Nepal CPN leader grateful for Lanka’s solidarity

Nepal and Sri Lanka are two neighboring countries having close ties since a long time. Both countries have been enjoying a very cordial, friendly relation and share common views and values on number of regional and international issues, said Nepal-Senior Leader of the CPN (UML) and the Former Prime Minister of Nepal Madhav Kumar.

He was addressing the 70th Anniversary celebrations of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka in Colombo recently.

“The party I represent here, the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and Communist Party Sri Lanka have also been enjoying fraternal relations since a long time. Leaders of your party have visited Nepal a number of times and attended our National Congresses in the past,” he said.

The frequent visits made by both parties’ leaders manifest the close and intimate relationship between the two parties in the region, he said adding they are grateful for Sri Lanka’s support and solidarity to the struggle for democracy, justice and equality. “The theme ‘Challenges and Opportunities for the Left Movement in South Asia’ that you have chosen for this important occasion is very relevant in the present context of our region, South Asia. The Left Movement in South Asia has a long history. The Left Parties have been very active here compared to many other regions and they are popular among the masses,” Kumar said.

Some of the left parties like in Nepal and India are the largest parties having wider support base and winning elections to form government both in national and provincial levels, he said.

He said South Asian region is one of the most poorest regions of the world today. The region has some of the poorest people in the world plagued by illiteracy, ethnic discord and other oppressive social order. All countries are economically underdeveloped and political institutions and structures are not well developed. Due to these and many other problems the countries in the region have been facing growing religious fundamentalism, ethnic conflicts, environment degradation, internal displacement, refugees crisis, forced migration, social crimes, terrorism etc.

He added that the deaths related with poverty, hunger, malnutrition, HIV Aids, social crimes are at alarming level. Similarly, Bangladesh ranks one of the most disaster-prone countries of the world.

The region is still one of the unresponsive regions in the globe in terms of these growing threats. Though during its formation, the SAARC had given focus on a number of such issues and even infused some of these issues in its Charters and objectives however, in practice they haven’t followed the clauses of the Charter, Kumar said.

He pointed out that although most of the South Asian countries have been practicing democratic system, however the successive elected regimes have failed to address such large number of issues in the region. The democratically elected government which supposed to be the most accountable and responsive to the public but they failed time and again in our region. “What we think, democracy must be based on equality, freedom, fraternity ,social justice and socio-economic transformation , what envisaged by French Revolution in 18th century and other revolutions i.e. Socialist Revolution of Russia , New Democratic Revolutions of China and other Countries of the World,” Kumar added. “Democracy must also be economic, social and cultural. This would necessitate that democratic states give their citizens all democratic rights available under international law,” he said.

He said national minorities and minority nationalities must be given equal rights and even special rights like affirmative action for them. This would only be possible if the development model is egalitarian, pro-poor and inclusive. The stress in development should be to provide the basis for rights and strengthen entitlements. Therefore, for a true democracy and egalitarian development there has to be a major role for the state to regulate foreign and domestic capital in the interest of more egalitarian distribution of the benefits of growth. For real democracy the state must be transparent and accountable, not only to political representatives but also to the common people, he said.

“The Communist Party of Sri Lanka was established in 1943 and in Nepal, the Communist Party of Nepal was established in 1949. In each country , the Communist Parties after their formation played important role for mobilizing the masses against the repressive regimes,” Kumar said. The CP of each countries formed broader alliance of masses. They began to organize workers, peasants, women, teachers, students and other oppressed classes of people. In the initial days, each of the parties in the region were able to mobilize large number of people under these organizations, he said.

“While we appraise the past and evaluate the present, it becomes crystal clear to us that the left and Communist movement in South Asia has gone through many ups and downs and now requires more objective analysis and future projection. Since the beginning of the Communist movement -that was started with the establishment of communist parties in the South Asian countries 97 years ago, the communist and left parties of South Asia have learnt many valuable lessons,” Kumar pointed out.

He said the communist and left movement of Sri Lanka itself has very rich experiences that can benefit to make further progress. “As we know, the Communist movement was started against feudalism, comprador-bureaucratic capitalism and imperialism when the South Asia was facing various sheds of autocratic regimes and British colonial rule.

Though the country like Nepal remained independent from the British imperial regime, most of the territory of South Asia was under the British rule in those days.” Communist parties in all South Asian countries resolutely fought against British colonialism and its subservient domestic rulers, he added.