My Favorite Rumor
Well another prediction in the bag, but those of us who follow Nepal politics could see this coming. Nepali Congress is going to team up with the Maoists to go after the King. Blogdai says, no big surprise. Government has always flirted with the Maoists. Girija Koirala has had more than a few "private meetings" with Maoist leaders. For the sharp-eyed, one of the most curious examples of this was during the 2003 peace talks. The political parties were excluded from the table in an effort to actually get something done. The second round of talks ensues and we find the Maoists losing ground on some of their major demands; most significantly, the demand for a constituent assembly.
Momentum is not on their side until a cuious event occurs. From out of nowhere, large student protests against the peace talks emerge. This had never happened during the previous three peace talk events, only this one where the political parties were excluded. Eventually, peace talks break down.
Funny things also happened during 2001 when Koirala was still prime minister. Maoists are starting to get a little rougher, Koirala orders a few police to go out and confront the maoists, a police post in Rukum is attacked by Maoists and afterwards, Koirala abruptly resigns. The most power-hungry politician in the history of Nepal resigns over the attact of a police station? This guy was considering another run for PM last week at the age of 87. Why would he resign? Was it a bout of conscience? Could Koirala not reconcile his relationship with instability-loving India and their facilitating Maoists with his Prime Ministership? Food for thought.
Here's the article from the Feb. 7 Statesman. Their credibility on Nepal issues is just average, but this article makes sense:
Nepal Congress to join hands with Maoists
Statesman News Service SILIGURI, Feb. 7. — The Maoist movement in Nepal is likely to gather mainstream political momentum soon. As part of the planned movement of political parties of Nepal in a same platform, the Nepal Congress Party has decided to welcome Maoists and join hands with them. During an interview with The Statesman today, the central committee member of Nepal Congress Party and the party organisation chief, Mr Krishna Prasad Sitoula said that almost all democratic political parties of Nepal, including Communist parties, have joined hands to put up a fight against the Nepal’s King Gyanendra, who has dismissed the government and taken all powers in his hand. Mr Sitoula said that the Nepal Congress, the Nepal Communist Party UML, Janmorcha Nepal, Nepal Mazdoor Communist Party, Nepal Sadbhawna Party, Ananda Devi and alliance of five small Communist parties of Nepal have come together on a platform to start a movement against the monarchy. He said: “We are not against the Maoists’ demands. We support their ideology regarding the monarchy. But we don’t want the path of violence.” Mr Sitoula added that they would hold discussions with senior Maoists.
It doesn't sound too democratic to blogdai when government seeks to align with the single greatest destabilizing force in Nepal. Trust? Transparency? Security? Show me. In Nepal's case, we need to stop our infatuation with the word "democracy" as the singular point of defense for the old administration and start opening our eyes to what was actually being practiced under the term. -=blogdai
posted by blogdai @ 2/08/2005 11:32:00 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Instead of your constant blah blah blah. Why dont you go and do something on Nepal.Then maybe the Maoist or the King will talk some sense into you.
Whoa! whoa! whoa!
...sweet child of mine.
It's his blog. He's entitled to say anything he wants to in it.
Naagboy
I am amazed by some of the raw cyicism here. This blogdai has quite the command of the issues. I can see, however, he/she is best suited for those of us who care to apply ourselves rather than those who blurt out dodgy emotions.
Roger (U.K.)
lol... :) blogdai and naagboy are like bush and blair. whatever blogdai says, naagboy will always say yes. you guys are funny.
re this proposed teaming of scoundrels and Comrades: Isn’t Maoists cooperating with other parties to defeat the King like gods and demons/demons and gods cooperating with one another to churn the sea of milk - antagonists for a moment setting aside their differences on the bet that they'll share the elixir of immortality? (choose for yourself who to name gods, who to name demons!) But watchout other parties, I say, because while you happy fellow-creatures are churning away thinking ha, ha perhaps these demons aren’t so bad after all, and the demons are thinking fools! fools! we’ll betray you all just as soon as we get our hands on the elixir (do you really imagine that those who bear arms won’t turn them on you when it suits them?) – you might all be forgetting that meanwhile it’s good old Vishnu sitting there under the mountain – the tortoise who’ll have heard all that you say as you churn away – knowing he at least still has his most-powerful re-incarnation still to come - if he's done the bidding of China.
No. Political ideals and principles in Nepal can turn 180 degrees overnight, especially when the Nepali Congress party is involved. The Statesman article was Feb. 7th, Reuters Feb. 9th. This should tell Nepal watchers something.
This is a classic pattern of political courtship, Nepal-style. This should tell you that Congress and the Maoists are most definitely talking about an alliance. As we've seen in the past-it is one of the reasons nothing was accomplished by the government before- opposing parties in a negotiation spend most of their effort defining differences before, if they're lucky, an 11th hour concensus is reached. The Reuters article mentions something about the parties being opposed to the violent tactics of the Maoists; this is congresses way of staking out their territory. -=blogdai
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