The Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal-led faction of the Nepal Communist Party on Friday carried out mass protests in Kathmandu against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s move of dissolving the House of Representatives on December 20 last year.

Rallies were organised from various parts of the capital to converge at Bhrikutimandap where co-chairs Dahal and Nepal along with senior leader Jhalanath Khanal are going to address the mass meeting.

Similar rallies held by the faction at the end of December last year had caused traffic chaos in the Valley.

Though the party has vertically split into two ever since the House dissolution, the formal--legal--split is yet to happen. While the Election Commission has been trying to settle the dispute regarding the legitimacy of the party, both sides have staked their claims of being the legitimate Nepal Communist Party.

Besides political parties, writers, poets, artists, intellectuals as well as members of the general public have been carrying out peaceful protests against the House dissolution. However, a recent statement from Pushpa Kamal Dahal calling for violent protest met with criticism.

While addressing a function organised by All Nepal National Independent Students Union, a wing of the Dahal-Nepal faction on Sunday, Dahal said, “A vegetarian struggle is not going to work now,” insinuating that a violent movement is the need of the hour.

“We have anger and hatred for the counter-revolutionaries and we are eager to attack,” said Dahal.

Observers and civil society members criticised Dahal saying he may have his grievances against Oli, but there is no space for seditious statements like the ones he made recently in society.

“The wounds of many of the injured in the past are still fresh. We don’t need any violent movements again,” said Narayan Wagle, a former editor who is part of the Brihat Nagarik Aandolan (or Broad Citizen’s Movement). “Citizens are not going to be part of any movement that takes violent means to achieve a goal.”

The national struggle coordination committee’s meeting of the faction on January 2 had decided to launch nationwide protests from January 4 to February 5 as the second phase of struggle along with restructuring of the party committees.

Post photojournalists Kabin Adhikari and Angad Dhakal took some photos of the protests.