[Once again, I am going to write about Prachanda, the Maoist supremo, and I am afraid this is not something his admirers will like to read. Actually, this is my feelings about him after listening to him for 15 minutes in a press conference organized at the Annapurna Hotel today.]
Prachanda’s press conference at Hotel Annapurna. I was curious to see the ‘first future president’ of Nepal (I had seen him in the past but never from very close), so I made my way to the five-star hotel, where I had to go through at least a dozen youngsters wearing Maoists election promotion t-shirts and standing on the way leading to the hall.
I was not stopped, or security-checked anywhere and within a few minutes I was a few steps away from him.
The first thing that amazed me was his smiles – sense of humor. But as the question-answer session went on, the sense of humor starting feeling like senseless humor. How can one of the top leaders of the country, who is hoping good to lead the nation, be so humorous (that too for nothing, and all the time)?
Use of a Hindi phrase and frequent eruption of laughter at the hall did not make me feel good. I had more liked a serious Prachanda who would take the questions by journalists and then make diplomatic replies. (Rather than ‘I told you two places where I met them because they are hotels, but I am not going to tell you the name of one other place, which is not hotel’ when asked about had he been meeting with the army top-ranks).
The press conference, from what I heard, was Maoists answer to United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) report released yesterday. The report has criticized activities of the Maoists and its youth wing Young Communist League (YCL) and has a recommendation that reads: The CPN-M must end the practice of preventing other parties from campaigning in areas where it is strong or which it considers its natural political territory. In the three-and-half-page report, CPN-Maoist has been mentioned in 12 places if that counts.
He was also critical to media accusing media of working against his party. He believed media exaggerated stories about attacks by his cadres while talked nothing about ‘murder of 10 Maoists since the poll date was declared.’ (By the way, today’s Naya Patrika daily ran a story on its front page titled Seven Maoists killed in a month.)
What I believe is that even if he does not become the first president of Nepal or even Prime Minister, he is the leading force behind Nepal’s transition, and I would certainly hope that he would not make himself look childish with baseless allegations and senseless humors.
PHOTO BY NEPAL PHOTO AGENCY
