KIRAN PANDAY

There will be more protests in the future, this is not just an andolan to remove the prime minister. It is about whether or not to keep on following the rules laid down in the Interim Constitution.

UML and the NC are the two democratic forces and they have tried to convince the Maoists to not just give lip service to democracy but to behave like a legitimate political party. But most Maoists are hell-bent on establishing what they call 'jana satta', a dictatorship of the proletariat, modelled on North Korea, Castro's Cuba or Stalin's Soviet Union. And for this they are determined to wage an even more violent revolution.

LAXMI PD NGAKHUSHI

It's difficult to say whether the struggle between an open society and what the Maoists want will lead to violent confrontation, but this is not something that can be sorted out in two minutes. There are two options, go back to war, or compromise. This street battle is just the surface of a much deeper ideological quarrel between whether we want a democratic constitution or a hardcore communist constitution. That is why there is a trust gap. This is just the first of many birth pangs we will have to suffer in the process of writing the new constitution. So unless one side or the other becomes weaker, the Nepali people have to suffer some more.

The Maoists tried to oust the government through a vote in the House, and when they couldn't get the numbers they decided to go to the streets. They resigned from government on a whim after the reinstatement of the army chief. They perhaps want desperately to get back in.