Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Prachanda has expressed his party’s determination to participate in and co-operate with the process for making the Constituent Assembly polls a success. At a programme organised to impart training to the party functionaries on the approach and role of the CPN (M) in making the Constituent Assembly polls a means of political and social change, chairman Prachanda instructed the cadres to go to the people and work sincerely for building bridges of trust and confidence with them. The meeting attended by about 600 cadres and functionaries from different parts of the country has been very crucial for the party because it is going to test its popularity through democratic means during the upcoming elections to the Constituent Assembly to be held on April 10 simultaneously throughout the country. Needless to say, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has been credited for its campaign to democratise the state and building an inclusive political system. The fight for making a decentralised and federal state has helped the party to rally and aggregate the support of the marginalised and disadvantaged communities around it. The party has been able to build a stronger base and support among the marginalised communities including the Dalits and indigenous communities because for the first time, their case has been politically upheld and forcefully buttressed. Moreover, the party has been hailed as the harbinger of change and empowerment for the women and disadvantaged groups that have been exploited and oppressed. However, this credit is not without its debit side, too, for which the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) cannot afford to overlook. The party is alleged to have used coercive means and tactics haphazardly to carry out its activities, alienating certain segments of the society. The use of violent means and methods by the party to pursue social change and development has had its negative fallout in its support base, which needs to be realised and rectified. As rightly emphasised by Prachanda, the CPN (M) cadres and functionaries should go through the process of internal transformation and change to build bridges with the people so that the latter can trust them fully. Winning the confidence of the people demands that the political cadres work rather with humility and simplicity than with a sense of arrogance and dominance.

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