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| Kathmandu Thursday March 21, 2002 Chaitra 08, 2058. |
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Power game
I read your news that clearly stated
"Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala has been in touch with the top
Maoist leaders living in India" published in your daily a few days ago. Although NC
party members who are close to Koirala have denied this, I have felt that Koirala has
changed his tone towards the Maoists since Deuba imposed a state of emergency. He presses
no longer so hard the Maoist button that they should be treated with guns only.
Parliamentarian Chakra Prasad Bastola also seems
to have been in close contacts with the Maoist leaders which he has denied since the media
carried the news. Such a sudden change of the stand the Koirala camp had been taking has
surprised me. I think there are two factors: (1) Prime Minister Deuba has declared the
state of emergency and deployed army which Koirala could not do so when he was the prime
minister of this country. Secondly, Koirala sees the Maoists now not as an obstacle but an
opportunity to grab power. So he appears to have himself softened on the Maoists.
But the power game within the ruling Nepali
Congress has placed this country in a situation from which we may not be able to put it
back on the track it had been a few years ago. Army have replaced the police personnel in
the fight against the Maoists which may not come to an end so soon. Who are responsible
for this unfortunate state? Koirala or Deuba? Certainly, common people are not. Such a
power game, if not used with due care, may prove risky for those who run after the post of
the prime minister.
Lal Bahadur Chhetri
Pokhara |
