Poisoned and pampered by the leadership, Parshuram has now become an invincible don. After about two weeks of attack on Dhakal, he is eluding the entire administration of the country. He and the police force are evidently playing hide-and-seek with each other. He is not where the police are hunting for him and the police are not where he is hiding. Parshuram as a criminal is not acting strange. It is his dharma not to surrender. What is shamefully surprising is the cowardice of the prime minister, home minister and minister of information and communication who seem to be comfortable protecting the perpetrators.
So much water has flown under the bridge since the brutal assault on Dhakal. Mahesh, evidently on his boss’s nod, tried to water down the gravity of the murder attempt case. First he boasted of harboring Parshuram and then challenged the state to snap his junior off his clutches. And then to expose what youth force is up to, he went to Biratnagar to launch a counter protest against the media fraternity knowing fully well that he could be apprehended. He wanted this to happen. He was bent on frightening the people of Biratnagar by showing the muscle strength of his organization.
Following his arrest, hundreds of youth, including students, (as I watched them shouting slogans to free Mahesh unconditionally, I was thinking how UML youths are being denuded of morals and shame) came to the streets taking to vandalism and arson and even calling Nepal banda on Friday, which was later withdrawn. By provoking the police in the riot and taunting them to go berserk on innocent students in Shankar Dev Campus, the student leaders tried to displace public wrath from Basnet to Nepal Police. Now they are demanding that home minister apologize for having Mahesh, the man who openly admitted to have harbored a criminal, arrested. What an irony!
Mahesh has been freed. In Kathmandu, he was cheered and garlanded for his guts to defy administration and shield Parshuram. He was escorted by hundreds of motorcyclists, something reminiscent of hero worship in Bollywood underworld movies. His mother party has been silently savoring his tantrums. After a two-week-long deliberation, it has urged monsieur Parshuram, in the softest possible terms, to cooperate: “It is a duty of every citizen to appear before the authorities when the state agencies so demand. We therefore instruct those accused to cooperate with the investigation.”
Developments in Kathmandu and Biratnagar have apparently made the Basnet duo’s godfather, K P Oli, fidgety in Sri Lanka. He came into fiery defense of Parhsuram through Himalaya Television Friday night and pleaded his innocence. He also hurled invectives at prime minister and home minister alleging them of being criminals. It looks like Oli and his camp are ready to pay any price to keep youth force thuggery above the law.
After about two weeks of attack on Khilanath Dhakal, Parshuram Basnet is eluding the entire administration of the country. He and the police force are evidently playing hide-and-seek with each other. He is not where the police are hunting for him and the police are not where he is hiding.
Going by how things have unfolded so far, the Basnet duo, in all likelihood, will remain above the law. The government will be as helpless and UML establishment will do virtually nothing for the fear from the godfather. UML, it seems, cannot act without Oli’s nodding, and he meanwhile wants UML to act only to protect them. The well-meaning leaders in the party are in the minority and are like meek lambs while the godfather and company are like lions. Now, after all the high-pitched drama of the last fortnight, who would call politburo member Surendra Pandey naive for charge-sheeting Oli for protecting goons, hijacking contracts and extorting funds from the invisible sources?
For a moment, this may appear to be the victory of goons over the media fraternity and a section of UML may celebrate it with glee. But, in the long run, UML will have to pay the price. This event has taken back UML to its original identity as the party of thugs and goons eclipsing the little glorious history it has had. UML used to be a revolutionary party in the past, more revolutionary than present day Maoist party. During the Panchayat era and until 90s, it sold dreams of the rule for the poor by the poor. The committed cadres of UML today have this background of indoctrination. The present position of the UML is the outcome of late Madan Bhandari’s redefining of communist ideology as Janatako Janabad (people’s republic).
Parshuram and Mahesh are pawns of the party. They are a product of the wrong training given to them by UML. And because they have reaped enough gains from youth force politics, they have no fear of losing anything. They do not fear jail term, for they are used to it. They do not care about their public image for they are already popular among their likes. In the criminal empire, the more you defy the administration and the more offence you commit, the more colorful your resume becomes. With the latest incident, Parshuram and Mahesh have raised their qualification in their big, bad criminal world.
The Basnet duo has caused enough terror among journalists and writers. Emboldened by his release and encouraged by his supporters, he threatened Nagarik editor-in-chief of “hassles” Friday. They have given the impression that whoever writes about their evil has to face the consequences. Some of my colleagues who have covered the issue report of receiving threat calls from youth force members. But what the Basnet brothers must understand is that just as crime is their indulgence writing is journalists and writers. They are made of a different stuff. With every single wrong deed, Basnets are denuding themselves and UML, and encouraging the discourse of criminalization of UML politics to grow louder. The time has come for UML to ask: Should it allow it to be controlled by thugs or should it control thugs?
mbpoudyal@yahoo.com
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