Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Dateline

Niraj Aryal

Recently Mukti Ram Dahal, father of the revolutionary leader Prachanda put his name in the voters' list from Bharatpur Municipality. And that the Maoists also have joined the Interim Parliament, where they have been allotted 83 seats. Does this mean that the rebels of the past have completely embraced the parliamentary system whereby they are bound to respect the nitty-gritty’s of a democratic system? Has the Terai episode exposed inner intentions of the Maoists? Perhaps yes!

The Terai outrage continues to dishearten the whole nation. The entire fertile plains in the south, where once greeneries abounded continue to engulf in bloodshed. This is the place where lessons of religious tolerance were taught first and a place where non-violence was preached to the whole world. Above all, a fertile land that continues to feed the hungry citizens living up in the hills.

The JTMM and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum who claim their responsibility for the oppressed citizens in the Terai, to make listen to their genuine demands of re-delimitation of the present electoral constituencies before the CA polls, introduction of proportional election system and a federal system of governance resorted to the same old tactics of forced bunds, chakka-jams and armed violence that continue to weaken the social fabric of the nation.

This may not be something new to the citizens of this country, but it may be for the first time the Terai population is showing their anger over the age-old discrimination that is continuing even to the day the Maoist revolutionaries’ have entered the people’s parliament.

The JTMM and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, both CPN-Maoist splinter groups are resorting to techniques akin to the SPA-M that paralyzed the King’s regime in the not so distant past. History repeats as enlightened affirm, but not so fast.

The so-called tyrannical royal regime had resisted nineteen days of violence. The capital centered protests that were by all accounts a violent one forced the monarch to genuflect before the SPA-M. This time, the SPA-M government has already resisted more than ten days of violence. Unfortunately, for the Terains their protests are never capital centered. Of course, it is impossible for the Madhesis to resort to a Kathmandu centered protests. Reasons are clear and known to all. Perhaps this may also be one of the reasons for the current wave of protests strictly limited to the Terai.

Still there is no positive response from the cream of the crop, Prachanda- the nouveau ruler included, who are well placed in their citadels constructed before Gyanendra’s takeover or after his unwilling handover.

What if Kathmanduites support the Terai grievances and come to the streets? Will the current regime see the same fate as King Gyanendra had to?

Prachanda who out rightly rejects to the Terai grievances forwarded by its leaders alleging them as to have been either Palace sponsored and supported by Hindu extremists from within or outside the country have been the major stumbling block. This is very similar to the disregard exhibited by the rulers a decade back against the Maoist anxiety over the age old state affairs that provoked the same revolutionary leader, Prachanda to wage a war claiming more than fifteen thousand lives.

Finally, the delay exhibited by the government in addressing the Terai issue that are by all accounts pressurized by the Maoists’, who finally fear loosing their grip over the region is also adding complexity and has the potential to disintegrate the country.

In reality, unlike Prachanda-Path, there may be plenty of voices but subdued, being raised in the hills or even in the capital supporting the cause behind the present protests in the Terai. But there is always fears among the supporters of the Terai grievances as it is the Maoists’ barrel that fire first a la Lahan episode.