Maoists surge to power promising to help the poor

It's April 2008 and Maoist rebels have just swept into govern- ment, backed by a jaded and desperate- ly poor population.
But today, for once, I'm not talking about China for it is Nepal where Maoists now find themselves with political power.
This is a little ironic coming, as it does, at a time when Mao's ideology fades into history in China. Mao's communist China is still run by his party, but its global outlook would be unrecognisable to the late Chairman.
He might turn in his grave (or mausoleum, as the case may be) if he saw the consumer culture that has gripped the 'peasants' who helped him to power.
But at lest he can look to Nepal as a nation where his name is associated with the future instead of the past.