RPP-Nepal is demanding a referendum on the major issues in the national agenda facing the country such as republicanism. The party has claimed that the banda was “successful” just as other political parties do when they call for a Nepal banda.[break]
“On the whole, the banda was peaceful. But it reflected the moral support of Valley people for our demands,” RPP-Nepal President Kamal Thapa told Republica Monday. He added, “The ball is now in the court of the other parties. We would like to move ahead accordingly with our demand on the issue of referendum.”
It is surprising, however, that life in the capital city should be brought to a complete halt by a banda called by RPP-Nepal, a pro-monarchy group, at a time when the country is out to write a republican constitution. This is because the banda has become the most commonly used form of protest by political parties. Because it has become easy for the parties to mobilize some local goons and call for a banda any time as per their convenience, the banda has come to stay in Nepali politics. The banda is easy also because the parties know they cannot mobilize hundreds and thousands of people overnight to lobby behind their agendas.
“We have even seen a banda against bandas. There is a banda for everything,” Meena Upreti, a sociology lecturer at Tri-Chandra College, said. She added, “While the banda was supposed to be used as a last option, it has on the contrary become the first and most easy means of protest.”
Upreti opined that parties opt for bandas as the state cannot compensate for the loss of private property faced by ordinary people during such days of total closure. She added that the parties thrive on “fear psychosis” among the people. “If they burn a few vehicles people will become too petrified to come outside and the parties then claim that the banda was successful,” Upreti said.
Moreover, it is high time political leaders realized that forcing people to abide by bandas is in direct violation of the people´s fundamental right to freedom of movement.
On the other hand, the economic impact of such bandas is immense. As per one calculation, on an average, one day of banda would cost Rs 1.96 billion, which is around 88 percent of the total value of goods and services produced in the country in one day. The industrial sector alone would suffer over Rs 346 million per banda day.
“There is a huge impact on the industrial sector. Bandas project the wrong signal to the outside market and directly hampers foreign direct investment,” Nirvan Chaudhary, director of the Chaudhary Group, commented.
On February 26, the government is all set to inaugurate Nepal Tourism Year-2011, and the stakeholders have urged political parties to sign a commitment letter stating that there will be no banda called during the NTY celebrations. The Maoists have, however, declined to sign such a letter. “The main agenda item of the inauguration program will be to get the no-banda declaration signed. But the Maoists have adopted a wait and watch strategy,” Basanta Mishra, a noted hotelier, said.
Mishra informed that the loss to tourism entrepreneurs just from the cancellation of sight-seeing and other excursion trips on Monday would be approximately $75,000. “One can imagine what message we are sending to tourists by organizing a banda just four days prior to the launching of NTY,” Mishra said.
“We have to study the issue before signing the letter,” Maoist senior leader C P Gajurel commented. He said that the UCPN(Maoist) did not include bandas in its fifth program of protests as the “people do not want it.”
“This is an issue for the parties who organize bandas to ponder. But the government also has to ensure that basic public facilities are taken care of,” Gajurel added.
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