Those who voted for the Maoists to make them the largest party in the Constituent Assembly (CA) have now one more cause to rejoice—they can have entertainment watching the comrades dance. Did the Maoists fight the 10-year-long civil war just to dance in front of Singha Durbar, bring the traffic to a halt, and prevent people from getting to hospitals and schools? Where has their original vision of making Nepal a Switzerland in 10 years gone? Does the new Nepal they envisage consist of agitations, protests, black flags, strikes and nothing more?
Comrade Prachanda danced with a film actress. Pity her. What message did she send dancing with a man that has so much blood on his hands? Has she lost popularity in Kollywood so that she needed the dance to bring her into limelight again? Then, we have Dr Baburam Bhattarai dancing with his wife Madam Hisila Yami. Why did Bhattarai have to point his face like a squirrel during the dance? Hisila certainly looked slimmer and fitter while she was temporarily in the jungle, according to a rare photograph of her then. (She and most of the top Maoist leadership remained eight years comfortably in India.) Her stint as a minister twice has certainly made her fat (and her relatives too). Thus, Madam Hisila danced with difficulty. Warning—too much fat hampers a dance.
If the Maoists go ahead naming autonomous states from December 11 onwards, they’ll again prove their utter disregard for constitution-making, consensus politics or the parliament, which they openly deride.
When political parties run out of constructive ideas, they have to invent gimmicks to retain the limelight and keep their cadres happy. The Maoists probably dreamt that with the appointment of Kul Bahadur Khadka as the commander-in-chief and the army fully under their control, they would have converted Nepal into a People’s Republic last May. With Khadka’s help, they could have integrated all their “combatants” in cantonments (the real fighters are outside as YCL) into the Nepal Army. Then, we would have had a North Korean type of government forever. The Shaktikhor video indicates this and Dr Bhattarai’s interview with the World People’s Resistance Movement confirms it.
Thanks to the timely move of the president, this didn’t happen. The “combatants” in cantonments have begun to curse the Maoist leadership for not making the Shaktikhor promise a reality soon enough. The YCL has no work to do. So, what has the sagacious Maoist leadership proposed? Mass dances, now lasting till December 22, throughout the country.
The dances in the second phase of Maoist agitation did the community some good by providing free entertainment. The Maoists themselves boasted that they can also protest “peacefully”. Disrupting traffic certainly allows more peace than chopping limbs and heads but pregnant ladies couldn’t get to the Maternity Hospital that day because the taxis couldn’t run. Hundreds met similar difficulties. While walking from New Baneshwar to the Old during the Maoist dance, I saw vehicles covering the road so compactly that even pedestrians could hardly pass. Thus the Maoists’ claim of peaceful demonstrations reminded me of Uganda’s Idi Amin. Someone proposed that they give Idi the Nobel Peace Prize because he had broken fewer human skulls during that particular year!
Looking at the Maoist behavior; King Mahendra’s justification for the 1960 coup stares us in the face. He argued that in a multi-party democracy, parties fight among themselves and retard progress. Thus, his logic for the partyless Panchayat system. Because the Maoists have blocked the parliament for the last six months, the government couldn’t pass the budget on time. The budget had aimed for a seven percent growth during the financial year. Now, economists say that the monetary inactivity of the last half year will hardly give the nation a 2.5 percent growth. During the 10-year insurgency, the Maoists already destroyed buildings, schools, hydro-electric dams, communication towers and bridges, and pushed our country backwards by 30 years. By having obstructed the passing of the budget till now, they have hindered development even further. Is that something to dance about?
By their antics, the Maoists have taught other parties to respond in various “dances” as well. When Prachanda returned from Singapore, he predicted a swift change in the government. He had just returned after a courtship waltz with the sick Girijababu in Gleneagles hospital. After the NC octogenarian leader returned, he firmly stood by the present government and replied in a Masai folk dance. Why? Our history today would have been totally different if the Maoists had agreed to Koirala becoming the president, a NC leader becoming the defense minister and Prachanda the PM in the first republican government. After all, the NC is the second-biggest party. However, becoming the largest party swelled Maoist pride. They drove the NC to the opposition bench and abandoned consensus politics. The NC has ever since been taking revenge for this Maoist breach of promise. Once in power (whenever in the future), the Maoists can expect similar parliament obstruction, God forbid, from the present, ruling 22 parties. This will again prove King Mahendra right. The infighting between parties, the tit-for-tat politics will continue forever and keep our country backward.
From November 23, the Maoists allowed the parliament to sit for three days. Thanks to them, the budget passed. Government servants and Maoist “combatants” too will now get their salaries. However, Narayan Kaji Shrestha threatened more vehement protests if the ruling parties don’t heed their demands.
Their demands want the 22 parties to condemn the president for preventing a Maoist dictatorship last May. The ruling parties should thus claim that the president’s right action was in fact wrong. The Maoists’ demands want “civilian supremacy”, which means the comrades should reign over all. Having gotten rid of King Gyanendra, we should now welcome “Emperor” Prachanda.
Sadly, our PM Madhav Kumarji too has lost his moral authority and this will make the Maoists dance even more. So far, he has failed to punish the errant Karima Begum. He hasn’t spoken a word against the terrible Gadhimai temple animal massacre that took place on November 24, 25 and caused our country international shame. He’s willing to forgive Rs 10 million that former PMs, deputy PMs (including him under Manmohan Adhikari’s premiership) and ministers have used from public money and let go about 286 criminals free. So, our PM’s previous pledge to fight impunity proves hollow. No wonder his nickname of “Makune” sticks and we may soon regard him only as a compassionate hospital visitor.
Still, our morally-lame PM shouldn’t provide the Maoists an excuse for their futile dances. Rather, they should excel over him, show a better example, and became constructive. The nation expected such a lot from them but got pretty little in return. With the third phase of Maoists protests already begun and to continue for the next month, we shall again witness our comrades dancing, (they say) even more energetically. If they go ahead naming autonomous states from December 11 onwards, they’ll again prove their utter disregard for constitution-making, consensus politics or the parliament, which they openly deride. Their unilateralism will make them a national nuisance par-excellence. Perhaps, our grandchildren perusing the history of this period will read of the Maoists, not as constructive country-builders but simply that—dancers
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Ramesh, what is your suggestion then? After a reread, I still agree with most of the things you said about maoist but you also mention at some point that "if the Maoists had agreed to Koirala becoming the president..". Are you out of your mind to lay your faith on Koirala? He has been constantly raping this motherland for the last 20 years. Constantly. And I have yet to see one Kangresh who is also a good human being. If your article was against the maoist excess, it would be a good thing. But
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Ritesh
Excellent article with ground reality.....I hope this article may help open the blind eyes of Maoists until its too late....
I never had no doubt to support any of these leaders so far.. just wondering if our country remains
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Finnep
Dancing for their victory in the constituent assembly election, dancing for their place in the hearts of poor people of Nepal, dancing for slapping on the face of the anticommunist like you who does not hesitate to compare the popular communist with the cannibal like Idi Amin of Uganda. Shame on you. You pretend to be Christian despite hatred and unforgiving heart. You must have been fed enough by the west to convert hindus into christians and vomit venom against communists of Nepal. Shame on y
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