The Central Committee meeting of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), which concluded Monday, was thought to be crucial, for it had some important issues to dwell on. The party was supposed to discuss names of its office bearers. Days ahead of the meeting, the party had voted to ratify the Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact eliciting criticism from some of the members.

Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal was in for a tough grilling.

But the two-day meeting was much ado about nothing.

Dahal once again managed to stamp his authority as he quelled the criticism. The meeting ended without choosing office bearers–a senior vice-chair, six vice-chairs, one general secretary, two deputy general secretaries, three secretaries and a treasurer.

It has been two months since the Maoist party concluded its general convention but the party is still run by one man—Chairman Dahal, with no room for collective leadership, something communist parties boast of.

Since the next meeting has been scheduled for June 3, it looks like the Maoist Centre will go to local polls, slated for May 13, with just Dahal as its sole leader.

Not just the observers and analysts but also party members say that the Maoist Centre has turned into Dahal’s fief, where discussions, debates and criticism are now allowed.

Rajendra Maharjan, a political commentator, says the Maoist Centre has ceased to be a party, as it does not even follow the minimum procedures that a political outfit needs to.

“His unilateral working style has not changed,” said Maharjan. “On the surface, Dahal may be seen as a strong leader but this will make the party hollow.”

Even more than two months since the convention, the party’s Central Committee has yet to get full shape. Of the 245 members, the committee has only 194 members as of now.

The party needs to form a 115-member Politburo and a 39-strong Standing Committee. No one in the party knows when they will be formed.

Multiple party leaders the Post spoke to said the culture of criticism has vanished in the party and that no one dares to speak critically for fear of retribution.

“I have been censured on various occasions just because I questioned the leadership. Even I have stopped speaking publicly, now,” said one of the aspirants for the party’s Central Committee membership who is currently a Provincial Committee member. “Since I don’t have any relatives in the party leadership and I don’t know flattery, nobody will give me a Central Committee appointment. Everyone helps their own.”

The Maoist party was known as an outfit with communist characteristics—members would discuss pertinent issues aggressively, they would critique the party leadership and they would engage in self-criticism, if needed.

Decisions were taken collectively after deliberations, according to members who have been in the party for a long time.

“But these days decisions are told… imposed. Party members are informed of the decision taken by the top leader,” the leader who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Recent decision by Dahal is a case in point. At the general convention, he said the US grant cannot be passed without amendments.

He called the Parliamentary Party meeting on February 16, which decided to pull out of the coalition if the government tabled the MCC compact in Parliament. But days later, in a meeting with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and other coalition leaders, Dahal agreed to vote to ratify the compact.

His party members were in the dark. Those who were protesting on the streets were caught off guard, unable to figure out how to react.

The party’s 49 members in Parliament, some of whom were dead against the MCC compact, voted as per Dahal’s instructions.

Leaders like Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Dev Gurung, who is also the chief whip, Lila Mani Pokhrel and Krishna Bahadur Mahara, have registered their reservations about Dahal’s decision on the US compact, but have failed to make an agenda for reforms in the decision-making process.

There’s no one to challenge Dahal in the Maoist party, says Hari Roka, a political commentator who has followed the Maoists for decades.

“After the exit of [Mohan] Baidya and [Baburam] Bhattarai there is no one in the party who can challenge Dahal,” Roka told the Post. “[Narayan Kaji] Shrestha does express his reservations at times, but cannot challenge Dahal. So Dahal’s supremacy in the party has continued.”

Baidya parted ways with Dahal in 2012 after accusing the chairman of deviating from party ideology and leaving the “people’s war” halfway. Bhattarai severed ties with the Maoist party days after the promulgation of the constitution on September 20, 2015, saying there was a need of a new political force to bring socio-economic transformation in the country.

Both Baidya and Bhattarai, however, don’t wield much influence in the current political landscape.

As the chair of the Maoist party, Dahal, however, has managed to be at the centre of power.

Maoist members say the party chair’s politics now revolves around him and his family and that the party has become just a tool for him to exercise his influence.

There are concerns in the party that how will it fare in the elections when it is going to fight with just chairman as the declared leader.

Dahal, however, doesn’t seem to care much.

A provincial committee member of the party said the Maoist Centre has become the chairman’s private property.

“He is not serious about electing the party's office bearers and other committees,” said the member. “Some of the decisions have been taken in a ludicrous manner… in the presence of some former Standing Committee members.”

“Liberal democracy follows value, collective decision-making process and accepts the decision of the majority,” said Roka, the political economist. “But our parties are heading far away from these values, endangering the democratic system which will block new leaders from taking the top positions in the parties.”