Naxals talk war as Nepali Maoists make peace

Garhwa: Maoist rebels may be laying down their weapons in Nepal, but over their border in India their ideological brethren are still talking the language of armed revolution and the destruction of capitalism.

Maoists from both countries formed an alliance in 2001 against "feudal exploitation" and "American imperialism", but these days the relationship is showing serious signs of strain. Nepal's rebel chief Prachanda signed a peace deal with the government last week that paves the way for his forces to disarm and join an interim government.

Elections will be held for an assembly meant to draft a new constitution and, the rebels hope to abolish the monarchy.

Nepal's people are rejoicing, but in the forests and villages of eastern India, Maoist rebels, known as Naxalites, sound distinctly disappointed.

"Prachanda made a big mistake by deciding to share power," said an underground Maoist leader, who spoke to Reuters in a remote village in the Garhwa district of Jharkhand.

"The Maoists of Nepal should have killed King Gyanendra and taken power. "They were going well, but at the last minute they compromised with the imperialist powers," he added, accusing Prachanda of "selling out".

Officially the two movements say they share only "ideological links", but another underground Naxal leader admitted that Nepali Maoists "may have" come to India to help train rebels.

Naxalites were hoping that "victory" in Nepal, and a Maoist revolutionary government, would have given a huge boost to their own four-decade-long struggle.