Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has once again fired a salvo at what he calls ‘formal parliamentary democracy.’

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Addressing the inaugural session of Conference on Democracy, Development and Peace in Asia, Monday, he said, “The ongoing formal parliamentary democracy and market-led neoliberal economic policies in the disguise of globalisation further marginalises the poor and helpless.”

Referring to the global financial meltdown he said that its chain effects were having ‘tremendous negative effect on the countries of the south.’

He also accused the capitalist system for various ills facing the world including food and energy crisis, global warming and climate change.

Interestingly, soon after he became the Prime Minister leading the radical communist party, PM Dahal had said that Nepal cannot ignore the ‘wave of globalisation and liberalisation.’

At the same programme, Monday, another communist leader, Madhav Kumar Nepal, former general secretary of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), too, took potshots at liberalism and capitalism.

“The neoliberal economic regime cannot be a solution to sustainable development and durable peace. Very interestingly, now the developed countries are in a competition to embrace various aspects of socialism to save the global capitalism from collapse,” he said.

The global financial crisis seems to have prompted the Nepali communist leaders to speak out against the capitalist system.

Addressing the same programme, Prof Samir Amin, a noted political economist, said the global crisis pointed at ‘systemic failure of capitalism.’ nepalnews.com sd Nov 11 08