RSS National Executive Member and senior Pracharak Shri Indresh Kumar

"If there is any threat to Nepal it is from China" - Indresh Kumar

June 7, 2009 Page: 15/36 Interview of the Week The Maoist government took 26 important decisions during its nine-month rule and 21 of them were controversial. By and large, it was a failed government. The Maoists’ topmost agenda was to accommodate their armed cadres in Nepal army and other security forces, which was unacceptable to the nationalist citizens and the political parties there. RSS National Executive Member and senior Pracharak Shri Indresh Kumar keeps a close watch on the developments in the whole Himalayan region. He is the inspiration behind many organisations working for the protection and development of the culture of the Himalayan region. Organiser representative Pramod Kumar spoke to him in New Delhi on recent developments taking place in Nepal. Excerpts: How do you look at the recent political developments in Nepal? Sometime back the election to the Constituent Assembly was held there. The objective of constituting the Constituent Assembly was not only to frame a new constitution for the new democratic republic but also to run the administration. It was not a stable or permanent government. Though, the Maoists emerged as the largest group after the election, they did not get the mandate for forming the government, as the seats they won were hardly 35 per cent of the total seats (238 out of 601). Despite the fact that the non-Maoists parties could have formed a government at that time too, they came to the conclusion that since the Maoists too struggled for democracy, they should not be denied a chance of sharing the power. Finally, a government under the leadership of Maoist leader Shri Prachanda with outside support from some smaller parties assumed the power. The Maoist government took 26 important decisions during its nine-month rule and 21 of them were controversial. By and large, it was a failed government. The Maoists’ topmost agenda was to accommodate their armed cadres in Nepal army and other security forces, which was unacceptable to the nationalist citizens, top army officials and the political parties there. The people thought that since the activities of Maoists have been illegal, unconstitutional and undemocratic, they, if accommodated in the army, would not obey the chief of the army and would continue to follow the instructions of their political bosses. But to materialise their agenda, the Maoists adopted all kinds of unfair means including to pressurise the Nepal army chief Gen. Rookmangud Katawal. They also went to the court but did not get any relief from there. Finally, Prime Minister Prachanda, without even consulting the President and other coalition partners, tried to sack the Army chief, which was not allowed by the President Shri Ram Baran Yadav. Meanwhile, a statement came from the Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai claiming that they would dethrone the President too as they dethroned the King. It angered the Nepali people. A CD also surfaced in the media exposing the blueprint prepared by the Maoists about one and a half years back to capture the power of Nepal and also to accommodate their cadres in the army. That CD has not been disowned by the Maoists till date. This CD basically exposed the hidden agenda of the Maoists in the guise of participating in democratic process. Now a national government under the leadership of Shri Madhav Nepal, involving 22 of the total 24 parties representing in the House, has been formed there. More than 356 members in the House of 601 have extended support to Shri Nepal. We congratulate Shri Madhav and his entire team on this occasion. But the Maoists have taken to the streets opposing the new government. They will naturally oppose as they have been dethroned. We should not forget that Shri Prachanda was till recently an interim Prime Minister and Speaker of the Constituent Assembly was also a Maoist. They did not want any democratic government to assume power in Nepal. They staged dharnas and organised demonstrations against this democratic process. It is wrong. The Maoists should support the democratic process in the country. Since their dictatorrial and fascist face has been exposed they created all kinds of problems in the formation of the new government. The new national government wants to have cordial relations with neighbouring countries. They want to have better relations with India where lakhs of Nepalese live and the country also shares open border with it. But the Maoists and certain other agencies like ISI of Pakistan, China etc. do not want these relations to be cordial. These forces have been hatching conspiracies to establish their control over the whole Himalayan region, which appears to be collapsing. What should be the role of India in this situation? India and all other democratic forces of the world should extend full support to the new democratic government of Nepal so that Nepal could be built as a literate, developed, happy, powerful and prosperous nation. What do you say over the removal of South Indian pujaris from the Pashupatinath temple by the Maoist regime? This is not a good development. Let us see what steps the new government takes in this regard. Basically, that was not a right but a tradition developed centuries ago to unite the people from Indian Ocean to the Himalayan region. The pilgrimages to Dhakeshwari, Katasraj, Nankana Saheb, Jhulelal, Hinglas, etc., are still conducted to promote peace and brotherhood in the region. It is not dominance by India anwhere. The step taken by the Maoists government was wrong. What do you expect from the new government of Nepal? We expect the democratic values are restored, Sanatan pravah is strengthened, the downtrodden get justice and there should be no division in the society in the name of ways of worship, castes, etc. The Government of India should extend a helping hand to Nepal in its progress. I hope, Nepal, under the new government following democratic values and maintaining its ancient cultural pravah, will emerge as a powerful, happy and prosperous country where the people work unitedly for their all-round progress. But certain forces in Nepal term any advice or help from India an interference in the internal affairs of the country. How do you look at it? It is a sponsored propaganda on the part of the anti-India and anti-Nepal forces. It is propagated by the forces including ISI and China to widen the gap between both the countries so that they can establish their control over Nepal. It is a known fact that ISI wants to create a corridor from Pakistan to Bangladesh via Nepal. During the last 60 years, India has extended all possible help to Nepal. Therefore, this propaganda must be eliminated. Nepal and India may be two countries but they are one by soul and culture. Nepal does not have any threat from its southern side. If there is any threat it is from the north as China has already grabbed Tibet and Kailash Mansarovar and still has its eyes on Laddakh and Arunachal Pradesh of Bharat. We must be alert against all these threats. source: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=294&page=15

China gifts civil hospital to Nepal

KATHMANDU: Last year, Nepal's inscrutable northern neighbour China stole a diplomatic march over India when the Himalayan republic's first Maoist Prime Minister

Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda chose to visit Beijing first instead of New Delhi.

Almost a year later, history repeated itself, with some modification.

The 132-bed Civil Service Hospital built by China for Nepal's nearly 86,000 government employees and their families became the first completed project to be inaugurated by Nepal's new communist Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Saturday.

By contrast, the 200-bed Nepal Bharat Maitri Emergency and Trauma Centre in Kathmandu, hyped as the second institution of its kind in South Asia after the one at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, has missed its projected deadline by almost a year.

The trauma centre, for which New Delhi allocated over Rs 680 million, was started in 2006 and was scheduled to be completed early last year. Executed directly by thegovernment of India through Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation of India as consultants and Unity Infra-projects Limited as contractors, the project is part of the India-Nepal Economic Cooperation Programme.

However, projects undertaken in Nepal under the programme have been coming into disrepute. Besides extravagant budgets, there are reports of projects not being completed within time. At least two schools were reported to have collapsed in the last one year while a gynaecological hospital built with Indian assistance was gathering rust till last year as it was yet to be officially handed over.

A fleet of buses that India gifted to Nepal's constituent assembly for the use of lawmakers lay rejected for a long time. They began to be used finally after the “Nepal Bharat Maitri” legend that was inscribed on them was painted over.

New Delhi's concern is bound to deepen with the Maoists – who are accusing the United Progressive Alliance government of having plotted to restore monarchy in Nepal – on Saturday pledging anew to keep up their disruption of parliament. The decision came after the chairman of the house, Subhash Nembang, refused to allow a debate and vote on the floor.

After failing to sack the army chief and losing their government into the bargain, Nepal's Maoists had called for a debate in the house followed by a vote to decide if the President Dr Ram Baran Yadav had acted in accordance with the constitution by reinstating the fired army chief. Now with the debate and vote dismissed, there is little hope of reconciliation between the former guerrillas and the new government.

As the divide between the two forces widens so does the rift between the Maoists and India. Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda is now saying that deposed king Gyanendra's recent visit to India was part of an elaborate plot to put him back on the throne on the condition that he would plead ill health and abdicate in favour of his grandson, seven-year-old schoolboy Hridayendra.

source:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest-of-World/China-opens-civil-hospital-in-Nepal/articleshow/4597723.cms

Army Headquarter waiting cabinet decision to take action against General Khadka

Army Headquarter waiting cabinet decision to take action against General Khadka 

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May 30th 2009. - Kathmandu, Nepal - Nepal Army is waiting the decision of cabinet likely on Sunday to take action against the controversial General Kul Bahadur Khadka.

According to the source after the decision of cabinet of averting the decision of Maoist led government which had decided to appoint the Khadka as the acting chief of Army and sacking the chief of army staff Rookmangad Katawal.

The source close to the Army head quarter has revealed that on Sunday an informal meeting of senior army generals was called to discuss about the procedure of auction against the Khadka. Right after the decision from cabinet the army head quarter will take disciplinary action against the Khadka the source said referring to anonymity.

The meeting has finalized the ground to take action that he has been claiming himself army chief. Maoist led government had decided to sack Katawal and appointed Khadka as the acting chief of the Nepal army. However, President Dr.Ram Baran Yadhav had averted the government decision and said Katawal to remain in the post of chief of Army staff.

source:

http://www.reviewnepal.com/more_news.php?id=986

UML in favour of reinstating monarchy

UML in favour of reinstating monarchy, say Maoists

Prerana Marasini

KATHMANDU: The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) has said the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) is in favour of having a "baby king".

The remark came after the first Cabinet meeting of the CPN (UML)-led government decided to erect a republican monument in one of the parks of Kathmandu. Maoist's spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma said the decision was nothing but a conspiracy to bring back monarchy through former king Gyanendra's grandson. "The decision which was taken by a Cabinet meeting, when the Cabinet has not taken a full shape, indicates that UML is in favour of reinstating monarchy," he told The Hindu, adding the CPN(UML) had disregarded the agreement between political parties to build the monument on the premises of the former Royal Palace.

But General Secretary of CPN-UML Ishwar Pokharel rubbished the claims. He said: "They're making a non-issue, an issue." "What is going to be builtinside the palace premises is different from what is going to be built in Ratnapark."

The Maoist's spokesperson also said the new Prime Minister's appreciation of President Ram Baran Yadav's move to reinstate the Nepal Army Chief,favouring military supremacy, was also suggestive of conspiracy to revive monarchy. When the Nepali Congress president went to New Delhi, when the former king Gyanendra was still there in India, the Maoist leaders here claimed that there was a plot to reinstate monarchy.

Constituent Assembly Chairman Subash Nembang on Thursday met with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda' and Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala and urged them to end their bitterness so that the process of Constitution-writing was not affected.

Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress and CPN(UML) have agreed to expand the Cabinet by Sunday. The portfolios will be decided as per the representation of the parties in the Constituent Assembly. But the Maoists have maintained that they would obstruct the House until their resolution against the President's decision on the Army chief was discussed.

source:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/India-plotting-to-bring-King-back-to-Nepal--Prachanda/468390

India plotting to bring King back to Nepal

India plotting to bring King back to Nepal: Prachanda

Yubaraj GhimirePosted: Saturday , May 30, 2009 at 0256 hrs IST

Kathmandu:

As the President, the Prime Minister and most political parties celebrated Republic Day — monarchy was abolished this day last year — Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (CPN-M), said India was out to restore monarchy in Nepal. And that his replacement by Madhav Nepal as Prime Minister was part of that design.

Addressing party workers here today, Prachanda alleged that parties, including the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) — to which PM Nepal belongs — and the Nepali

Congress had agreed to restore monarchy under “India’s diktat.”

“The recent visit of former King Gyanendra to India was not without any motive,” he said. “I have information that as per the agreement, Gyanendra will abdicate soon after his restoration in favour of his grandson Hridayendra”. This comes soon after former Crown Prince Paras told a Malaysian newspaper that his past with a “stigma” disqualified him from claiming the throne and if monarchy was restored, he would set up a political party.

source:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/India-plotting-to-bring-King-back-to-Nepal--Prachanda/468390

रक्षासचिवलाई धम्की दिने कर्णेललाई अवकाश

नेपाल समाचारपत्र, (काठमाडौं) काभ्रेको पाँचखालमा मैना सुनुवारको हत्याका प्रमुख रूपमा आरोपी महासेनानी बबीकुमार खत्रीले बिहीबार रक्षासचिव गणेशराज जोशीलाई आफ्नो म्याद थप नगरे गोली ठोकिदिने धम्की दिएका छन्। 

रक्षामन्त्री विद्या भण्डारीले सुनुवार हत्याकाण्डमा संलग्न रहेका खत्रीलाई म्याद थप नगर्न सचिवलाई निर्देशन दिएपछि दिउँसो मन्त्रालय पुगेका कर्णेल खत्रीले ‘मेरो म्याद नथप्ने को हो, मेरो म्याद थप भएन भने गोली ठोकिदिन्छु’ भनेर धम्क्याउन थालेपछि रक्षा मन्त्रालयका उच्च कर्मचारीहरू प्रधानमन्त्रीकहाँ पुगेका थिए।

रक्षासचिवसहितको टोली प्रधानमन्त्री माधवकुमार नेपालकहाँ पुगेर घटनाको विवरण सुनाउनासाथ प्रधानमन्त्री नेपालले कर्णेल खत्रीलाई तत्काल अवकाश दिन बिहीबार नै निर्देशन दिएपछि रक्षा मन्त्रालयले अवकाशपत्र सोही दिन सैनिक मुख्यालय पठाएको थियो।

लामो समयदेखि विवादमा तानिएका कर्णेल खत्रीलाई सैनिक मुख्यालयको प्रिन्सिपल स्टाफ अधिकृत (पीएसओ) ले २ वर्षम्याद थप गर्न रक्षा मन्त्रालयलाई सिफारिसपत्र पठाएको थियो। सैनिक मुख्यालयले जस्तो पायो, त्यस्तै व्यक्तिलाई म्याद थप गर्न पठाएर सरकारको अवमूल्यन गर्न खोजेको भन्दै प्रधानमन्त्री नेपालले सेनाको नेतृत्वसँग असन्तुष्टि व्यक्त गर्नुभएको थियो।

source:

http://www.newsofnepal.com/new/detailnews.php?type=mahanagar&id=3392