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Chairman Prachanda’s pre-election plea to his cadres to become Gandhis till the CA poll provided fodder for Rajesh KC. The cartoon of the Maoist supremo wearing a red, single-starred bandanna on his forehead, donning sandals, clutching a bamboo stick, and cautiously walking by a staring policeman graced the front page of TKP (April 5). An onlooker in the picture remarks, "Temporary police and temporary Gandhiji".
The press somehow got hold of the Maoist leadership’s secret 11 point circular for their cadres to hinder their opponents contesting the CA poll. The cadres followed the instructions to the letter in remote areas, where candidates of other parties were not even allowed to enter their constituencies, which international observers were in no mood to reach by trekking. However, when their seven workers died in a clash in Dang, the Maoists showed considerable restraint; and even gave the impression that perhaps the Gandhian spirit was leading them. That notion quickly disappeared after pictures of Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, with bandages around his head, appeared on the front pages of most newspapers (April 15). The YCL hadn’t converted to Gandhigiri. Rajesh KC graced us again with another cartoon: two Maoists with bandanna on their foreheads and sticks under their arms stand by as the third looks at his watch and says, "Look...date is over for temporary Gandhiji".
Not all who preach Gandhi follow the sage’s ideal. Actor Sanjay Dutt created a sensation with his film "Lage Raho Munnabhai", and Gandhigiri became the talk of most Indian towns. However, a court convicted Dutt of keeping fire arms for terrorists; and the actor served a few weeks in jail till he got out on bail. One letter to Indian daily comments that a few months after the viewing of the film most have again embraced "goondagiri" (hooliganism) for Gandhigiri.
Actually, Prachanda’s instructions to his cadres to become Gandhis encouraged many. Believing that God created humankind (women and men) in his image, I hold that people, though inherently sinful, have the capacity for good. The good remains humankind’s ideal in midst of an ocean of evil. Mainly under international (EU, Carter, et al) pressure, Prachanda had to give his cadres the idealism of the Indian sage. Still, Prachanda showed that in heart he doesn’t prefer jungle-behaviour. Only civility will impress the world and the nation.
In November 2006, after coming above-ground for the first time, Prachanda had mentioned that our country is the land of Buddha. However, his ideal of following this Nepali sage went no further than establishing the Maoist office in Buddhanagar (New Baneshwar). In midst of some token good works, his cadres continued extortion, beating up opponents, initiating strikes, all the usual Maoist tactics short of a war.
Now that the Maoists have already assured themselves of a majority in the CA poll, the graffiti-president of yesterday is not far from becoming the real president tomorrow. If his presidency is to last more than one term (provided the Maoist-led government holds a poll!), he should take the Gandhian ideal seriously.
Gandhi himself came to his life-ideal of non-violence through a roundabout way. In his writings, Gandhi admits his indebtedness to Leo Tolstoy, who was influenced by Jesus Christ. Tolstoy had distilled Christ’s teaching into five main points: "be not angry, do not lust, do not take oaths, do not resist evil, and love your enemies." By non-resistance to evil, Tolstoy didn’t mean that we must accept evil but that we shouldn’t fight it with wicked means, especially violence. Christ’s teaching, the Sermon on the Mount, became Tolstoy’s creed. It had a similar effect on Gandhi.
During the CA poll, neither the Maoist leadership nor their cadres even scratched the surface of the Gandhian ideal. However, by retaliating violently NC and UML workers too added fuel to the fire. As a NC (the lesser evil) voter, I was horrified that Congress youths could damage ballot boxes/papers or beat up Maoist lads. Violent UML lads saddened many likewise.
Henceforth, all the political parties, not only the Maoists, should adopt Gandhigiri. We wait in vain till today (April 16) for an apology from Prachanda and Baburam to Dr Ram Sharan Mahat for the YCL atrocities against him in Nuwakot. What sort of "new Nepal" will the Maoists create if they cannot even say "sorry" for such hooliganism? Traditional Nepali culture has respect for the aged and scholarship. Dr Mahat represents both. Will the Maoist’s new Nepal get rid of the elderly and intellectuals like Dr Mahat, as was done in China during the Cultural Revolution?
Contrary to Rajesh KC, Prachanda himself hasn’t said that the date is over for temporary Gandhiji. He should thus return confiscated private property to their rightful owners, dismantle the labour camps (which in the 21st century are a shame and remind us of the Soviet gulags where Russian intellectuals like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn spent their useful years), convert the despised YCL, abolish kangaroo courts and every vestige of parallel government. Above all, he should apologise for all the past Maoist murders and atrocities, as Girijababu in 2006 did for NC’s failures. Winning a majority by hook or crook in an election doesn’t turn an evil into good.
Sadly, the NC and UML have decided not to join the Maoist-led government. These relatively mature parties face a major predicament. Since the Maoists haven’t really turned Gandhian, once in government NC and UML too would have to support YCL atrocities and Maoist arm-twisting. On the other hand, let the NC and UML protest in the parliament and not on the streets with strikes and "chakka-jams", of which the nation is fed up. Until the Maoists and other party workers turn into permanent Gandhis, the rest of us should expect similar cartoons from Rajesh KC. This article was first published in TKP Newer...
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