kathmandu: Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said Nepal’s communist movement still holds strong public support and stressed the need for a new kind of unity between communist parties and working-class people.

Speaking at a memorial programme marking the 26th death anniversary of Nirmal Lama, Prachanda said past achievements alone are not enough to address current political challenges.

“We cannot move forward just by talking about what we did in the past. There is now a need to rebuild our ideas, politics and organisation in a new way,” he said.

He recalled previous efforts to unite communist forces, saying the public had strongly supported such alliances. He noted that communist parties had once come close to securing a near two-thirds majority in elections, showing that people viewed left unity positively.

Prachanda said earlier attempts at unity failed to last because communist parties could not strengthen their connection with workers and ordinary people.

According to him, Nepal’s communist movement has gone through many phases of unity and division and is now at another important turning point.

He also claimed that foreign and imperialist influence in the country is increasing and warned that efforts to weaken communist movements are still continuing behind the scenes.

During his speech, Prachanda admitted that communist leaders had made mistakes in their relationship with the working class and called for serious self review.

“We must honestly review where we went wrong and move the movement forward in a new way,” he said.

He further said that communist forces need to find a fresh basis for unity in order to protect the achievements gained through the people’s war, people’s movements and other political struggles