It was Friday, Baisakh 16, a day earlier than the mass demonstration by the UCPN (Maoists) in Kathmandu and other major cities in Nepal. I was going to my office at Putalisadak from Kalikasthan. Suddenly I realized that the shops at the both sides of the road are being closed. The shutters were being pulled down. People were in a great haste. By the time I reached Putalisadak, barely a store was opened up. The number of vehicles plying on the road was also significantly decreasing.
I asked a pedestrian what the matter was. She had no idea. She was just like me – perplexed by the incident. Then, I moved to the shop owner who runs a shop in the same building where we have our office. He said the Maoists were there to ask for the donation. They were demanding more than 5 thousand rupees even from the small grocery owners who hardly earn that amount of money in a week.
What surprised me more was the fact that no one had gone to ask for the donation to the Dillibazar area. But shutters were pulled down everywhere. The rumour created a panic among everyone from the departmental stores to the small street vendors. I heard that the Maoists literally asked donations even from the street vendors who sell green vegetables in a basket. And, they had to give donation according to the demands put by the Maoists, or their sister organizations, not as per their wish.
I pondered upon the situation.
We are the 'free citizen' of a 'free country'. We are in a democratic society where one can exercise his/her free will. But this kind of exercise was unheard of elsewhere. Benjamin Franklin has said that our freedom of swinging our hands ends there where other's nose begins. But the Friday incident was the punch on the nose not only of the citizen in a democracy but also of the so called 'democratic government'. Alas! There was no one to save the nose of the businessmen at Putalisadak and elsewhere across the nation. We are in a pseudo democracy where neither we can fulfill our duties and responsibilities freely nor there is anything which can guarantee or safeguard that freedom of people.
Forceful donation is a crime. How did the Maoists get the right to have the claim over the money earned by sweat and hard work? Instead of taking responsibility and apologizing to the people, the Maoists always reiterated that such happenings are just isolated events and asking donation is not the party policy.
They even said that other criminal groups were asking the donation in the name of the Maoists. Even if it's true, the Maoists are responsible for that for creating a buffer zone where those crooked personalities and criminal groups have a safe haven to play their games.Time has come for the Maoists to think about the people practically whom they place at the front in their saying and bargaining.
- dhakalutsav@gmail.com
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