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| Kathmandu, Thursday April 25, 2002 Baishakh 12, 2059. |
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Ignore
bandh
The five day bandh
called by the Maoist rebels seems to have been backed by all section of society. I do not
know how many people will agree to this. But many of us have observed the bandh well. The
shops remain closed and no vehicle has plied on the streets, except a few taxis and state
owned vehicles. This is so due to widespread support enjoyed by the banned outfit. Had it
not been so, the shops would have remained open.
It is true that the
rebels in no way enjoy any support for the way they call bandhs. But the anamolous
behavior of the masses indicates that they are indeed backed by a large section of
society. In fact, there was a report of foreign media persons getting confused by it all.
There are instances whereby foreign journalists went on to report that the bandh is being
supported by the masses, although the same is far from truth.
This, in fact, is to
draw the attention of your newspaper to the need to write about the politics of bandh from
a more comprehensive angle so that the misgivings which have tended to set in among the
foreign media that the rebels are a violent lot and that the vehicles have kept off the
road due to fear factor.
However, this is not to
say that the Nepalese people as a whole have fully understood the meaning of bandh. What I
want to stress through your newspaper is that the bandh called by any particular party is
usually observed by the supporters of that party and not by one and all. But what we are
unfortunately in for is an all-out bandh which sees life coming to a complete and
screeching halt. Not a vehicle seems to have hit the road for no more apparent reason than
out of fear of being hit.
Imagine for a moment
what the rebels could do if all the vehicles hit the road even as all the shops remained
open? In fact, they cannot do anything save, of course, take a beating retreat and refrain
from calling bandh on and off. This will go a long way in consolidating the democracy
which still does not seem to have taken firm roots.
Sujata Sharma,
Kathmandu |
