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VOL. 28, NO. 13, Dec 05, 2008 (Mangsir 20 2065 B.S.)
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Rebel Riders
The first hundred days of the Maoist-led government does not inspire the people
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
The most telling analysis of the first hundred days in office of the Maoist-led government has come from none other than the rebel-leader-turned Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' himself.
"I am finding tougher to overcome the traditional nexus of corrupt and miscreants than fighting the people's war," he said recently at a function organized by Administrative Court.
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PM Dahal: Difficult time |
He has also been directly and indirectly been hinting of the failure of his government to meet the aspirations of the people.
"I am the Prime Minister. But I get frustrated sometimes by the failure to deliver. I have not yet been able to form a commission on Disappeared Persons. This or that tangle, technicality and/or bureaucratese has blocked this process," he said at the Constituent Assembly recently.
The first hundred days of the Maoist-led government has not witnessed the beginning of the process of writing the new constitution. The PM made quite a few foreign visits during this period.
On the internal security front, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister and a firebrand leader of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) Bamdev Gautam took a number of measures from restricting the time of opening the dance bars and cabin restaurants to evicting footpath vendors as well as imposing restrictions on open sales/distributions of alcohol.
He has claimed that the security has improved a lot in this period. However, the gruesome killing of two youths Nirmal Panta and Pushkar Dangol allegedly by Maoist-affiliated YCL cadres followed by even more grisly murder of two kids Ashish Manandhar and Ritesh Rauniyar, which triggered protest demonstrations has been a blow to DPM Gautam's tall claims.
The killings and abductions in Terai districts have also continued unabated. Just on Saturday (Nov 29), a gang of three motorcyclists opened fire at a policeman on duty in Janakpur.
The peace talks with the Terai armed gangs have not taken off. Although the government has formed a committee headed by former Maoist commander and current Peace Minister Janardan Sharma, the talks have not yet started.
On the economic front, the government has glossed over the increased revenue collection, which is necessary to meet the ambitious revenue target this year.
However, the sporadic but sustained bandhs in industries by Maoist-affiliated workers have hampered the government's aims to bring in more investment.
The recent incidents of closures at Hetauda industrial estate, return of Colgate Palmolive, shut down of Manakamana cable car are some of the indications of worrisome trend.
The private sector has expressed extreme anxiety over the government's flip flop policies.
However, upon the completion of the hundred days in office, the government did come up with a report congratulating itself for its 'achievements.'
The government actually unveiled a 40-page 'progress report' of its initial 100 days in action. The report said the coalition government made significant achievements in a number of areas during the honeymoon period including foreign relations and revenue collection.
According to the report, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's foreign trips and the successive visits of high-level foreign delegations to Nepal were very important in improving the country's foreign relations.
Unveiling the report amid a press conference in the capital, Information and Communication Minister and government spokesperson, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, said the government had to work more on institutionalizing the recent political changes in the country rather than on the day-to-day problems of the people. Saying that the budget review process took unnecessary long time, Mahara said the government would concentrate more on development works in the coming days.
He also informed that new policy on internal security and defense would be introduced very soon.
