BBC Nepali Service, 16 January
Rabindra Mishra: All the basics of a people's war, like people's courts and army, have been disbanded. How will you reconstruct these for your new revolution?
Pampha Bhusal: First of all, we must try to peacefully reach consensus for a constitution that guarantees federalism and protects our sovereignty. As far as the bases of a revolution go, we already have the experience of organising people's courts, unions, area commands, and a liberation army. So we could, and would, draw from these experiences if necessary.
You spent half of your life building them but they are now no more. Will you spend try to rebuild these conditions again?
As long as our society has class, gender, identity conflicts, there is always ground for a revolution. It may not be us but someone else who leads this revolution, which is again fine. But our experience, and the sacrifice of thousands of people for the success of our revolution, means that we are aware of what we must do.
You say sacrifice, but everyone knows some of you were hiding elsewhere. Will you again make others give up their lives and call it your 'sacrifice' later on?
We call it our sacrifice because all of us were present while making plans for the revolution, and that's all I want to say for now.
You said that Dahal and Bhattarai sidelined women leaders in the old party. But all the leaders in the permanent committee of your new party are men.
As far as committees go, we have continued with the old structures..
Which means there is still gender discrimination in this new party?
It is natural that social structures are represented in social units. But politics is all about strength in ideas and ability, so I feel that our party has done justice to us.
You spent millions on your general convention after threatening businesses for donations, and those who refused to give were reportedly beaten up. Is this the kind of awareness are you talking about?
Not at all. We asked for support, because all parties in the world work through donations, and we got positive feedback from all over the country. It's not only about collectiong money but also exchanging political views and convictions.
But you said of all this 20 years ago. What changed in all these years?
The conditions today are such that all of it is still relevant. When we protested against the Panchayat, everyone would make fun of us, and people never thought that we could abolish monarchy to establish a republic. There have been many changes, but our party now will press for qualitative changes.
Click here to listen to the original interview in Nepali.