Centuries
old tradition in Nepal—Indrajatra—where people receive blessings from a
young living Goddess, is planned to be eradicated by the new Maoists
government of Nepal. Baburam Bhattarai, a graduate of communist school
in India while presenting the country’s budget for the first time
during his tenure cut the spending on this important festival, making
it the possibility for his last budget announcement. Since this
festival is organized by Newars, and is much awaited by all the Hindus
in the world, it was obvious for the Newars to revolt. No sooner the
spending budget was released, the country saw fire. People were on the
streets protesting against the minister’s allocation of funds.
Bhattarai
asked Home Minister Bamdev Guatam to take the control measures for the
riots going in Kathmandu valley. He even threatened to use this Young
Communist League if the minister fails to deploy the army and the
police. Bhattarai’s usual threats did not prove effective this time
and more people jumped on the streets to save their culture. The
casualties of the riots are not fairly reported in the Nepalese
newspapers since the communication ministry is controlled by the Maoist
minister Krishna Mahara.
Traditionally,
this festival was attended by the Kings, not only the Shahs, but also
the previous rulers of the Kathmandu valley, before King Prithvi
Narayan Shah of Gorkha invaded Kathmandu valley and established it as
the capital of Nepal that he had unified in the sixteenth century.
Despite being the King of Unified Nepal, he never dared to eradicate
the Kumari tradition; instead he gave this culture a promotion and
continuation. Nepal—a sandwiched country between India and China—was
historically rich in cultures and traditions that it incorporated from
various groups. King Prithvi Narayan Shah once righteously said “Nepal
Char Jaat Chhatis Warn Ko Sajha Phulbari Hoâ€. The visionary King
maintained the rich cultures of all the sub castes and promoted them
wherever he signified his victory.
Nepal
saw a massive change from 2006—which included the former terrorists
Maoists eventually lead the country. They were successful in
abolishing monarchy after the much questionable Constituent Assembly
elections—in which the Young Communist League cadres advised everyone
that their head will be in their bag, and the body will be in the
river, if anyone fails to vote for them—most popular slogan being
“Tauko Jhola Ma, Jiu Khola Maâ€. They even threatened the poor
villagers that they will be under the scanner of the binoculars and the
Maoists paramilitary force was deployed along the polling booths.
After those earth shaking threats, the Maoists were sure to win the
elections, and so did it happen. They won enormously and the first
sitting of the assembly abolished Monarchy and declared Nepal as a
federal secular republic.
The
Maoists and the then ambitious prime minister of Nepal Girija Prasad
Koirala—who was awaiting for the assembly to declare him the
president—could not foresee the devastations that their decision would
cause to Nepal. After winning the election, the then Maoist Chief who
is responsible for the death of 13,000 innocent Nepalese, sidelined the
then premier Koirala and put forward his nomination as the first
executive president. The two ambitious men could not get along and the
Maoists forged an alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal, and the
Madhesi People Rights Forum—both the factions of communists and
established themselves in the government. The Maoists supremo became
the executive prime minister and the communist graduate Baburam
Bhattarai as the Minister of finance.
Bhattarai
while presenting the budget attacked directly on Newars and Hindus by
cutting the Kumari budget. He failed to give any reasonable
explanation for the funds cut. It appears that the government used to
provide mere USD 200 for the festival. Prachanda visited three foreign
countries within a month he was sworn is as the prime minister of
Nepal—the first being the land of his ideologue Mao at the communist
republic of China, second being the land where he lived to fight
against the Kingdom of Nepal, and the third being the holy land where
his party is in the “terrorist exclusion listâ€. None of these
expensive trips were warranted by the Nepal government. Nepal
government incurs heavy expense for these trips, and especially if the
PM is accompanied by his even the distant relatives to New York, the
trip cost would be insurmountable. The following day he was sworn in
as the PM, Nepal witnessed disaster by the Koshi flooding for which,
India is much accountable since it was a man made disaster by India as
opposed to a natural disaster. Nevertheless, the PM chose to enjoy the
foreign trips that he never got when he was labeled as a terrorist and
remained underground for almost two decades.
Maoists
are presuming the 28 million Nepalese as communist. In essence, there
are not even 21,000 Maoists in Nepal. Hence, forcefully imposing a
communist life will lead to another war, and this war could see the end
of communism. Although not necessitated, if Maoists fail to foresee
this troubled situation and correct their behavior to that of a
civilized society, their days will be numbered. Newari community is
perhaps the most powerful community in Nepal—holding the much stake in
business. With this unprecedented illogical move, Maoists have surely
generated a hate for themselves in Nepal. After this dramatic
incident, Nepalese are likely to revolt against this questionably
legitimate government, and many people are also seeking the alterative
of this mistake which could be the restoration of monarchy. Although
unlikely soon, the monarchy remains as a vital force in uniting the
people of Nepal, and with this move of Maoists, the restoration could
be imminent.
Spending
a considerable amount of state fund on the Maoists ministers and
denying the budget for the centuries old tradition seems to be a direct
attack on the Newari Culture and Hinduism as a whole. Not only Newars
have the fundamental right to protest, but Hindus bear the inherent
duty to protect their religion as well. In addition, Nepal as a whole
must come to save this culture since Nepalese identity is associated
with all these cultures, unless the unfriendly neighbor would have
persuaded the international world to classify Nepal as its state.
Tourism being the most important industry in Nepal, and Kumari being
accounted for the collection of state, it is logical for the state to
allocate budget for this precious festival. Mere 21,000 communists do
not represent Nepal, and communist should heed this protest as a
warning that Nepalese have been patience enough to restore their life
to normalcy even after sacrificing their dear ones. The coming days
will rebut the Maoists presumption that Nepalese have lost the Gurkha
spirit. As the rage can be seen by the Newars and Hindus in Nepal, the
message becomes abundantly clear for them that Nepalese will not be
tolerant if their identity is being questioned, and a Maoists rule will
be imposed on them.
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