The demonstrators are being paid five hundred rupees per day by the leaders of the seven parties to support their agitation in Nepal.
Shyam Kumar Lama, one of the demonstrators, said that an NC leader residing in his ward had paid him and his friends to demonstrate in the streets.
It has also been heard that a large amount of dollars and other currency are flooding Nepal to support the agitation of the seven political parties.
A large amount of financial support has been provided by Indian political parties to intensify the current agitation. According to sources, an estimated amount of more than 500 million Indian rupees has been contributed by Indian political parties to continue the current agitation in Nepal due to which the flow of Indian currency in the Nepalese market is being witnessed lately.
The people of Nepal are not in favor of agitation, they are in favor of peace. If the seven parties have held the twelve-point agreement with the Maoists for bringing peace, then the result must be out by now. The Maoist violence must stop, but on the contrary, it is increasing day by day. These activities would make the peace process impossible.
In order to bring peace in the nation, the seven parties should create an appropriate atmosphere staying within the 1990 constitution and hold dialogues.
The worst part is, it is the general people who are suffering due to the stand-off between the agitating parties and the government. It is vexing that prices of daily edible and other consumer goods have sky-rocketed and people have to pay exorbitant prices for even staple vegetables like potato, tomato and even chilly. The retailers, taking advantage of the situation, are trying to create an artificial shortage and thus fleece the customers.
The agitators are happy because this situation has created immense pressure on the government. The country needs peace, the country needs democracy and the country respects the political parties, but how right it is to try and come to power through this sort of a tactics is questionable. The present agitation, by whatever means, cannot be called peaceful. The arson, vandalism and the sheer involvement and backing of foreign powers are not good indicators. The parties can and will come to power, but what will they do if another opposition of that time doses out similar medicine in the name of protests? Even now, election is the only way out.
Yes, the parties can join the government and they can be a part of the process through which fair and free elections can be held to elect a new House of Representatives. For now, the current political impasse will have to come to an end. The King has already called for reconciliation in his New Year’s Address to the nation. The agitating parties will have to heed to this call of the Monarch. If the present uncertain situation continues, it will be trouble makers and outsiders who will take full advantage. This, the Nepalese media should also understand. In their single-minded objective of belittling the present government, they should not create an environment of insecurity, mistrust and hostility, which will hurt the people in general and the nation as well, in the long run.
A situation, like the one created by the Maoists, where one Nepali has become the enemy of another Nepali, will not be to the benefit of the country.
It will take many years to “undo” this situation. In the same manner, the present politics of polarizing the people between two sides will prove very harmful, even if we have an elected government. The tactics of stopping vehicular movement, creating artificial shortage of goods, inviting foreign interference and as a whole disturbing normal life will be counterproductive to whoever runs the government in the future.
After all the turmoil the country has seen and the sufferings the people have had to undergo, it is high time all constitutional forces join hands, specially at the beginning of a New Year, for the sake of the independence and interest of Nepal and the Nepalese.
This opinion was written prior to the King’s proclamation.
