Faded optimism

Black flags have been associated with the silent form of protest, which conveys a point or two to mainly those at the helm of affairs. But, the recent spurt in the way the Maoist cadres have been taking to such flags is but a reflection of their leadership’s abuse of that. The latest incident has been of President Ram Baran Yadav being greeted with black flags by Maoist cadres when he was in Pokhara to inaugurate an international programmes on community forestry. Protesting via the waving of the black flag is not condemnable at any cost, but when hurling stones and vandalism take place then it cannot be appreciated by any measure. The recently resorted to means of protest with the black flags has become the highlight, that has been profusely used by the Maoists wherever any minister’s presence is due. Even Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had to be a witness to the black flag waving irate Maoist activists in Biratnagar on Monday. The scuffle of the protestors with the security personnel resulted all because of the stone-hurling gangs not being content to resort to peaceful means. This shows how far the Maoists have undertaken their mission to disrupt whatever peace that remains in the society.

In protesting against the office bearers, the Maoists are jeopardizing the very daily lives of the ordinary people. It is not clear as to what the objective are of the UCPN-M through such violent tactics. They happen to be a major force politically speaking, but they have taken the wrong method to put forth their point. They may have a point to make, which could be done through the available channels, but adamant and foolhardy missions do not merit attention. The Maoist

cadres out in force to disrupt any official function attended by a cabinet member seems to have

become the norm. It may a part of the Maoist strategy the revelations of which has not been made. The only verbal criticism has been of the government not listening to the Maoist voice, besides that the recent spate of vandalism and violence seen on the part of the Maoists cannot be understood. In fact, the UCPN (Maoist) leadership is supposed to be quite

sensitive to the people’s sentiments, but its earlier activities as well as the recent ones do not support this view. There had been expectations that they would attune themselves with the changed

context that they were in, unfortunately, their rhetoric has been quite frightening with references to guns and bullets, the third jana andolan, the forcible capture of state powers and so on.

If this is how the largest single party in the Constituent Assembly is going to present itself, it will neither be in its interest nor in the overall interest of the whole democratic set up. The mission for which they had been voted to lead in the CA polls has totally been disregarded by the Maoists. Because of their disruptive tactics, the House activities are still in limbo, the peace process is stuck up, and, prominently, the constitution drafting process is moving albeit at a snail’s pace. The only advice an ordinary Nepali citizen could give them is to respect the aspirations of the people and leave competitive politics to when the new constitution comes into effect.

Stationary block

Reports that the Kathmandu Metropolitan

City (KMC) is underperforming comes as no surprise. As per the Minimum Condition Performance Measure (MCPM) set by the Ministry of Local

Development, KMC has failed to meet the minimum criteria. The lethargic way in which KMC is working is for all to see. It seems that it is not the shortage of funds that is hampering its works but its commitment and way of working. If the findings are confirmed in the final report to be submitted by MCPM in June then KMC would be facing a dilemma as its budget would likely be slashed. This is a matter of shame for KMC. This metropolitan city also happens to be the capital of the country. Others would be looking at it to emulate, however, by all accounts KMC has not lived up to expectations.

No doubt, this is a resource crunched country and what it has should be utilized to the optimum. KMC seems incapable of meeting its targets set not to talk about providing the basic amenities to those residing in the area. Thus, it can be said that the claims of the report are not unfounded, and it is high time KMC took up its work more seriously.