Text by Deepak Adhikari/Photos by Shruti Shrestha
The ancient city of Patan, especially the Krishnamandir area saw an unprecedented mass meet today. The month of April, according to the pamphlet distributed there, is marked by martyrdom and sacrifice for the country.
Mass at Mandir: People gathered at the Patan Durbar Square.
Hundreds of people participated in the rally organized by Joint People’s Movement Committee, Lalitpur. The mass meet precedes the much awaited seven party protest of April first week.
Happy Faces of the Leaders.
One and half decade ago, on this very day, the then Panchayati government had opened an indiscriminate fire on the residents of Lalitpur that killed few young men. The movement reached a momentum and the Patan city was declared a free territory from the suppressive regime. Late Sagar Singh, Gyan Bahadur Shahi and Kanchha Lama are revered as martyrs of 1990’s People’s Movement.
The mass.
On the occasion, the procession started from Sundhara, Patan, made round of the city. Pro-democratic slogans were chanted on the rally. Leaders such as KP Oli, CP Mainali and Lila Mani Pokharel reiterated the need to restore democracy and hand over the rule to the parties. They asked people of Patan to show their revolutionary spirit as they did in 1990 and tolerate the hardships of state’s crackdown and repression in the eve of April Uprising.
Participation of two generations.
United We Blog 
Comments
16 responses to “Patan Meet in the Eve of April Uprising”
april aprising is communists revolution, it is not going to restore democracy in the country.
i wonder why UWB so fond of communist revolution. also these communists sellecting month of april just because in remote past a brutal communist monkey overtaken a country–and latter ruined that country–meaning they are just trying their luck nepal.
another thing i dont uderstand is why SNA trying to stage a kathmandu centered strike when KG is not here. why dont SNA take their strike to Pokhara and do whatever they like to do over there. any thoughts fellows?
pawan,
you sound like Kamal Thapa’s spokeperson
you said in your comment–april aprising is communists revolution
Kamal Thapa said–This is not a programme by the parliamentary parties, but that of the Maoists (Kantipur news online)
its not thapa, its baburam battarai. according to him month of april is month of communists revolution–read kantipur article by BB.
spokeperson? do you thing this fella need any other spokeperson?
This protest program is sure to be yet another round of humiliation for the political parties. Despite everything our party leaders have not grasped that they DO NOT have substantial support from the people. The majority of the people don’t want to see Gyanendra et al. treat Nepal as thier personal property but when presented with the alternative (Girija et. al) the intensity of the support dwindles.
I wish the parties would make some reforms like bring in some new faces, come up with new platforms and admit that they have made mistakes in the past etc. Otherwise they will have to keep on luring protestors with free food and money.
i guess i was wrong to think that
bhudai pundit had some brain
[…] Opposition and response of government Hundreds of people participated in the rally organized by Joint People’s Movement Committee, Lalitpur. […]
[…] Opposition and response of government Hundreds of people participated in the rally organized by Joint People’s Movement Committee, Lalitpur. […]
though being late here to comment , deepak dai i wish u had read the kathmandu spring by kiyoka ogura . u wud have known how tragic the death of sanu maharjan and others was ! and how much did the declaration of patan as mukta chhetra contributed to the whole movement . it is simply too emotional to remember how nepali youths sacrificed their precious lives for a hope that went by the name democracy and it’s so tragic to see the tragedy of our liberal democracy which pathetically failed to instill hopes on common masses and confront a maoist rebellion!no signs that sun will rise tomorrow morning!
lastly , for all those democracy lovers , i request to go thru the ktm spring . the superb chronicle of the superb movement in nepali soil . the time is too beautiful to read the book!
G-Hangman:
would you care to comment further? Do you not agree with what I have said? This does not mean I don’t support the parties as much as I hate their guts. But I am proposing these changes for the sake of the parties.
bhudai pundit,
i would have phrased it differently, particularly this sentence: The majority of the people don’t want to see Gyanendra et al. treat Nepal as thier personal property but when presented with the alternative (Girija et. al) the intensity of the support dwindles.
I do not disagree with your message that the parties should make themselves look more credible, but the kind of change that you are proposing should be coming from party workers. The old men won’t step aside pretty much the same way as KG won’t. The only practical possibility is that party workers make the effort to bring the desired change, democratize within their parties.
But should they focus on that part now? Would not that be meaningless if the king’s autocracy in the country continued the same way due the party workers’ focus on internal characters? Besides phrasing, I had this uneasiness about the timing that you implied, not the goal. Your goal is noble.
G-Hangman:
KG not stepping aside is different from the party leaders not stepping aside. KG is a king where as the political leaders are the head of a democratic political party.
I say what I say because very often when discussing Nepal people don’t want to see an autocrat like Gyanendra. But then they think of Girija OR Deuba coming back to power and then people lose hope and wondering if it is worth the struggle to see them back in power.
Personally I think that is a short sighted view but that is the feeling I get from talking to a wide spectrum of Nepalis.
I agree that the change should come from the party workers but there does not seem to be a person capable of challenging the status quo.
I say all this because the fact of the matter the core support does not exist. If it did where are the big protests like we saw in 1990? I am suprised that the parties have not admitted that they made mistakes and promised to change. They only chant “regression regression” which I think people are not buying anymore.
I agree with you that perhaps reforming the party is not a priority right now but it seems that if they want to see more support from the people they will need to change.
The ancient city of Patan, especially the Krishnamandir area saw an unprecedented mass meet, according to the pamphlet distributed there, is marked by martyrdom and sacrifice for the country Hindu beasts,.
Looking on as a westerner, and thus as an outsider, I am happy to see the Nepalese democracy movement in motion. I offer a wish of freedom and power to the people.
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