Yubaraj Ghimire
The Indian Express
November 16, 2013
Nanda Kishore Pun Pasang was once one of the most feared guerrilla leaders during the decade-long war that the Maoist party staged against the state. He led many battles in which the rebels overran the police and military posts.
Now that he is in the peace process and is operating within ‘democratic politics’, however, he tends to be armed with a disarming smile. Many find it difficult to believe tales of his tough and cruel past, in which not only security personnel, but even innocent citizens who had been branded as ‘class enemies’, lost their lives.
Pun is now the candidate that the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M) has fielded from Kathmandu’s constituency number 4, and is pitted against arguably the most well-known youth leader of the Nepali Congress – Gagan Thapa – one of the first to raise the banner of Republic Nepal when his party was still wondering whether to retain the monarchy or switch to the Maoist agenda. The contest in this particular constituency, where two future leaders are clashing, has attracted much interest by the international media .
It is the prestige of Maoist Chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, more than that of Pun, that is at stake. Pun took over as the Chief Commander of the People’s Liberation Army from Dahal when Dahal had to relinquish the post after he became the Prime Minister of the country. Pun’s courage and ability to face any risk from those opposed to the integration of the PLA in the Nepal Army made Prachanda a hero in the eyes of the people, and was hailed as the most important achievement of the peace process.
Pasang repeatedly reminds the people of this. “The peace process would have been impossible without my contribution. I risked my life in war, and in peace,” Pasang he says in election addresses, or during door-to-door campaigns that he has been tirelessly undertaking for the past few days. “Please honour your surviving martyrs,” Prachanda said, in turn, said, while addressing an election meeting in the constituency.
Some, however, are not swayed. “He and the Maoist Party did not act differently from others. They demolished every institution and political and democratic order that would have given the country much-needed stability,” said a Ramesh Pokharel, a young schoolteacher who was among those in the crowd.
“Both parties represent arrogance and are devoid of democratic character. They have not even apologised for their failure to deliver the constitution by the first Constituent assembly,” says Kamal Thapa, the chairman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal.
Nepal’s political leadership – most of them led by leaders in their sixties or older – is under pressure to pave the way for a younger generation. Not long ago, Prachanda’s second-in-command, Baburam Bhattarai, quit as the party’s vice-president. “I am approaching 60, and I think we must pave the way for the younger lot,” he said, putting Prachanda – a year older than him – in an ethically tight spot.
If Prachanda follows, Pasang’s rise to the top is a distinct possibility. Around 52 per cent of the total electorate (12.1 million) is between 18 and 35 years old, and for them, Pasang and Thapa are potential leaders.
