Formation

The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M), currently a proscribed outfit, was formed in 1995 following a split in the Communist Party of Nepal-Unity Centre. A radical faction led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Comrade Prachanda and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai set up the CPN-Maoist and denounced the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninists) or the CPN (UML) and other mainstream communist factions as 'renegades’ and 'revisionists’ due to their participation in the parliamentary process. It resorted to an armed struggle on February 13, 1996, by attacking police stations in the Rukum and Rolpa districts in northwestern Nepal and thereby waging a ‘People’s War’ in Nepal.

After the re-introduction of democracy in Nepal in 1990, the disillusionment of the Maoists with the Nepalese political system began to appear. Key figures in the rebel movement today were actively participating alongside mainstream political parties in over throwing Nepal’s absolute monarchy then. The decision to take up arms was spurred through their disenchantment with ceaseless political squabbling and their anger fueled at the plight of the rural poor. Pranchanda and Baburam Bhattarai, the two key figures in the insurgency, derive their inspiration from Peru’s celebrated Shining Path rebels. The goal of the Maoists was to destroy government institutions and replace them with a revolutionary peasant regime.

Earlier, various communist groups had actively participated in the People’s Movement of 1989-90 operating under the umbrella organization of United National People’s Movement (UNPM). However, after the conclusion of the People’s Movement, these groups were not satisfied with the multi-party democratic system under constitutional monarchy. In order to contest the May 1991 elections, they formed a two-tier organization, revolutionary front and political front, known as the Communist Party of Nepal-Unity Centre and United People’s Front of Nepal (UPFN) respectively. The UPFN emerged as the third largest group in the Parliament and also performed well in the local bodies’ elections of 1992. Gradually, however, ideological and personality clashes led to the disintegration of Unity Centre and the UPFN split into two factions, led by Nirmal Lama and Niranjan Govind Vaidiya at one end and Comrade Prachanda and Bhattarai on the other end. Subsequently, the decision by Prachanda not to participate in the 1994 elections led to the creation of CPN-M in 1995 as an underground outfit.