September 16 Buzz Machine

Yesterday I was in Little Italy for a dinner-out. And one of the topics that came up was how the word on the September 16 protest rally was vigorously being spread around the New York University campus. I guess the buzz machine has been working overtime. I am pleased.

This might end up being one of the largest rallies of Nepalis in the US ever. Too bad it is on a Friday. If it were a Saturday, it would have proven much easier on a lot of people. In Kathmandu Friday or Saturday does not seem to matter too much. But New York City is a workaholic place. As is America in general. It is much harder to take time off here.

I know most of the key organizers. But I have not been involved with the logistics a whole lot. The details happen not to be my specialty. I am one of those who show up! I look more at the big picture of the unfolding movement. We all have to do our part.

In The News

• Changing Times: Kangressi Sammelan UWB .... the compound of majestic Birendra International Convention Center (BICC) in New Baneshwor nearly 9 years ago ....... Koirala had to stop speaking for at least 45 seconds because of the strong sound coming out from the chopper that was hired by one of his wealthy supporters in the party. Huh…those were the heydays of Koirala and his party........ Today, I saw him, the same but tired and weary Koirala, approaching the microphone that produced very bad sound over a poorly maintained stage in the dusty playground of Jawalakhel to assure his depressed cadres...... “I am sure,” remarked Amik Serchan, leader of Samyukta Janamorcha, “Mr. Koirala is very well aware of the fact that Nepal needs to go for loktantrik ganatantra (democratic republicanism) via the election of constituent assembly.” ....... the crowd erupted clapping and producing a thunderous voice when Serchan uttered the words like Loktantrik Ganatantra and Constituent assembly ....... Serchan attracted the most vibrant and attracting clappings among the whole corps of speakers that included Madhav Kumar Nepal, Gopal Man Shrestha, Surya Bahadur Thapa, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, C P Mainali, and some second generation leaders from Indian political parties......... “King has been busy attacking political parties,” Koirala commented on the interview. “He says political parties are without vision. I don’t understand this. Yes, he might have a business vision but I don’t know what other visions he has.” ........ “For me the king has four identities,” Koirala said. “1. The king. 2. Prime Minister. 3. Civil Servant. and 4. politician. Where will the country reach when a king does politics? Politics is not for kings. That is for politicians......... Anil Sasthri (son of former Indian PM Lal Bahadur Sasthri and central member of Indian National Congress): Today India is emerging as a political, economic and military superpower in the world. That is because we have been enjoying democracy for the last 56 years. Nepal too needs democracy to achieve progress......... A few ambassadors, including the Indian, were present in the ceremony. They were seated under a tent on the right side of the stage where Speaker Taranath Ranabhat (who still claims to be a Kangressi) was seen sitting with former speaker and activist Daman Nath Dhungana........ Girija Prasad Koirala. When he came to the venue 10 minutes after the scheduled time of 2 PM, a thunderous Long Live Nepali Congress welcomed him....... When I saw him from the distance of about a foot, he was a glowing figure, yes even at the age of 83. I hate him for his undemocratic stand in several issues within the party, but I can’t ignore the appeal of his tremendous and impressive personality.
• Congress Bows To The Popular Wish UWB People hold such a power that even haughty & stubborn leaders like Girija Prasad Koirala bow their head in front of it...... “Immediately after hearing about the party’s decision thousands of cadres present in the party’s central office expressed happiness by congratulating each other.”....... Nepali Congress opting for new policy is his moral defeat. Koirala hasn’t hid his love toward constitutional monarchy. He branded Gagan Thapa and Narahari Acharya as “durbaria” (pawns of royal palace), a derogatory term within the party, when they advocated for the democratic republicanism. But in the central committee meeting he found only one supporter in his own niece- Shailaja Acharya who is famous for her incoherent stands over the issues. So, if he has any morality left in the 83-year-old body, he should withdraw his candidacy for the presidency of Nepali Congress........
  
• The Age Of Kings Is Over: Daman Nath Dhungana Nepali Times ....Nepal.... People are dying like mice. The king has been moving ahead with the attitude of ‘I am the state and it belongs to me’. The problem would not have reached such a scale if only the constituent assembly was agreed upon in Hapure (during the second round of peace talks)......... the people can frame their own constitution and decide where to place the king. The alternative would be a republic. Democracy does not need a monarchy...... Nepal’s monarchy is no longer a symbol of nationalism and national unity........ Without India’s mediation the problem will not be solved....... Is there any country where people failed after emperors, kings and maharajas left? The Indians managed quite well after the British quit. ........................................... ................................................................... Despondent Koirala ....Samaya.. . Girija Prasad Koirala created quite a national controversy by blurting out in his hometown Biratnagar that Narhari Acharya and Gagan Thapa were royalists. Now that the Nepali Congress chief is back in the capital, he denies saying anything so stupid and is blaming the media for spreading false rumours, suggesting a conspiracy. But his party workers say otherwise. According to them GP said the same sorts of things about late UML leader Madan Bhandari as well. In this view the palace was the brains behind the fast rise in popularity of Bhandari, Acharya and Thapa. The leader also reportedly criticised civil society for ridiculing party politicians in public gatherings. Koirala is all set to turn back national politics by assaulting the aspirations of youth leaders and the republican movement. It seems apparent that he is quite exhausted with the popularity gained by his younger cadre, especially the respect and attention given by party workers. His displeasure was very visible during the mass welcome given to Thapa at Pokhara airport, which Koirala witnessed. NC workers now believe the leader is worried about the majority of party support going towards Thapa, who is actively advocating a republican system.................................................................................................................................... Sachit Samsher Rana .... Jana Aastha ..... I have heard there are people who claim that I offered wrong advice to the king. I would like to know what that were. If it was my suggestion that the parties should be labelled anti-national, then I can justify my argument. The leaders of these parties went to New Delhi to meet Baburam Bhattarai and it was afterwards that we heard they would be joining hands................ I had said that the parties are dancing to a foreign tune. I said so because the parties were meeting the same persons they had once termed terrorists. If they can stoop so low just for state power then we shouldn’t hesitate to call them anti-national. I spoke the truth, and I stick to my position.................. When the present Constitution was being prepared we lobbied for certain provisions: the state should be secular and the king should be given the authority of a head of the state. I think the power that the king used by invoking Article 127 was a result of that suggestion...................... The other suggestion was that the RNA should be kept under the supreme command of the king. If our suggestion was unheeded the army would have been politicised and the Maoists would have occupied the country by now. The army would have suffered the fate of the police. You must thank us for that. I don’t agree that my expressions have driven a wedge between the king and the parties. The distance was already there, ever since the parties started talking about moving towards republic. For four years the parties have been raising hackles about Article 127. They have repeatedly asked the people to join their movement but the people have never listened to them. So they started going abroad to talk to the Maoists. If they really need to they should talk to them in Nepal.
• Signs of Return To Normalitude by Kunda Dixit, Nepali Times .... In fact, just this morning while attending to a call from Nature I was temporarily disconnected because Nature as usual wasn’t calling me on my landline, but when we lost contact again I was naturally delighted. It was proof that things in Nepal are rapidly returning to normalness........ Nepal Telecom needs to be commended for reconnecting our pre-paid, post-paid, and un-paid mobiles after a six month hiatus. And the fact that because of network congestion the phones don’t work anymore again is the surest indication so far that things are back to the pre-February First situation of business as unusual. Even if the rollback of the royal takeover may take some more time because of delays in the demolition of the Democracy Wall, we are already rolling back on the telecommunications front........ Government cars are being set on fire outside Ascol just like in the good old days. And yesterday we had our first attempted bombard of a post-office. OK, the pressure cooker didn’t go off, but the message was loud and clear..... At the pace we are going we should restore full-blown demagoguery by mid-September. Not that it would make any difference to most of you here who are fast asleep. Hey, wake up, the speechification is over.
• A Phoney Business: Nepal Telecom Being Sacrificed Nepali Times .... favouritism towards Nepal’s first private mobile operator in which King Gyanendra’s son-in-law has a share...... Nepal Telecom has been allowed to issue only a limited number of new mobiles, and it has been forced to delay its plans to launch a CDMA wireless phone network in the Valley....... post-February First the government was delaying full resumption of Nepal Telecom’s services in order to favour Spice Nepal Pvt Ltd (SNPL) in which King Gyanendra’s son-in-law Raj Bahadur Singh owns a stake. Spice Cell which is a joint venture with Kazakh and Cyprus-based companies with links to Russia-based Nepali billionaire, Upendra Mahato......... a strategy to keep us out of the competition till Spice Cell comes into the market...... Nepal Telecom’s managing director, Sugatratna Kansakar said the launch of 75,000 new CDMA wireless phones had been postponed till November. There are 100,000 units of CDMA sets lying in storage at Birganj customs........ Karki (who is also chairman of Nepal Telecom) did attend the ‘soft launch’ of Spice Cell on 9 August and made a ceremonial call to NTA’s Suresh Pudasaini on the Spice system. Indeed, the conditions under which the ownership of Spice Cell was transferred from the Khetan Group that originally won the bid in 2000 to the new joint venture partners has not been fully revealed, especially the Rs 2.2 billion royalty it was supposed to pay the government....... Nepal Telecom has always been one of the highest revenue earners for the state. It earned Rs 4.8 billion last year and pays Rs 80 million a year to the government to provide security to its microwave repeater towers. But Nepal Telecom has lost Rs 1.3 billion in expected revenue since 1 February....... “The Maoists are blowing up our exchanges and repeater towers, and in the capital the royal regime is busy gobbling up our revenue and not allowing us to earn. As far as we are concerned, they are both the same.”
• The Radical Center by CK Lal Nepali Times ...... a party snared in internal contradictions...... Congress leaders Matrika Prasad Koirala, Tulsi Giri, Biswo Bandhu Thapa, Sribhadra Sharma and Parsu Narayan Chaudhary all fell one by one. The credit for keeping the rump on course must go to Ganesh Man Singh..........making that hard-won democracy work has been more difficult. The rot set in when the personalities of party leaders dominated the NC’s ideology........ an ideology of defensive national identity based on acute ethnocentrism, mindless schizophrenia, and militant chauvinism........ Under Sher Bahadur Deuba and his band of political opportunists, the NC became a status quo force. ...... Deuba showed his conservative character when he prematurely dissolved parliament in the dead of the night on 22 May 2002. Had it functioned for some more weeks, lawmakers were on the verge of passing far-reaching changes in the constitution to bring the Maoists into the political mainstream......... Deuba’s departure was an opportunity for reform that Koirala failed to grab........ After February First, there was no way a political party could swear by a constitutional monarchy and still be relevant. Any party that feels the people’s pulse can’t have failed to realise that federalism, not merely decentralisation, is going to be the structure of the state in future......... the day when elected regional leaders will be in command with a committee of presidents at the centre formulating national policies through a system of collective leadership. The Koiralas can’t keep operating the party like a family business just because King Gyanendra is running the country like a private limited company....... the favourite excuse of all conservatives: history can’t be hurried........