Laymen hit hard by the blockade, not the establishment

Blockade, as the Oxford Dictionary defines, is "the enclosing or surrounding of a place, eg by armies or warships, to keep goods or people from entering or leaving".

When I was myself a child, I used to learn from history books that in a war time like situation or when countries used to be on a war with each other, the means of a blockade seemed very effective one. The idea behind imposing a blockade was simply not to allow consumer items or war-materials to reach to the enemies so that the later would willfully surrender to the former.

The fact is that alien people imposed such blockades in order to take control over the territories of the other. That means that the people imposing blockade and the men encircled in the confines of a small place both were alien and inimical to each other. This is understandable in a war like situation.

The first economic blockade that my own country has had to undergo was around March 1989. It was an economic blockade imposed on us by our most friendly country, India, under the leadership of the then Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

India’s "friendly gesture" of the highest order towards Nepal have had its instant impact in that the autocratic regime collapsed. It remains yet to be investigated as to whether Indian imposition of the economic blockade was to "teach a lesson" to Nepal and its King or were solely guided by the clandestine motto that if the multi-partyists’ took over the charge of Nepal, greater political benefits could be achieved and that too easily.

It is up to the analysts and academicians to ponder over the matter as to what we have willingly handed over to our southern friend since then.

Blockade being imposed by a Nepali on yet another Nepali is perhaps the first ever event that has happened in my country. When enemies impose a blockade, they do so to give a shape to their political designs. However, this time the Maoists, very much the sons of the soil which gave birth to persons like us and the entire Nepali people who not necessarily subscribe to their views, have imposed a sort of partial blockade in some district head quarters. The reason has been provided that such blockades would ultimately weaken the establishment and its security personnel and would yield to their conditions.

I consider and even conclude that Comrade Prachanda and Dr. Bhattarai were no less a nationalist as we claim for ourselves.

Devising political strategies of this sort is not bad. One is free to do that. But what is bad and unacceptable that such blockades have already hit the movements of the people hard. It is the people and not the government who have been hit hard by the Maoists blockades. Artificial shortages have already come into existence. Prices of consumer goods have soared up. Panic, above all, has gripped the nation.

The Maoists have reasons to be happy with the success they have partially achieved from this blockade, though the government dismisses. However, the insurgency is at a loss for this blockade has hurt the sentiments of the people most.

The laymen, the Maoists know, mean much in any system. The people are the final decision-makers. Hurting the feelings of the final judges might in the long run not come as a political bonus for the insurgents.

The insurgents would do well if they scrap up the rest of the days of blockade and allow the people and consumer goods to move freely.

A word to the wise should be enough. As a media man, my duty is to suggest. How the other camp takes up my suggestions is an altogether a different matter.

Dr. Bhattarai and Comrade Prachanda must act fast and make the people understand that they were not averse to the laymen’s problems and plights.

I am fortunate enough that I could witness the Indian economic blockade. I am happy now that I could see for myself a blockade that is in itself a unique and a historic one, politically speaking.

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