KATHMANDU – Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) General Secretary Netra Bikram Chand ‘Biplab’ has expressed his objection over a remark made by the Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ in which he called the party an ‘underground’ outfit.
In his interview with the online news portal E-raato, CPN General Secretary Biplab responded that his party has not gone underground yet.
“The Home Minister called us an underground party. We have not said that yet. We are within the people. We are in competitive politics. We are ready to come to Khulla Manch,” said Biplab.
He said that the government’s ban on CPN has been both a challenge and an opportunity for the party.
“The government has banned our party. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for us. The ban has provided us an opportunity to reach out to people, serve them and work for them,” he said. “We should thank KP Oli and the government for this. The ban has affected the party. But, we are not worried.”
The government had in March of last year imposed a ban on its activities labeling the Biplab-led CPN as a criminal group.
CPN is an offshoot of the CPN (Maoist) which launched a decade-long insurgency. Dissatisfied with party leadership over the peace process and mainstream politics, Biplab had revived the party.
He also said that his party was open for dialogue with the government to address their demands.
According to Biplab, the government has reached out to CPN leaders including Sudarshan for the dialogue even after the ban.
“They have proposed a dialogue to party comrades including Sudarshan, but the dialogue should not be used as a ploy to undermine us,” he added
