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An Anthropological Study of the Role of Maoist Insurgency in the Creation of Federal

Chandra Kumar Laksamba

This paper has explored the role of Maoist insurgency in the creation of the Federal Democratic Republic of
Nepal. The Maoist insurgency of Nepal that began in 1996 ended in 2006 directly losing more than 13,000 people
within a decade. This decade-long civil war was one of the bloodiest conflicts of modern times. The country also
spent another decade in the process of peace building. During the peace process, political parties of the country
successfully abolished the existing parliament and formed a Constitution Assembly (CA). The CA declared the
nation as the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in 2008 ending 240-year-old, the Hindu Kingdom ruled
by monarchism. Finally, the CA promulgated a constitution in 2015. I used qualitative-political-anthropology
as a research methodology to explore the contents of highly politicized articles that were published in Himal
Khabarpatrika and Mulyankan during the emergence and growth of the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) Maoist
insurgency (1995 - 2006). In the past, the oppressed and socially marginalized groups attempted several occasions
to bring changes in the socio-political structure without any success. However, the Maoist insurgency that began in
February 1996 succeeded in capitalizing them by generating an environment for sociopolitical change. The paper
has found substantial changes brought in the structures of the country, such as in the system of governance, politics,
social organization, or inter-group relations. However, oppressed, and marginalized populations, war-wounded, and
soldiers with disabilities from both sides the former People Liberation Army (PLA) and the state are still living in
poverty and miserable condition.