In the past three months, Dhakal’s wounds have partly healed. He is back to work. Thanks to his guts and unwavering commitment to report the truth, he has continued penning commentaries on the nefarious deeds of Youth Force goons and their ringleaders. The last I met him, he was in Kathmandu. He is no match for the wrestler like perpetrators and their godfathers. He is lean, does not speak much and keeps a low profile. He retains the blue stains round his eyes that he received from the devils on June 5. He looks visibly traumatized but has managed to suppress it. Looking at him, I had a feeling: How could those muscular men have thought of beating him with the intent of killing him? He could have been subdued by a single blow. How could it have ever occurred to KP Oli’s comprehension that he had been boozing and incited his opponents into a row? Before he left for Biratnagar, he came to my work station. “I am leaving today,” he said, grave and thoughtful. “Well, be safe” my colleague responded to which he did not reciprocate verbally. He seemed to be saying “Well, whether or not I will be safe in Biratnagar is another issue but I will not give up what I have been doing: Exposing these heinous humans.”
It is not hard to fathom why he took risk in reporting the nexus of politically-backed crimes. An honest journalist as he is, he was constantly on the lookout for the factors that rupture law and justice. And because he had to suffer in the hands of a few, his creative fury knew no bounds when he came to know about their misdeeds. Perhaps this impulse may have triggered Dhakal to report on Basnet’s crime despite knowing how high above the law he was. It is also understandable why Basnet could not stand it. People like Basnet are built of different stuff. Dhakal posed as the one and the only threat to the sustenance of his empire. In silencing him, Basnet could silence all possible dissents from Biratnagar denizens. Basnet tendency does not function only on these principles. Some human beings are pampered by secret devilry. They simply cannot resist the temptation to being inhuman and killer. I am thinking of a 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, the man behind Oslo carnage that killed about 100 people apparently for no genuine reason.
Basnet may not be Breivik’s equal, but in terms of remorselessness, they share most features. Breivik was as unaffected and unmoved by his deeds as Basnet and his aides appeared on the first week of June. The degree of atrocity and inhumanity may be different but, in essence, both share the same temperament: To kill, to injure and to disregard the law of the land.
It is a disquieting truth for the writers and journalists to bear but this is perhaps the first time in recent memory in which journalists’ pleas for justice have been ignored by the authorities. It is because journalists’ movement was not just against the government. Had it been so, perhaps it would have won the battle. When Republica broke news about the duplicitous and dubious identity of one State Minister for Finance Lharkyal Lama, who is as much CPN-UML as Basnet, Jhalanath Khanal government decided to do without him. When Republica unraveled the fraudulence of Unity International, its founders had to abscond elsewhere. So the power of pen is not something to be taken lightly. But this time FNJ’s adversaries came in the form of KP Olism. KP Olism is a philosophy of crime, thuggery, power, muscle and money. It is spreading insidiously in UML. This ism, unlike Marxism and Leninism that principally rein UML, believes in the survival of the richest and the wealthiest, expands its empire at the cost of anything and takes resort to slander politics. It advocates justice, rule of law, democracy and press freedom, but is bent on flouting these ideals in practice. It is above the authorities and beyond the grip of the government. Against this indefatigable Olism, journalists fought with mere pens and ideas. It was therefore apparent that the journalists were destined to be thwarted.
Much worse for proponents, adherents and believers of Olism than for writers and journalists, this breed of philosophy has done much harm to UML than good. It has repelled many UML activists and sympathizers, sometimes even leading them to opt for suicides. Self-annihilations of Dikendra Rajbanshi and his son Shambhu Rajbanshi in 2010 is the outcome of this doctrine. Olism has, naturally, colonized UML too. Nobody opposes Olism in UML. Whoever advocates this culture emerges triumphant. Take the case of Mr K P Oli, the progenitor of Olism. He is more dominant in the party and does not allow any critique of this doctrine. It is natural therefore that not a syllable of dissent against criminal nexus was spelt in the meetings and conclaves, which UML must have had in dozens after June 5, including the one recently concluded in Dhulikhel.
But all this is coming to an end now. Agni Prasad Sapkota, the then Minister for Information and Communications, who assured journalists that Basnet would not be spared has been relieved from his job. Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who ostensibly pressed prime minister to contain Basnet, has been replaced. The days of Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, who at least condemned the attack in public speeches, has been numbered. He himself is facing the Sword of Damocles in the central committee meeting of UML in which Olism is set to ravage him. In a few days, the government will change, Basnet will get blanket amnesty, more so if the next home minister happens to be a believer of Olism. Dhakal will remain a tragic hero of the story “Once upon a time in Biratnagar.” The best part of the story is that it is giving births to many other Dhakals, which is bad for the future of Olism but good for aspiring writers, critics and journalists.
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