SAMEER DIXIT |
On Friday, some white shirt donning valleyites waiting at Pulchowk seemed disappointed at the numbers who turned out in front of the UN headquarters for the peace rally. Little did we know that streams of people in twos and fours were already heading out to Basantapur. The Maoists clearly did not want the crowd to swell so they blocked off Kupondole till their leader Pampha Bhusal came and cleared the streets. What an irony: the same people who voted the Maoists to power with a clean sweep in Lalitpur were now questioning the intent of their strike? What would happen in the next elections?
The crowd at Basantapur was unprecedented; they came to just be there. People who until the previous evening were nervous about joining the organising committee jostled for space at the dais. And when the organisers said the meet was over, the exodus of people turned into a crowd streaming out of Basantapur. By the time I got to New Road gate, unbeknownst to us, the front of the crowd had actually reached Exhibition Road, and turned into something of a rally.
The patience of YCL was tested, and it was not long before they decided enough was enough. When the thinning crowd was stopped at Bhadrakali, they went after the group that stood between two cordons of police. We were forced to run � but while in 1990 it was from lathi-wielding cops, this time it was from stone-pelting and rod-wielding party workers. Four of us ran for our lives through the old bus park, into the by-lanes of Bag Bajar, refreshing memories of the first jana andolan. Anyone spotted with a white shirt was to be taught a lesson. The words 'jori khojya hoina?' (weren't you looking for a match) still ring in my ears. We ran all the way through Dilli Bajar, Ghattekulo, Anamnagar and finally crossed the Bagmati only at Sankhamul to Lalitpur. The ordeal ended after a long walk, but I couldn't stop thinking of the man in the blue shirt running with me, who was hit by a brick and fell. Who was he?
The Maoists finally succumbed to public pressure, and they must be wondering how it was that the voters who had swept them to power had turned against them at such a crucial moment. The silent state was happy enough that the Maoist strike was more or less peaceful in the first few days, demonstrating that they were only interested in clinging on to power. As one friend commented, what can we expect of security when the Home Minister whisks into his office before dawn?
The power of the people is changing in an ever-transforming Kathmandu valley, where a vegetable-cart vendor can afford to send his children to a private school and go to private clinics, and Global Nepalis back from abroad want change. For many, economic rights are more important than political rights. This change is something all political forces should try and understand. Another election is due and it will be more difficult to fool the valley people. All parties will have to really work hard to woo this silent majority that has a louder voice than that of politicians with great oratory skills and leaders whose myopia is limited to Singha Darbar. Please listen to the people's voice.