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News from Nepal: Guest Editor's Column
From Our Guest Editor:
एमाले र काँग्रेसले किन हारे?
How Did UML & NC Lose This CA Election?
Kishor Shrestha, Editor, Jana Aastha Weekly
काठमाडौं,
April 13, 2008-After
spending more than ten years waging war from the jungle with bullets,
the Maoist party is now about to lead the new Nepal by a grand victory
at the ballot box.The CA Poll was the Maoist's main agenda & they got the public’s support. The issues they raised for the rights of exploited and marginalized classes, women, minorities etc also helped them secure more votes. In particular, Nepalese youth cast their votes for the Maoists.
Kishor Shrastha, Editor, Jana Aastha Weekly. Photo courtesy: RSF.Org
Winners among the CPN UML are also mostly the young activists Like Hitkaji Gurung (Syangja), Rabindra Adhikari (Pokhara), and Ramnath Dhakal (Rupandehi).
The UML's voter bank was taken over by the Maoists in the direct polling system because, as the saying goes, "One Snake can see the foot of another Snake". All the seats they won are from UML pockets like Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Dang, Makawanpur, Dhankuta, Kailali, Sindhupalchowk, Ramechhpa, Dolakha, Bardiya, Kabhre, Dhading, Gulmi, Jhapa, Morang & so on.
That totally new young faces like Rajkaji Maharjan in Patan (Lalitpur) are winning means that the public has voted for a new party, not for individual candidates. The strategy of the 1997's local election adopted by the UML was copied by the Maoists this time around. They went from door to door to meet voters & prepared their campaign at micro levels. On the other hand, NC & UML displayed overconfidence by sitting in party offices without trying to know the changing minds & aspirations of the grass roots people, imposing the same old candidates like Siddhilal Singh, Ashtalaxmi Shakya, Krishnagopal Shrestha, Rajendra Shrestha, Raghu Pant, Bidhya Bhandari, Mahendra Pandey, Pradeep Nepal, Ishwor Pokhel, Yubraj Gyawali again & again.
Great Hopes & Peoples’ Aspirations
The people of Nepal stood up against the big parties’ wrong policies & sought new options in spite of the many problems & atrocities of the Maoists. Their slogan "You have tested the other parties, now give a single chance to us" & projecting Prachanda as future President of the Republic of Nepal, attracted the masses. One of the many reasons behind the people’s surprising turnover to their side is their great hope of abolishing the monarchy. They have been crying out for this turn of events from the very beginning.
The Maoists were calculating. They pushed back the election date many times for internal preparation, challenged everyone openly during the election campaign that if they were to be defeated, revolt within ten hours would be unavoidable. People thought that if the Maoists were not allowed to win the election, they might return to their revolutionary activities, to end in more bloodshed, disaster & other kinds of revenge.
What Went Wrong
While NC & UML’s youth wings were sleeping, the Young Communist League (YCL) was being active in social works & generating money for the party. On the other hand, Maoist labour organization was the most active of the 7 party alliance.
In any case, they have finally achieved international legitimacy through this election. Our nation has been searching for alternative new leadership after the long gap since the deaths of BP Koirala & Madan Bhandari.
What brought on this sudden & unpredictable pro-Maoist wave at the last moment? Just a day before the election, 7 Maoist cadres were killed in Dang. Everyone expected the Maoists would react violently, but instead, they have maintained peace. NC & UML leaders were busy dominating, demeaning and even ignoring the Maoists at public meetings.
UML is getting a sizable numbers of seats for the Proportional Representative System from army, police & civil servant votes, but most of the UML’s conservative leaders like Pradip Nepal, Ishwor Pokhrel, Rakam Chemjong, Krishnagopal Shrestha, Yubraj Gyawali, Bharatmohan Adhikari have already lost the battle & some are on the way to be defeated. They miscalculated the ongoing situation & refused to make alliance with the left parties. UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal favoured alliance in some constituencies, but he was compelled by the hard-liners not to do so. The result cost him dearly in the form of humiliating defeat in Kathmandu-2. His leadership has now been questioned & he has thus endorsed his own resignation.
In Kathmandu-2 constituency area of UML Gen. Sec. Nepal, the supporters of KP Oli, an influential UML leader, kept quiet. In retaliation, Mr Nepal’s supporters did the same in Mr Oli’s constituency. The geographical rearrangement of electoral sectors also caused loss on UML side.
It would be an error to conclude that the Maoist victory results only from their organizational strength. They have increased the numbers of their party supporters, but most of their names were not on the voters’ lists. As much as intellectuals once enjoyed power among the UML & NC they now supported the Maoists. One good example is the Election Commissioner (from the Maoist quota), AP Yadav, (formerly UML) who played a vital role in dismissing teachers who had been assigned as pollsters and reassigned them to balance party favoritism. Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula (NC) intentionally did not pay attention to election-related violations and crimes by Maoists, fearing they might have walked out on the election.
New Hope: Good for Nation
Thanks to NC & UML’s failure, and for their contributions & efforts on bringing the rebel force into mainstream politics, even causing loss for themselves.
We cling to the hope that the force that emerged from these years of revolution will continue on the road to peace, stability & prosperity in our nation.
Kishor Shrestha is a prominent Nepalese journalist. He is the Editor of Jana Aastha Weekly, a popular weekly newspaper in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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