New Delhi, July 5: Nepal’s top Maoist ideologue and former finance minister, Baburam Bhattarai, has called upon New Delhi “not to support” the newly installed Madhav Nepal government and push for Prachanda’s return to power instead.

“If India is really a democracy and respects democratic sentiment, it should stop co-operating with this illegitimate and unconstitutional government and side with the genuine aspirations of the Nepali people,” Bhattarai told The Telegraph on the phone from Kathmandu.

In the strongest criticism of the Indian line to emerge from the Maoists since they quit government, Bhattarai said: “India initially played a constructive role in the peace process, but if it continues to put its weight behind this fraudulent government it will ensure the suffocation of democracy in our country. India is supporting a puppet government led by defeated people, it cannot provide stable democracy.”

Bhattarai was referring directly to Prime Minister Madhav Nepal, who lost both his seats in last year’s election but became the consensus choice for leader after Prachanda quit following a protracted row over the removal of Nepali army chief General Rukmangad Katawal.

Since his resignation in early May, the peace process and the Nepali Constituent Assembly have been in an uneasy deadlock with the Maoists refusing to co-operate with the successor government.

As a pre-condition to resuming the peace process, the Maoists are demanding the dismissal of the Madhav Nepal government and attestation of their decision to unseat Katawal.

Maoist cadres — especially those belonging to the Young Communist League (YCL), their striking arm — have been holding demonstrations and bandhs across the country, during many of which India has been blamed for “insulting the popular mandate and destabilising democracy”.

Although these protests have by and large been peaceful, some Nepal watchers apprehend a descent into violence if a political resolution is not achieved soon.

“The Maoists are increasingly restive,” said one Kathmandu-based analyst. “They won the elections last year and they believe they have the mandate to rule, neither the leadership nor the following is going to take ouster from power lying down.”

Prachanda himself perhaps senses the growing impatience in his cadres and the need to contain it; his repeated assertion that the Maoists will be back as “leaders of a national government” within the next few weeks could be aimed at containment while he leverages his numbers in the Constituent Assembly and his street strength to make a return bid.

“But should they fail to manoeuvre themselves back politically, which seems quite likely at the moment, there could be violence,” the analyst said. “The Maoists would of course not say so, but a return to violent means is not entirely off their agenda.”

India, on its part, has endorsed the change of guard in Nepal and the new Prime Minister is scheduled to make an official visit to New Delhi sometime next month; Madhav Nepal was meant to come in the last week of June but his failure to complete government formation and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s hectic schedule in the first half of July have put that trip off.

In the meantime, though, foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and other senior officials have been to Kathmandu for talks with leaders of the new government.

Asked how the Maoists saw the Indian stand, Bhattarai said: “I am constrained to say India is participating in making a mockery of democracy in Nepal. This is an absolutely unconstitutional government which is taking unconstitutional decisions, reactionary and anti-democratic forces hold sway and they have India’s support, what can we say in such a situation?”

Following their government’s resignation, the Maoists had held Indian interference responsible and clearly they have become increasingly estranged with India in the weeks since. Indian suspicions with Maoist hardliners have been aroused essentially on two counts.

One, that they sought to recalibrate Nepal’s “special relationship” with India by moving to a position of “equi-proximity” with New Delhi and Beijing.

And, two, that they were attempting a “takeover” of the Nepali army as a prelude to consolidating exclusive hold over political power. The ouster of Katawal was interpreted by many as the first step towards the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — currently in barracks under UN supervision — assuming control.

Bhattarai dismissed both suspicions. “There is no truth in the India versus China debate, we are seeking to be a bridge between the two, we know and respect India as a democracy and as a people with whom we have an inalienable relationship. As far as the PLA is concerned, suspicions are being raised because people are looking for lame excuses to defame Maoists. The integration and rehabilitation of the PLA is part of the comprehensive peace agreement and it will happen that way, but first the peace process itself needs to be kickstarted with our return to power,” Bhattarai said.