of the purification process."
Besides preparing details of individual property, the committee will also formulate necessary rules and regulations to keep the party and its cadres well-disciplined.
"We stress on discipline and we expect our party, its leaders and cadres to always maintain discipline and be committed to the party," he said.
Kiran-committee is expected to complete the task of collecting details of individual property of its leaders and cadres in a month. "We will first begin from the central leaders and will gradually go down to the local levels," Kiran said.
As part of sensitizing the party cadres regarding the party's decision on individual property and a gamut of other decisions, the party recently organized a four-day training session for its nation-wide cadres in Chitwan some two weeks ago. "We are sensitizing our cadres regarding our decision," said Sharma.
The Maoist decision against holding individual property was also reflected in the party's ruling to all its lawmakers. The party has ruled that its lawmakers can't possess the money, received under the Parliamentary Act related to facilities and perks to parliamentarians. The party has taken responsibility of managing the expenses of its lawmakers