Because of its confusing stand, the Maoist in the past few days is behaving like an unsure and stubborn kid that is throwing everything that handy and in front of him. It is sad that the election isn’t going to happen on June 20 but to try to play politics out of this inefficiency is even more frustrating. What Maoists want is portray themselves as extra revolutionary by quickly forwarding the blame garland to other parties and stressing that they are the only party that wants the CA to happen. And in this drama, their hypocrisy has been exposed. Prachanda says Nepal should be declared republic immediately and if that happens the holding CA election by the end of this year or next year wont matter. Yes, doing away with Monarchy is important but equally important is the election of CA. Electing CA means sending out votes to the Assembly that will not only get rid of monarchy but also work on state restructuring and many other important things. We must keep in mind possible threat from monarchy to our journey to CA but, at the same time, political leadership should move forward from this blame game. Maoists can’t overshadow the issue of CA.
Maoist is the one party that is to be blamed for the certain deferral of the CA election. They are still behaving like a parallel government even after joining the official government. Bullying must be stopped. All the properties and lands confiscated by the Maoists must be returned immediately. The voice of internally displaced people must be heard. There must be limit to the Maoist arrogance. They can’t just take away anyone’s vehicles and use for their purpose. They can’t disrupt the parliamentary proceedings whenever they feel like doing so. Attitude problem is clearly there with the Maoist. They enter parliament with pistol in pocket they don’t learn from their mistakes. That is why their minister behaves like a brat in the cabinet. If Maoist behaves like a responsible and trustworthy party, Nepali Congress and the Prime Minister will be forced to take them seriously. If Maoists are to be compared with the UML, they are already ahead in quite a few issues. Maoists must prove themselves further and win the confidence of skeptics.
Related links:
Cabinet meeting cancelled after Maoist ministers walk out
Maoist MPs continue to flex muscles, disrupt house proceedings
Maoist-affiliate transport workers halt traffic in Biratnagar
Police seize Prachanda’s vehicle
United We Blog 
Comments
107 responses to “The Maoists and Attitude Problem”
Why the fuss about what was said at the Cabinet meeting.
Every Minister should first run their Ministry poperly and then comment about other ministry. We nepalese don’t do our work and we tend to “poke our nose in other people business”. That’s our favorite past-time.
Here Yadav was right in commenting on the army, everyone in Nepal knows who hunts the animals, but the way he said it and the war or words with GP was very bad and inexperience on the Part of Yadav. He will learn.
The country has more major problems than wasting our time debating on who has a attitude problem.
By the way how many people in Nepal know the meaning of ATTITUDE?
Well sonam, you may be the only one in Nepal who knows the meaning of the word attitude. However, outside of Nepal there might others as well.
Ahimsa is a RAW agent working for india and employed by them. Ahimsa played a critical role in harboring of the terrorists in India and the negotiations as well. Ahimsa will get at least 20 lakh rupees from RAW if Nepal ceases to exist tomorrow. I know who ahimsa is, if you guys ask for his real name and check his background you would know what i mean
b
What people say, who are outside of Nepal, does not really matter, when the voices of people who are within Nepal is not being heard.
It has been heard that spaM-leaders have no interest in conducting CA polls due to Madheshi demand of federalism and their demand to hold 49% presence in the house. Look where Gee-ree-ja and Para-chha-anda turned our country to mess. Neither they can go head toward true democracy and rights of the people nor they can stay as-it-is. Our country is stuck to nowhere due to their hollow assurances of “New Nepal”.
Making “hollow assurances” and “facing realities” are two different world.
People should focus on real issues like ecology, Nepal is just a spot on the map.
Fighting assholes with pani problem. Celebrate the return of white trekkers in your area, be good and vote for me. Jay Mother Earth.
Horning,
First, your attempt to show what went on is as childish as the kids you teach. What really went on began with Yadav trying to get away with stealing timber from the forests, and the NA doing it’s duty to stop his cadres doing so. So this crook thought of ways to divert the attention.
Second, your great responsible leaders steal cars forget about everything else.
Third, the kid in your class is taught by you, if you are unable to convince him or her being right there, what chances so you have with your hidden agandas? Maybe you should send him for “revolutionary brain drain”.
The attitude is borne out of self perception and environment. Hitler did not became Hitler overnight nor did Stalin & Mao. This megalomania comes about when a person thinks he is righteous and invincible- trait that wears well in likes of Girja Bhaun and Puspa Kamal Bhaun. They have feel they are now in pages of history- all they talk about is glory and what needs to be done whereas they never talk about things that are at present. I blame both for the crossfire exchange. Like I said they lack the proper schooling in the art of politics, decorum, and civility. An upstart will always think- he is because he’s right- got my point.
Our age old society may get hits from people like Maoist and likes of Girja Bhaun who only think of themselves and their inner circle but in the end- this society with age old culture based on equality and unity in diversity shall prevail.
Parties are hell bent on Monarchy- they see it as a threat and second thing is they see it as only one institution that has made Nepal and stands for Nepal. Intellectuals Like Narayan Wagle (paid by NGOc and foreign Embassies) are blind to a fault. Rather than being a balanced journalist, the attempt to show their credentials as anti-Monarchy is loosely based in belief that by saying things against it- they are a mother of all democrat in true Indian style. They have no issue of Nepal or want to impress Nepali. They look westward for their inspiration and remuneration and this is kinda shallow and pretentious.
and no one is talking about the complete failure of this government to deliver anything — first and foremost the only mandate it had of conducting the CA on time and then the other issues – social, political and economic. How much longer are these thugs going to sell the “aspirations of the people” theme and sit on their bums to do nothing. It looks increasingly important now to think about an alternative….. they can’t continue to rob us of our opportunities to develop…. and that starts by the right to vote which these thugs and terrorists are trying to deprive us.
and I forgot to add…Neil might have a different take on how this failure of the goernment is interpreted and any opinion that goes against him will be similar to the ones coming out of his students… very patronizing!!
Comrade Bhayankar: Sure Prachanda deserves more than just a Nissan Patrol jeep. He deserves the Rolex, the Rolls Royce and the Royal Salute Whisky. He also deserves a lot of money, flats in Gurgaon and what not. After killing 13 thousand people, he must relax and enjoy..
not really relevant… but look at Kantipur’s bias..
we all know kantipur is biased, not they aren’t even ashamed of showing it.. replaching gorkhapatra as the govt’s mouthpiece? or trying to win a ticket from NC?
they keep mathura shrestha’s “evidence” for days on their site, and have been defaming MJF for ever, but when it comes to the UN report, here’s how much ekantipir had to say (that too half-way into the page). and compare it with nepalnews.com
Govt, MPRF, Maoists responsible for Gaur killings: OHCHR report
Kantipur Report
KATHMANDU, April 20 – UN human rights watchdog OHCHR-Nepal Friday held the government, Maoists and Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) responsible for the Gaur killings, which left 29 dead.
Publicising a report on the incident, OHCHR Nepal chief Lena Sundh said that all three sides, the MPRF, the government, and the Maoists shared the responsibility for the Gaur killings.
The report states that the Gaur incident was a proof of the government’s failure to safeguard human rights.
Posted on: 2007-04-20 02:37:46 (Server Time)
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/archive/2007/apr/apr20/news08.php
note particularly – Contrary to earlier claims, the OHCHR report revealed that there were no evidences of rape or sexual mutilation to the women killed during the carnege.
Enjoy in Switzerland thinking with hollow slogan of “New Nepal”
Maoists threaten cops in Kaski, order them to leave village immediately
Kantipur Report
KASKI, April 20 – Maoists Friday threatened the police team–which had gone to Dhamkos in Kaski to reconstruct the police station which was destroyed during the “People’s War” – and ordered them to immediately leave the village.
The Maoists also threatened that they would take “physical actions” against the team if it refused to leave the village by today.
Following the Maoist threat, Ward Police Station, Bagar asked for human rights activists’ intervention to help the two sides reach an “agreement”.
The human rights activists sought attention of the Maoist leadership to the fact that despite the party’s inclusion in the interim government, the Maoist cadres have not yet renounced violence and have continued their old ways of threats and coercions.
Posted on: 2007-04-20 04:54:50 (Server Time
=============
Judge for your self who has the attitude problem.
People:
May I suggest you all read this piece from the NT.
On the first anniversary of the April Uprising, there is cynicism inside the Ring Road. In most other parts of the country there is hope for the future.
Many people from Jhapa to Kanchanpur that we spoke to in the past week count their blessings: the end to fighting, the dramatic achievements of the past year from the ceasefire to the interim government, mainstreaming of the Maoists, being able to travel along the highways without checkpoints, the night buses running again, police posts being re-established, and a general feeling that things are returning to normal.
But the expected peace dividend is conspicuously missing. The people expected the government to be efficient about service delivery, about fast-tracking showcase projects like the Sindhuli Highway or the Hetauda shortcut to the tarai, about quick decisions on hydropower. But all they got were fuel shortages, power cuts, and a business-as-usual attitude. Only the army seems to have its wits about itself and has rushed the completion of the Karnali Highway to Jumla.
The eight parties now need to focus on development, the economy. These things do not have to wait for elections, and ignoring them creates conditions not just for anarchy and lawlessness, but for another, far messier revolution.
Nepalis in the districts seem to have a totally different set of priorities than the leaders of the eight parties. They don’t understand why everyone is getting so worked up about postponement of the constituent assembly election. If the country is not ready for it, postpone till after Dasain, what’s the fuss about dates, they say.
There is similar apathy about the king, most people are neither die-hard republicans nor die-hard monarchists. In fact, there is a what-do-you-expect attitude about Kathmandu’s self-obsession with the trappings of power.
Making the same mistakes over and over again still has its consequences. The political choices are still there, it’s about choosing the correct fork on the road. And that can be left to the people at election time.
How about listening to the people, instead of whipping them into a frenzy over every small thing? It’s not enough anymore to say the right things, you have to do the right things. Nepalis across Nepal see through your self-righteous grandstanding. You can’t fool all the people all the time.
The election to the Constituent Assembly should decide whether we want to join the Union of India for good.
Jai Hind
Deva
This is called-“Jo chor usaiko thulo swor”.
Logging in
Himal Khabarpatrika, 14-30 April
From Issue #345 (20 April 07 – 26 April 07) | TABLE OF CONTENTS
Subscribe SUBSCRIBE NTPrint PRINT Email Friend REFERWrite to Editor WRITE TO EDITOR
DHANGADI – It took less than a week after the Maoists were given the Ministry of Forests for the group’s Seventh Division at Gorange in Kailali to chop down 60 fully-grown sal trees ostensibly to build beds for their cantonment. The Maoists hired local timber contractors to illegally fell the trees in plots protected by three community forest user groups in the neighbouring villages. Instead of being used for camp furniture as stated most of the logs were taken to saw mills by the contractors. But two trucks carrying the logs were stopped by villagers who unloaded the timber and have kept them near the camps.
After complaints from the community forestry groups and orders from the CDO, the police apprehended another truck at the saw mill in Dhangadi and sent the timber to be deposited at the District Forest office. This is not the first time that the Maoists have taken part in illegal logging sprees in Kailali using the argument that they need timber for camp construction. DFO Mohan Koirala said the Maoists had told him they needed 3,000 cubic feet of timber to make beds, and said his office was investigating the matter. Maoist Kailali deputy in-charge Shrawan said the trees were felled with full knowledge of the DFO.
Villagers say the Maoists had asked for permission to fell trees in their forest, but even before the users’ committee could make a decision the Maoists had already started felling.
Kailali’s forests have always been a source of resource for the Maoists even during the conflict when they taxed the timber trade. Now, they have stopped taxing timber but seem to have directly chopped down trees to raise money.
Chill out dhoti Deva – Nepal will never be a part of India. If there was any chance of it being so, its been destroyed by this revolution. Nepal is on its path to become a truly sovereign country. Sure, you people will never stop meddling in our affairs but we will stand tall.
And I can say this because of Maoists growing power. Sure they have brought a lot of baggage, but they are less likely to sell off Nepal like pol parties or monarchy did.
There are so many unemployed people in this country, and the government is continuing to feed these maoists. If these maoist thugs get money from the government, the cadres of other political parties also should get money from the government.
The MJF should press the government to stop feeding these maoist thugs. If the government does not stop paying millions of rupees per month to these maoist thugs, then it should start paying money to the cadres of other political parties too.
How come these maoist bastards deserve funds from the government and the cadres of other political parties do not?
All this is happening due to the weakness and vested interest of three people: Pataki Girija, maoist Habaldar krishna sitaula, and corrupt finance minister Ram sharan Mahat.
tehse corrupts thugs and the terrorists are ruining this country… we need to come out again to the streets to demand for CA elections and for these thugs to shape up or ship out….
come and join hands to demand CA from these thugs… come and include your demands in the blog that has been just created to demand our rights from these terrorists and these thugs…
http://nepalconstituentassembly.blogspot.com/
“Police have arrested seven cadres of Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) from Kappan area in Kathmandu on Friday.
The YCL cadres were arrested as they barged into the residence of one lady named Tungsang Lama and were attempting to rob her valuables.”
Do you hear the Maoist leadership condem such actions and vow to correct the YCL in the future? Maoist indeed have an attitude problem.
“Nepali Congress (NC) has cancelled its pre-scheduled mass meeting in Janakpur on April 21 owing to the MJF bandh. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was expected to address the gathering”
You have to be reponsible while in govt. The NC did the best responsible thing to avoid another Gaur. If it had been the Maoists they would have gone ahead with their meeting, and another Gaur would have happened. Maoists must shed their gun attitude and be a responsible parliament party.
Patriot
Yes, Nepal will be sovereign as long as you (Maoists) obey to the dictates of people like Yachury and SD Munni. Your definition of sovereignty is hollow; Nepal will never have the freedom of choices nor does it have the capacity to stomach much violence. Any more violence, the people will beg for Indian intervention. So much for your misplaced nationalism my friend!
Deva
Deva: please stop provoking outrage. I don’t believe you are an Indian in the first place. I suspect you are just trying to get a reaction from people.
Please stop now and save yourself the humuliation of looking like an a*ss.
What will Yechury do? Even in West Bengal, ruled by his party, there was the Nandigram violence. Munni teachings are irrerelavant. The Communists should learn from Buddadev Bhattacharya (CM of West Bengal), who is more capitalist than the capitalists themselves. Maoists should learn, and change their behavior before the people start taking the law into their own hands.
Bhudey,
Who are you to make a statement on what one should do and not do? You are just a part of discussion and continue being that. Don’t try and act like your Master SPAMmers here. You can’t kill people on the internet and shut their mouth with violence and MOBilisation.
On the idea of amalgamation of Nepal into india, one of my colleagues proposed the other way around: merge India into Nepal. I am not sure who will benefit more through this merger and who will be the loosers?
noname: please go watch Zee soap oprahs and leave political discussions to to the rest of us.
Krishna: even if it were to benefit Nepal are you prepared to give up your national sovereignty?
On the question of National sovereignty raised by B. Pundit, I will indicate the examples of European Union and United States where each of states still maintain their sovereignty. Pseudo national sovereignty and Hinduism are just the trump cards that have been played by the shreud rulers and politicians in Nepal for a long time to perpetuate the power grab and exploit its people while keeping the country in grinding misery.
The other possibility is to merge China into Nepal.
Bhudey is the online incarnation of SPAM warlords in real life. We should leave politics and let SPAMmers continue their killing without check. They want freedom…Freedom to Kill.
Gorkhali Nepal
April 21, 2007
Horrifying Brutality of the Maoists
by Rajat KC
“Tempo,” a Jeep was running towards the capital Udayapur Gaighat from Kadmaha of Saptari district in eastern Nepal. One of the passengers was Shyam Rai, who was the inhabitant of Khotang, north of Udayapur. He was carrying a small handbag which had some gifts in it for his children, wife and his parents. He also had some money with him which he earned while he was working as a laborer in a place called Koilakhat in Northern India.
He was very excited to return back home since it had already been almost two years since he had left his house and family. All past images of his family and his village came to his mind while he was getting closer and closer to his home. In fact, it is a normal trend that due to lack of infrastructure in hilly areas of Nepal, most of the young boys are leaving their homes to find jobs.
Some are considered lucky to get jobs in British Gurkha and in Indian Gurkha. Then only, they preferred to join the Nepal army, then the Police force. If not, they go to India and do labor jobs to make money. They and their families do not realize how much they miss each other, but when they arrive with some money and gifts they consider themselves very fortunate. People are considered fortunate and they are respected if they have a number of family members serving out side. They are well known by the word Lahure in Nepal.
Those families who do not have outside earnings are normally very poor and deprived. Especially, after the beginning of the Maoist insurgency in Nepal, this trend rapidly increased. The Maoists started applying enormous pressure on young people to join their rebel force, otherwise they are kidnapped from their school or villages and forcefully enrolled. Therefore, most of them preferred to flee from their villages rather than forcefully join the Maoists.
Shyam was also one of them when his parents were continuously facing pressure to provide at least one family member to join the Maoist. Hence, he was compelled to leave his family and went to India in search of an appropriate job. All of sudden, the Tempo was stopped by a group of armed elements near the place called Hanuman Chock, leaving all passengers stunned.
The Maoists carrying guns started to search the Tempo and passengers. They gave a suspicious look at Shyam and pulled him out of the Tempo. Initially, Shyam tried to confront them by saying there was no point in pulling him since he had not made any mistake. They dragged him to the middle of the village and called some villagers to be present at the site.
He kept on telling them that he was just a laborer, but they were smashing him badly instead of giving any attention to his words. They were torturing him by using Khukuri (Gurkha Knife) and with other shrapnel. He was pleading with them that he was just coming from India and he had nothing to do with the Maoists, but they were not shrinking to him.
Shyam was telling them that “he had not seen his family since long time, if once they allow him to meet his family he is willing to do whatever Maoists order him to do.” But they told him that their party didn’t need his job. Finally, Shyam gave up and said “please kill me by bullet but do not torture me like this.”
In answer, they told him that “People’s Liberation Army’s bullet is not so cheap to be wasted on him.” They kept on torturing him while he was bathing in his own blood. Shyam was whispering by his breath, asking for a sip of water but in instead of water, one of the rebels peed on his mouth.
All locals were watching that scene with full of tears and fears. One small kid, Raman Karki came in the front and requested the Maoists not to kill Shyam but that he was ready to die instead of him. They didn’t even care about Raman’s utterance. Rather, they were threatening villagers that if any body did not obey the order of the Maoists, they will face similar types of consequences.
Finally, they buried Shyam half alive and took all his money and valuables along with them. This incident took place in the first week of February 2005. The next day, a local Maoist FM radio proudly broadcasted the news that their commander of 16th battalion and DCM killed one of the policemen named Shyam while they were on patrol near Hanuman Chowk area.
Due to an ongoing peace process, the situation now is a little different. To some extent, people can raise their voices against the Maoist atrocities and brutality. Recently, in the same area the Maoist opened fire in a school area in small dispute. People of the village gathered around the school premises for a citizens’ hearing program of the incident.
All local level politicians, human right activists and journalists were also present. A newly appointed Maoist Member of Parliament, Surya Prasad Yadav was also in attendance. When discussion began, Hari Sigdel, one of the locals, deviating from the prime agenda, mentioned the story of Shyam Rai in front of all the people. He was not the only eye witness present at that time; several others also gave a supporting voice to him.
Raman also appeared with tears and mentioned the truth. The crowds, with distress, asked the Maoists to answer the people about the incident. At that time, two main culprits of the incident Badri and Kanshi were also present. Maoist’s district secretary named Amar excitingly told all that they had killed thousands of others, that includes several own cadres. He had no regret doing that because he performed his job as he received order from party high command.
All the people were stunned. The program was concluded with sorry words on behalf of the party by Mr. MP, but all human right activists, politicians from other political parties, and most of other journalists returned back to their own way without any words probably due to fear and possible threats of the Maoists.
noname: you stupid fcuking psycho. Look no one even takes you seriously. so you should be very flattered that I am taking the time to respond to you and your worthless posts. I don’t what happened to you. Generations of inbreeding and alcohol abuse has impaired your mental capacity so I don’t want to be harsh but please just shut the fcuk up already!! You need to get a japa mala and keep reciting these two words you know – spammer and warlord. Bascially you and your posts are worthless. You contribute nothing over here. In real life you must get a beating since you are still caught up with this pro-panchayat mindset. It must be frustrating and annoying when no one takes you seriously and makes fun of you (at least thats your reputation here at UWB) and maybe that’s why you will continue to go my noname.
And I shall no longer respond to noname. By the way dimwit (noname) learn to spell.
Panditji, why are you getting so agitated? It’s the nature of dogs to bark.
Scoop: It was in the heat of the moment. I actually regret giving that 20 seconds attention to that scum bag noname. Anyway let’s forget about him and talk about real problems.
“YCL starts campaign to seize royal properties”
This kind of headline is very distrubing. Irrespective of your feelings towards the monarchy the YCL has no right to go around and seize anything. It’s really a dangerous precedent. I hope the govt. strongly condems this kind of activity.
Think about it this way: today the YCL is after Royal property, what happens if they decide to seize something else tomorrow.
With respect to parts of the debate on this site, I came across the following blog piece. Looks like some Indians are really anxious to strike when the iron is hot.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
India’s Dangerous Drift On Nepal
By Dipankar Biswas
One year after its lackadaisical response to the deepening political crisis in Nepal, India remains as ambivalent as ever. As a result of the Manmohan Singh government’s vacillation, New Delhi faces a far greater threat on a vital frontier.
Superficially, Nepal has gone some significant changes over the last 12 months. The monarchy, long the pivot of anti-Indianism, has been defanged – and may be on its way out. The Maoist insurgents have abandoned a decade-long spree of murder and mayhem to join the political process. The mainstream political parties, traditionally friendly to India, have been leading what could be a major transformation of the state.
More: http://bharatrakshak.rediffblogs.com/
The scoop above replying to Pundit is not this scoop. UWB can confirm that.
UWB: The email addresses used by both Scoop are same.
ACHIEVEMENT OF NEPAL IN SPORTS UNDER SPAM WARLORDS! DONT MISS IT!!!!!
Nepal slips 16 positions down in FIFA world Ranking
Nepal slipped 16 positions down to 186th position in the FIFA world ranking for the month of April 2007, according to the FIFA official website.
Nepal was placed at 170th position last month but not a single international match since the AFC Challenge Cup in 2006 has resulted in Nepal slipping to the 186th position.
Similarly, Pakistan also slipped 14 positions and is ranked at 184th while Bangladesh is 176th, India 165th, Sri Lanka 160th, Maldives 159th, Afghanistan 190th and Bhutan 193rd. nepalnews.com bt Apr 20 07
This is perhaps for the first time in the history of rankigns that Nepal has gone down so low…Low even below Comoros and Dominica. Hahahahahaha. What a complete shame, what a complete sham!
And while you mourn the death of Sports under SPAM warlords…here is a report that gives a double whammy to the SPAM warlords…a report by UN:
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/archive/2007/others/feature/apr/news_feature05.php
They read us well and have us by the tail:
India’s Dangerous Drift On Nepal
By Dipankar Biswas
One year after its lackadaisical response to the deepening political crisis in Nepal, India remains as ambivalent as ever. As a result of the Manmohan Singh government’s vacillation, New Delhi faces a far greater threat on a vital frontier.
Superficially, Nepal has gone some significant changes over the last 12 months. The monarchy, long the pivot of anti-Indianism, has been defanged – and may be on its way out. The Maoist insurgents have abandoned a decade-long spree of murder and mayhem to join the political process. The mainstream political parties, traditionally friendly to India, have been leading what could be a major transformation of the state.
At a deeper level, Nepal is in a worse mess than it was under King Gyanendra’s direct autocratic rule. Madhesis, residents of the southern plains who form over half of the country’s population, feel disenfranchised. Their movement for a greater say in shaping the new polity has been rebuffed by the Maoists as well as select groups of hills people who have monopolized the state. Indigenous groups in the hills, too, are disenchanted with the way the “new” Nepal seems to be leaving them behind.
The parties in power – the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) that emerged against royal autocracy and the Maoists – remain united only because of a threat of renewed palace assertiveness. The Nepali military, by most credible accounts, remains loyal to the monarch. Ordinary Nepalis are growing increasingly alienated especially by the rise in crime – abductions, extortions, intimidation and so forth – not necessarily linked to the Maoists. There seems to be some fondness for the sense of order royal rule supposedly provided. The fickleness of Nepali public opinion is so legendary that it was on account of this that the SPA and the Maoists have put off the constituent assembly elections.
Even if the peace process had progressed naturally, it would have been small comfort to India. After last April’s uprising, New Delhi has gone a long way toward assuaging Nepali public opinion. Apart from pledging a billion-rupee-plus economic aid package, the Indian government has demonstrated unprecedented keenness in revising the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty, which many Nepalis have opposed as unequal. Yet the same constituency that had been demanding a more mature and relevant relationship is now propagating all manner of canards on New Delhi’s intention. The first thing the Indian government must shun is to try to win the Nepalis’ hearts and minds.
Yet Indian planners and policymakers are obsessed with Nepalis’ suspicions of India. This is a monumental misreading of the public mood. The underlying contradiction in the Nepali psyche becomes instructive here. The monarchy and the military – the traditional pivots of the Nepali state – remain the focus of public opprobrium. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of Nepal knows that, without these two traditional institutions, the country would lose an independent identity. Yet the very people spewing the greatest vitriol against the king and army are among those making the loudest noises about Nepali sovereignty. In private conversations, more and more Nepalis can be heard lamenting the opportunities they have missed in a modernizing world in a futile quest to exhibit their non-Indianness.
The Nepali state may be able to survive the monarchy, but only as an amalgamation of ethnic, regional and various other sectoral fiefdoms. This is where the threat to India is the greatest. Yet, a year down the line, New Delhi seems to have reviewed the role of the monarchy. There is widespread belief on both sides of the border that New Delhi would eventually acquiesce in an influential role for the monarchy in the interest of stability. This would be a recipe for disaster.
The pro-monarchy elements of the Indian foreign and security establishment are in a deep slumber. Chastened by its misadventure, these quarters contend, the palace might recognize the value of friendship with India. This is an option tested almost two decades ago which failed miserably. After the 1989-90 stand-off with India, King Birendra was forced to cede absolute powers to a democracy movement India firmly stood behind. After the restoration of democracy, New Delhi sought to open a new chapter in relations with the monarchy, under the illusion that the authoritarianism of the Panchayati Raj was responsible for the anti-Indian strain.
The BJP government tried hard to conciliate the palace, but failed. The Indian Airlines hijacking in 1999 and the riots against patently false rumours attributed to Hrithik Roshan were only the tip of the anti-Indianism the palace fomented. In death, Birendra is remembered for having “granted” his people democracy instead of “compromising” with India and prolonging his autocratic rule.
Simply put, India cannot afford to trust the monarchy. The alternative is worse. The political class – irrespective of ideology – becomes inherently hostile to India when its interests so demand. When India was playing the dominant role in uniting the SPA and the Maoists in late 2005, principal leaders of both Nepali fronts had no problem encamping in New Delhi. Once in power, they began raising the India bogey, especially in terms of the revived interest in cooperation in water resources.
The Maoists have been rather candid in asserting that their warming up to India was only a tactical move. Apparently, that succeeded when India released C.P. Gajurel and Mohan Baidya from prison. Facing a growing Maoist movement in large swathes of the country, India had a national-security stake in mainstreaming the Nepali Maoists. What New Delhi overlooked was the gains the Chinese reaped from this development. Beijing is reported to have been in secret contact with former rebels. This is significant because the Chinese have always supported the palace over pro-Beijing outfits.
It is noteworthy that it fell upon the Chinese ambassador to break with tradition and present his credentials to Prime Minister Koirala instead of the king. What must not be lost sight of is the timing. Beijing emphasized this switch after Koirala appealed for China’s inclusion as a full member of SAARC at the recent summit in New Delhi. Beijing played its cards very adroitly on the eve of the anti-palace uprising. While New Delhi was fumbling for coherence, China dispatched a senior leader, former foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan, to woo Koirala and other opposition leaders. It is believed that Tang, while recognizing the political party’s traditional ties with India, set firm limits to Chinese tolerance.
Pakistan, too, has changed its tactics in Nepal. The ISI, in tandem with the Gulf monarchies, are funding anti-India Islamic extremism in Nepal. Although Muslims form only 5 percent of the Nepali population, more than 90 percent of them live along the border with India. While Pakistan pleads peace with India, Islamabad is using the Nepali Terai as a springboard for anti-India subversion.
India should stop expecting easy choices on Nepal. Full and formal integration of this vital region into the Indian union remains the only viable option. This may seem unbecoming of the world’s largest democracy seeking a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Yet it is the only one that makes sense in terms of India’s national security.
Dead: where did you get this piece from?
I would rather live under Indian umbrella rather than live under the rule of the Maoists. There is no question about it.
Judging by the current situation in Nepal and now in Kathamndu, I will be unable to do anything other than cry if one of my daugther is raped by a YCL cadre, or if YCL cadre comes into my house and robs me or for that matter, if they kill any of my family members and “claim that they were killed becasuse he was one of the regressive forces participating in spying activity for the Palace.”
Who are these YCL’s and what right does Babu Ram or Prachanda have to impose anything on anyone be that even the King. It is the people who decide not these goons and thugs.
ONe can easily suspect owner of this blog “Wagle” “Prakash Bom” and Horning maybe part of the YCL, and if they are I can only imagine how the other uneducated YCL cadres think about ruling a country. Nepal is a lawless country now, there is no question about it. I hope and wish that for the sake of security the Army takes over because otherwise we have no means of survival. Living in terror is the worst feeling, worse than living in a society that lacks “freedom” These YCL and Maoists are not going to give us freedom that we want, they are going to do as they please and will continue to terrorize us from now forever, and it does not matter if they are Nepali, I will support India should there ever be a referundum as a choice to join the Republic of India. Then I believe, the Maoists will get their republic and I can live in peace.
I would rather live under Indian umbrella rather than live under the rule of the Maoists. There is no question about it.
Judging by the current situation in Nepal and now in Kathamndu, I will be unable to do anything other than cry if one of my daugther is raped by a YCL cadre, or if YCL cadre comes into my house and robs me or for that matter, if they kill any of my family members and “claim that they were killed becasuse he was one of the regressive forces participating in spying activity for the Palace.”
Who are these YCL’s and what right does Babu Ram or Prachanda have to impose anything on anyone be that even the King. It is the people who decide not these goons and thugs.
Nepal is a lawless country now, there is no question about it. I hope and wish that for the sake of security the Army takes over because otherwise we have no means of survival. Living in terror is the worst feeling, worse than living in a society that lacks “freedom” These YCL and Maoists are not going to give us freedom that we want, they are going to do as they please and will continue to terrorize us from now forever, and it does not matter if they are Nepali, I will support India should there ever be a referundum as a choice to join the Republic of India. Then I believe, the Maoists will get their republic and I can live in peace.
Here is more about the peaceful Maoists for you :
Cadres of the CPN-Maoist have grabbed four bighas of land belonging to three locals of Barah Kshetra in Sunsari district. Dilu Kumari Tamrakar of Barah Kshetra-1 said the Maoists captured her land and have started tilling the land without notifying her. The Maoists have also captured the land of Sarala and Anila Tamrakar. Maoist district leader Deepak claimed that as the Tamrakars had been encroaching forest land, the land was grabbed by the Maoists. However, the Tamrakars have claimed to be the rightful owners of the land. Officer at the District Forest Office Murari Pokharel said he was unaware of the details of the ownership of the land.
Meanwhile, Sunsari district secretary of Nepal Tarun Dal (NTD) Hem Karna Poudel was critically injured when activists of the Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League attacked him at Itahari chowk in Sunsari district on Tuesday night. Up to 30 masked YCL activists mercilessly beat up Poudel while he was waiting for a friend, said inspector Bishwo Mani Pokhrel at the Itahari area police office (APO). Meanwhile, YCL Sunsari coordinator Bishwo claimed that YCL activists did not attack Poudel.