Kalanki Chowk, that witnessed massacre of 4 protesters on April 20, today marked another milestone by paying condolences to them and vowing to continue fighting for loktantra.
By Deepak Adhikari and Tilak Pathak
Kalanki Calling: Around two lakhs people gathered in Kalanki today Pic by Prakash Mathema
Every nook and corner of Kathmandu Valley is celebrating the victory of people power. It seems that people from all parts of Kathmandu are participating in today’s procession. Kantipur scribe Ujir Magar and I (Deepak) passed through the unending crowd. It looked jubilant, people were singing, dancing and merrymaking in the streets. They arrived in truck, buses, minibuses and motorcycles. Many ethnic Nepali musical instruments such as Sahanai, Narsinha and Damaha were used in the procession.
A huge mass coming from Koteshor, Lubhu and Bhaktapur gathered in Satdobato. UML leader Siddhilal Singh thanked media for making the movement a success. SPA leader Amik Sherchan said: “This movement is not for revival of parliament.” He said that the movement’s goal is a republican Nepal. “This is only the starting point,” he told a huge mass. He warned that unless the king holds power, there is no guarantee that king doesn’t stage conspiracy. He said there was a clandestine understanding with Maoists to be part of movement. He was of the opinion that this achievement was only partial.
He remarked that the upcoming meeting of Parliament would withdraw the charges of terrorist upon Maoists. According to him, the new government will announce cease-fire with the Maoist.
After Sherchan’s speech, the mass marched all the way to Kalanki where around 2 lakh people gathered to listen to UML leader Madhav Nepal and NC leader Ramchandra Paudel.
When we reached Kalanki, the program was going on. Mr. Mani Kafle, racantonteur and Janaandolan star, was entertaining the mass. While he was reciting poems, the mass was clapping. Residents were sprinkling water from the rooftops to cool the mass. Mr. Mani, with his gift of gab, immediately responded: “These are the drops of republic.” Other artists also sang. Martyr Deepak Biswakarma’s father displayed photo of his son and mass applauded to him. Himal Rai of Joint Left Front gave speech. At the same time, Madhav Nepal arrived. He climbed a makeshift stage in a balcony, milling and cooing in the crowd. Mr. Rai had to stop his speech when Nepal received avalanche of applause from the mass. Mass greeted in the same way to NC leader Ramchandra Paudel. This shows that people still respect and love the party leaders.
United People’s Front leader Bednidhi Adhikari said that this change is not for appointment of ministers and parliamentarians. He demanded to form a commission to search the disappeared protesters. Nepal Sadbhawana Party’s General Secretary Rajendra Mahato announced the official decision of SPA’s meeting today morning. He said that they had decided to conduct the poll of CA to fulfill people’s longing. People will choose what kind of governance they want. He warned people to remain vigil, for the king can betray at any time. He asked all to remember the sacrifice of martyrs. NC (D) leader NP Saud also gave speech.
NC leader Paudel said: “This is only the beginning of victory.” He assured people that full-fledged victory would be realized only after parliamentary sessions. He glorified Kalanki as a courageous place. “I salute the revolutionary spirit of Kalankians,” he remarked. He further added: “CA poll will decide on the fate of our country.” People overwhelmingly supported him while he promised not to repeat the mistakes of the past. He vowed to establish democratic system in coming days. MPs have agreed not to take the allowances of the four-year period when the parliament was dysfunctional. He said: “We will make only that kind of decisions that will get accolades from public.”
UML’s Nepal said: “Until and unless our goals are achieved, our struggle goes on.” He pledged the government to provide 10 lakh rupees for the martyrs family and 2 lakh rupees for the injured protesters. “Both of their children should get free education,” he demanded. He assured that the guilty people who suppressed the movement would not go unpunished. He said that the so-called municipal election as well as all the actions taken by royal government would be invalid.
Meanwhile, long closed Open Theatre (Khula Manch) was captured by the protesters today. At 3:30pm, protesters were gathered there, ready to hear young and civil leaders such as Gagan Thapa, Pradip Giri, Ramkumari Jhankri, Krishna Pahadi, Prof Ram Man Shrestha and journalist Binod Pahadi. SPA has announced another mass meet for Thursday afternoon at Open Theatre.
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Comments
85 responses to “Leaders Vow to Preserve People’s Power”
The dharma of doing good for people have been forgotton in this Kaliyug with asuras traking over power!!
How about mass demonstrations against the Maoists?
Rabin, 10 years and more than 13,000 deaths later, people have not and did not stop the maoist violence. your political parties did not stop it. the king did not stop it. NO MONARCHY. They will not change their stance,no matter who Prachanda spins it. They have an end goal in sight. You will see much more bloodshed as foreign governments resume their miliatry aid to nepal now, unless the monarch is abolished PERMANENTLY. Forget about the Maoists, do it for yourselves!! Think about Gyanendra, now think about Gyanendra’s evil multiplied many times over. what do you get? PARAS.
Enough said.
oh for the love of god, I wrote a comment this morning and it’s still ‘awaiting’ moderation. If they’re going to moderate, at least do it quickly, and they should post a set of rules, so we know what not to write in our posts to avoid moderation.
“How about mass demonstrations against the Maoists? ”
And from whrere u gonna hire the demonstrators, Bihar??
the road ahead
indeed the ppl of nepal want to decide our own faith.
now that the first step is complete, we have to think of the future and be prepared for all kinds of situations. from the good to the worst situations.
firstly we have to salute the people we have lost their lives for the cause of loktantra in nepal. and yes we should not forget those hurt in the demonstrations too. and seriously not to forget, we have to be cautious of the ppl who have been made “disappeared” by the then govt the people we were taken away by security personnels, their situations have to be made public. else their whereabouts will never be known.
Shree CHA,
point noted. But in the end will the BHASMASHUR get killed? And When ? How ever brutal the the insurgency has been or will be, the maoist ideologue will always remain solemn and sentimental especially to those nepalese who remain uneducated, ignorant, deprived,discriminated. This is enough to carry out it’s operation in long run.May be 50 more years.
Namaste,
It looks like the rain-clouds will help us with the heat in Kathmandu today.
WOULD SOMEONE(S) PLEASE HELP ME ANSWER THIS QUESTION:
Will those Government Officials and those Officers of Police and RNA who ordered, allowed, and lead the muderous assault on the Pro-Democracy Demonstrators be brought before a court-of-the-people and be made to answer for their crimes ?
Or will they go back to their hones and drink Black Lable and eat chicken and wait to join with their King and regain power ??
Thank you in advance,
i just heard that army chief Mr. Thapa ,in an interview with BBC ,said that the army has no problem being under parliament, and they are even ready to reconcile with and accept maoists army.
isn’t it a good sign for those who fear that army would wage a war??
Not unless he is removed. He is a devil.
i support Fidal.
even if US and whole world give their all effort to suppress maoists, they would not be suppressed as long as the reasons for maoism remains there.
the only cure for this problem would be a fair system.
even if today, maoists are swept away, tomorrow other group will carry the weapons in the name of another ism.
correction to 39:
it is CNN, just happened to read Kantipur.
he has also praised capacity of Maoists.
I think Maoists now being supported by everbody, should be very flexible and call for cease fire.
It is certain that one of the stake holders of Nepal KG is out. Now it is easier to tackle another stake holder MBs. It is a must that we always keep pressure on SPA for their promissed Road-map which includes CA.
We have to say to MBs if you do not follow the road map you have agreed before then you are to be side lined and crushed. The Ghosts of Pol Pot are not welcome in Nepal.
Well the SPA should try their best to get the Maoists to come for talks-the CA election is a big common point for them to work from. But at the same time the SPA should also move to ensure that the security forces are well equipped and motivated enough to force the issue if the need arises (here the US and India will help with military aid.)
Naive bloggers don’t give us crap on ‘we need to eliminate the conditions that gave rise to Maoism in the first place’ Any one with half a mind knows this.
Does anyone forget Koirala’s attempts to use India to put him in power? He will sell Nepal out to gain power for himself. What has happened is better than things that could have happened, but Nepal needs a leader that cares for the nation and the people, not only for himself. Where is that leader?
Was Girija born in Benares?
Hey guys go and listen to baburam’s interview in bbc(most of you must have already heard it).
I think the interivewer has proven his ability to shake the so-called stalwarts of Nepali politcs thro great questions which the other side have no answers.
Continuiong in the same vein (Mr. Mishra) yet again proved his natural ability(my point of view).
Bijaya Kumar, the no one mandale should learn lessons from him.
Mishra proved baburam a lier, which he was already.
And also proved that the maoist (cadres excluded)are no more than a puppet of the Indian expansionists.
Now CPI leaders are acting as spokespersons for the maoists in Nepal. What a change in our maoists the socalled ultra nationalists.
To grab power they are ready to tear the nation apart. This is what i colcluded from the last night’s interview. You guys might differ, but i’ll stick to the same.
Donot be surprised if Krishna Bahadur Mahara or Rabindra Shrestha(Another faction) appears on BBC tommmorrow and reiterate their own opionated judgement. Rabindra Mishra will get another opportunity to get shrewd.
A baseless analysis ; totally baseless censure against a leader who forsook everything he had for the sake of his nation. If u feel belittled to show any respect at least don’t show such impertinence.
kirat u r such an intolerable biggest crap yourself.
i didn’t see any criteria of expertise to participate in this blog.
i already told u i am just a young engineer , not a journalist, or any political analyst..but does that imply that i donot have right to express my innocent sincere views??
actually what do u think of yourself ????
u sure have a way with words and manage to get some wits…but when it comes to vision ,tolerance, courtesy, analysis…u fall far behind.
u yourself know very well how your idea of reconciliation and submission failed the very next day…and soon your other ideas r going to fail.
u preach abt non-violence but don’t u have realised..u r so violent , with your ugly words.
i have also managed to see interviews of mahara and read baburam and prachanda, i found them very clear,energetic,inspiring and moving.
(but sure i am not an antaryaami to know their actual notion.)
Taaya,
I haVE ALSO READ AND HEARD THEIR INTERVIEWS.
Uh, Taaya it seems you are about to burst into tears. Hey what did I do? I have not recently made fun of you. Calm down girl.
By the way-the SPA is more or less following the path that I advocated. Ask glade if you think I’m lying. And as yet nothing has failed-I always doubted the Maoist’s sincerity, you know that.
I was against a long drawn struggle for a republic because it would bring so much misery to millions. I think there is a better way to achieve a republic if that is all we want.
You’ve to learn to taken an offence or two on this website-especially with people who have differing views. The real world is like that too.
kirat:’Any one with half a mind knows this. ‘
Oh , now i don’t need to wonder if YOU and PEOPLE like you know ‘this’ short of thing.
baburam and prachanda clear in their views….. hahahahahah
oh yeah them are clear and that is they want more lives and anarchy….
Another angry young woman! Calm down girls. If we all get so serious and so polite blogging would not be fun anymore!
Sorry for the incomplete paragraph. We have all seen and heard, the most famous being the BBC one, which I saw Prachanda very uncomfortable and sometimes babbling. Otherwise they are very clear with their totalitarian blubber.
I hear these mao leaders kids all have been living ans studying abroad. Taaya your praise for the maoists as
“very clear,energetic,inspiring and moving”, begs one to wonder if you are’nt related to these comrades?????
my impatience for change might have made me vulnerable.
i gladly accept differences and offence for that is the only way for growth(which is one of my primary reason to participate here).
but kirat, i simply don’t like your attitude ,
the way u sit there and point fingers and display your expertise to offend .
the way u attack person more than views.
i feel u also deserve some offence in return. (it’s not about shedding tears).
fun??there are other decent ways to make fun and show your differences than display of vocabulary of calling names.
do u even have to import the western ideas of fun ??
Taaya, I have very differing views from you. I have a different idea of what is fun. People sarcastically call me ‘know it all’ and ‘expert’ when I put my views forward. I don’t mind. But they don’t seem to realise that they are my personal views just like you have your own opinions. Sometimes when the discussion gets a little heated we say things like idiot, silly etc. It’s not like you have never been impolite to me too, right? But hey I don’t take offence because what we are discussing is very important to our hearts so it’s expected that’s things will get a bit heated.
“what we are discussing is very important to our hearts so it’s expected that’s things will get a bit heated”
i felt glad to know that these things are important to u and u r not simply doing “buddibilas”.
Taaya and Kirat why you are fighting. We were the most freqenting pair in this blog. Continue having your wild views. Thats why it is called blog.
SPA has a golden opportunity to shine. If they can held an election of the Constituent Assembly and bring maoist to talk, all their past mistakes will be forgiven. The currupt politicians have one big chance to start all over again. I hope SPA will see this opportunity and act accordingly.
Dear Nepalese,
I am really saddened, fed up and frustrated with the current scenario of our country, Nepal. So, I am taking a small step to contribute towards bringing awareness and peace back in our country. Most of you must have seen in the current images of the protest in our country, that majority of the protestors comprises of either students or villagers. It is apparent that these poor people are left idle by this violent crisis and are misguided to
take an active part in the front line of this disgraceful bloodshed.
Many people and nations had named Nepal as a peaceful country in its long
lost glorious days. Those were the days when visitors in our country raised
high praises for the honesty and friendly nature of our countrymen. But the
recent political situation is truly an alarming crisis where not it’s not
only the villagers who are suffering but it’s the nation as a whole which is
bleeding from the political movements gone haywire.
Not a single Nepalese soul can say that they are not affected by this
violence in the country. So I urge my fellow Nepalese, who are all over the
world, to get together and do something for our country. It may not be
actively taking part in the restoration of peace but small contributions
from individuals can make a significant difference. I hope you all will help
me in my endeavour and forward this message to as many Nepalese as possible,
especially if you happen to know some journalist and politicians and others
who can be heard quickly. One never knows what can make a difference in such
a scenario. I also request all of you to contribute in this awareness
process and write down relevant articles and forward it to one and all.
Let us all pray that peace is restored back in our country and once again we
all live together as Nepalese and proud Nepalese.
Pashupatinath le hami sabai to kalyan garun.
Jay Nepal
(UWB received this email)
You have a nice site! Best regards
do people think hell is gonna be fun…
How does the rss feed work so I can get updated on your blog?…