January
28, 2008
Nepal Maoists to Celebrate North Korean Leader's Birthday By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu
Nepal's Maoists seem all set to forge a new alliance with North
Korea, condemned by US President George W. Bush as one of the "axis
of evil countries". They are to celebrate with great pomp the
totalitarian leader Kim Jong-il's birthday next month.
So although the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) parted ways with
other communist parties in South Asia to end its armed insurgency
and join the government, it will literally paint Nepal red on the
birthday of Kim Jong-il, accused of being one of the most despotic
leaders.
The 66th birthday of North Korea's "great leader" on Feb 16, the
April 15 birth anniversary of his father Kim Il-sung, whose mantle
he inherited, and the founding of the "democratic people's republic
of North Korea" on Sep 9 will be now be officially celebrated in
Nepal this year, thanks to the Maoists who head the powerful
information and communications ministry as well as other major
portfolios in the cabinet.
A committee has been formed to supervise the celebrations under the
leadership of Information and Communications Minister Krishna
Bahadur Mahara.
The panel includes Foreign Affairs Minister Sahana Pradhan who
belongs to the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist,
Land Reforms and Management Minister Jagat Bahadur Bogoti of the
United Left Front party, and Suresh Ale Magar, Maoist MP who had
been arrested in India and handed over to Nepal police during the
fag-end of the Maoist "People's War".
Nepal's official media, now controlled by the Maoists, reported
Mahara as saying that Nepalis should not forget the revolution
started by North Korea against imperialism. Mahara is also the
spokesman of the Girija Prasad Koirala government.
The Maoist minister was reported as saying that it was "highly
appropriate" for Nepal to celebrate the three occasions as a symbol
of anti-imperialist drive.
Nepal will adopt North Korean celebrations while axing its own past
tradition of honouring the birth anniversary next month of King
Prithvi Narayan Shah, the forefather of present King Gyanendra, who
is also regarded by many as the unifier of Nepal that was in the
past divided into feuding principalities.
Since King Gyanendra's army-backed government ended in April 2006,
mobs vandalised the statues of Prithvi Narayan and other dead kings
in the capital and outer districts.
While the Maoists, who forced the parliament to declare the kingdom
of Nepal a republic ahead of the April election, have been waging a
war against the royal family, holding it responsible for the
oppression and exploitation of people, they continue to revere dead
communist leaders now condemned by history as despots.
Stalin's photographs continues to grace Maoist mass meets while
Chinese chairman Mao Zedong continues to be one of their preceptors.
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