January 31, 2013 Leave a comment
In his Op-Ed article published in today’s Kantipur (See below orhere, former minister and RPP leader Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani compares Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai with Kazi Lhendup Dorji. For those who don’t know who Lhendup Dorji is, here is his obit written (title: The Pain of Losing a Nation) in 2007. [सिक्किम विलयबारे नेपालीमा यहाँ पढ्न पाइन्छ। अनि यो कान्तिपुर लेख- माओवादी-भारत सम्बन्ध: पहिले विस्तारवाद, अहिले अवसरवाद]
By Sudheer Sharma
(September 2007) The last Prime Minister of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim, Kazi Lhendup Dorji, met an ignominious Death.
On the northern corner of West Bengal state of India, there is a hill station – Kalimpong, which once hosted celebrities from all over the world. The hill town, where most of the settlers are of Nepali origin, no longer retains its old charm. But until a few weeks ago the last prime minister of a country – that has lost its independence – used to live here. Kazi Lhendup Dorji, who died on 28 July this year [2007] at the ripe old age of 103, had played a pivotal role in the merger of Sikkim into India.
Dorji is seen as a ‘traitor’ in the contemporary history. He lived, and died, with the same ignominy. “Everybody accuses me of selling the country. Even if it is true, should I alone be blamed?” he asked me, when I met him in Kalimpong in November 1996. But the allegation of ‘betrayal’ towards one’s own motherland was so powerful that Dorji could no more lead an active political life. He spent his solitary life at the ‘Chakung House’ in Kalimpong for several decades. Few people chose to remember Kazi when he passed away nor took pain to recall his life and times.
So much so that the Kazi was ignored even by Delhi. “I went out of my way to ensure the merger of Sikkim into India but after the work was done, the Indians just ignored me”, Kazi told me during an interview for Jana Astha weekly, nearly 11 years ago. “Earlier, I used to be given a ‘Red Carpet’ welcome. Now I have to wait for weeks even to meet second grade leaders.”
When I visited Kalimpong for the second time in 2000, Lhendup’s anger towards Delhi had reached new heights. At one time, he was received warmly by Indian leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru and Mrs Indira Gandhi. But later he became a political actor whose utility had been finished and thrown away into the dustbin.
The Origin of Crisis
After India got independence in 1947, the Sikkim State Congress, which was established as per the advice of Nehru, launched anti-King movement. Sikkim managed to overcome the crisis then but after Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister of India, the tiny Himalayan kingdom found itself in a crisis from which it could never escape. The anti-King movement, launched by the Sikkim National Congress (SNC) under the leadership of Lhendup Dorji in 1973, led to the demise of a sovereign nation.
India openly supported the movement against King (Chogyal) Palden Thondup Namgyal. The then ADC to the King, Captain Sonam Yongda, claimed that soldiers of Indian Army in civil dress used to take part in the protests. Some of the protesters were brought from Darjeeling and the surrounding areas. The number of Sikkimese who took part in the protest was quite small. But that was enough.
Lhendup’s protest movement depended mainly on Indian financial assistance. The money was made available through Intelligence Bureau (IB). “The people from IB used to visit me twice or thrice a year. An IB agent, Tejpal Sen, used to handover money to me personally”, Dorji had told me in a recorded interview.
In fact, the main actor behind the ‘Mission Sikkim’ was India’s external intelligence agency, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing). Set up in 1968, RAW was able to disintegrate Pakistan (and form Bangladesh) within three years. The annexation of Sikkim was their other ‘historic’ success. The strategists of RAW didn’t want to repeat a Bhutan in Sikkim. Bhutan managed to acquire the membership of the United Nations in 1968. So, they launched a movement under the leadership of Lhendup, which is described at great length by Ashok Raina in his book Inside RAW: The Story of India’s Secret Service.
Raina writes that New Delhi had taken the decision to annex Sikkim in 1971, and that the RAW used the next two years to create the right conditions within Sikkim to make that happen. The key here was to use the predominantly-Hindu Sikkimese of Nepali origin who complained of discrimination from the Buddhist king and the elite to rise up. “What we felt then was that the Chogyal was unjust to us”, said CD Rai, editor of Gangtok Times and ex-minister. “We thought it may be better to be Indian than to be oppressed by the king.”
Lhendup – who belonged to the Kazi family – had a historic enmity with Sikkim’s ruling Chogyals. He said he wanted to pressurise the King through public protests but lamented that the King never came forward for reconciliation.
Under pressure from Delhi, the Sikkimese King was forced to hold tripartite talks with SNC and India. The talks not only curtailed royal powers, it also turned Sikkim into an Indian ‘protectorate’. In the elections held in 1974, Lhendup’s SNC got overwhelming majority in the parliament. The government and the king saw each other as enemies. Ultimately, the cabinet meeting, on 27th March 1975, decided to abolish monarchy. The Sikkimese parliament endorsed it and decided to hold a referendum on the future of monarchy. Four days later, the outcome of the poll in 57 stations across the country was: ‘Abolition of the monarchy’.
In an interview, then Agriculture Minister of Sikkim KC Pradhan recalled that the referendum was nothing but a charade. “Indian soldiers rigged the polls by pointing rifles at the hapless voters”, he said. Immediately after the referendum, Kazi Lhendup moved a motion in the parliament proposing that Sikkim be annexed to India. The 32-member parliament, which had 31 members from Lhendup’s SNC – passed the motion without a blink. Needless to say that the entire episode was being orchestrated by India. The then Indian envoy to Sikkim (known as ‘political officer’) BS Das wrote in his book The Sikkim Saga, “Sikkim’s merger was necessary for Indian national interest. And we worked to that end. Maybe if the Chogyal had been smarter, and played his cards better, it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did.”
But Chogyal didn’t play his cards well. When Sikkim was undergoing turmoil, the Chogyal visited Kathmandu in 1974 to attend the coronation ceremony of King Birendra. According to insiders, King Birendra, Chinese deputy premier Chen Li Yan and Pakistan’s envoy advised Chogyal not to return to Sikkim. “They narrated a ‘master plan’ to save Sikkim from Indian hands but the King didn’t accept”, said Captain Yongda. “It was because the King couldn’t think even in his dreams that India could use force to annex Sikkim.”
A “Double Game”
In fact, India was playing a “double game”. On one hand, it was supporting Lhendup in whatever way possible against the King. On the other hand, it was assuring the king that monarchy would survive in Sikkim. The Chogyal was also an honorary Major General of the Indian Army. He never thought that his ‘own army’ would act against him. It was only an illusion.
The Chogyal of Sikkim was in his palace on the morning of 6 April 1975 when the roar of army trucks climbing the steep streets of Gangtok brought him running to the window. There were Indian soldiers everywhere, they had surrounded the palace, and short rapid bursts of machine gun fire could be heard. Basanta Kumar Chhetri, a 19-year-old guard at the palace’s main gate, was struck by a bullet and killed – the first casualty of the takeover. The 5,000-strong Indian force didn’t take more than 30 minutes to subdue the palace guards who numbered only 243. By 12:45 pm it was all over, Sikkim ceased to exist as an independent kingdom.
The Chogyal also lost the second opportunity. The Sikkim Guards had the capacity to stop the Indian Army for two hours. If the Chogyal had informed Beijing and Islamabad about the Indian invasion from the transmitter set up at his palace, both the countries had assured him – during the Kathmandu meeting – that they would instruct their security forces to open fire along the borders with India. Chinese army could even travel to Gangtok to rescue the Chogyal.
Captured palace guards, hands raised high, were packed into trucks and taken away, singing: “Dela sil, li gi, gang changka chibso” (May my country keep blooming like a flower). But by then, the Indian tri-colour had replaced the Sikkimese flag at the palace where the 12th king of the Namgyal dynasty was held prisoner. “The Chogyal was a great believer in India. He had huge respect for Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Not in his wildest dreams did he think India would ever gobble up his kingdom”, recalls Captain Sonam Yongda, the Chogyal’s aide-de-camp. Nehru himself had told journalist Kuldip Nayar in 1960: “Taking a small country like Sikkim by force would be like shooting a fly with a rifle.” Ironically it was Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi who cited ‘national interest’ to make Sikkim the 22nd state of the Indian union.
During a meeting, former Chief Minister of Sikkim BB Gurung told me that the King and Lhendup were just fighting a proxy war. “The real battle was between an American and a Belgian lady.” If that was true, the real victor was the third lady – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Two foreign Ladies
Chogyal Palden met the 24-year-old New Yorker, Hope Cooke, in Darjeeling in 1963 and married her. For Cooke, this was a dream come true: to become the queen of an independent kingdom in Shangri-la. She started taking the message of Sikkimese independence to the youth, and the allegations started flying thick and fast that she was a CIA agent. These were the coldest years of the Cold War, and there was a tendency in India to see a ‘foreign hand’ behind everything so it was not unusual for the American queen to be labelled a CIA agent. However, as Hope Cooke’s relations with Delhi deteriorated, so did her marriage with the Chogyal. In 1973, she took her two children and went back to New York. She hasn’t returned to Sikkim since.
Then there was Elisa-Maria, daughter of a Belgian father and German mother who left her Scottish husband in Burma and married Kazi Lhendup Dorji in Delhi in 1957. The two couldn’t have been more different. Elisa-Maria wanted to be Sikkim’s First Lady, but Hope Cooke stood in the way. “She didn’t just want to be the wife of an Indian chief minister; she wanted to be the wife of the prime minister of an independent Sikkim.” With that kind of an ambition, it was not surprising that with annexation, neither Hope Cooke nor Elisa-Maria got what they wanted.
Meanwhile, in New Delhi Indira Gandhi was going from strength to strength, and India was flexing its muscles. The 1971 Bangladesh war and the atomic test in 1974 gave Delhi the confidence to take care of Sikkim once and for all. Indira Gandhi was concerned that Sikkim may show independent tendencies and become a UN member like Bhutan did in 1971, and she also didn’t take kindly to the three Himalayan kingdoms, Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal, getting too cosy with each other.
When the Indian troops moved in there was general jubilation on the streets of Gangtok. It was in fact in faraway Kathmandu that there were reverberations. Beijing expressed grave concern. But in the absence of popular protests against the Indian move, there was only muted reaction at the United Nations in New York. It was only later that there were contrary opinions within India – (Former Indian Prime Minister) Morarji Desai said in 1978 that the merger was a mistake. Even Sikkimese political leaders who fought for the merger said it was a blunder and worked to roll it back.* But by then, it was already too late.
Lhendup Dorji became the first chief minister of the Indian state of Sikkim and retained the post until 1979. The Indian government conferred on him ‘Padma Bhusan’ in 2002 and he was also awarded the ‘Sikkim Ratna’ by the state government in 2004.
Despite such ‘rewards’, Lhendup and his wife Elisa spent their last years in Kalimpong repenting their past deeds. After the death of his wife in 1990, Lhendup was forced to lead a solitary life. He neither had any children nor relatives to take care of him. He cut himself off from his own people to avoid their wrath and hatred.
In the elections held in 1979, Lhendup’s SNC failed to bag even a single seat in the Sikkim’s legislature. This effectively brought to an end to his political career. At one time, when he had gone to file his nomination, his name was missing from the electoral roll. In his resolve to dethrone the Chogyal dynasty that had 400-year-old history in Sikkim, Lhendup ended up delivering his motherland into the lap of India. In return, all he got was a life haunted from the shadow of the past and an ignominious death.
Sudheer Sharma, currently the editor-in-chief of ‘Kantipur’, wrote this article in September 2007 in Nepal Magazine. He was the editor of Nepal Magazine then.
Here’s today’s Kantipur article by Prakash Chandra Lohani
लेन्डुप प्रवृत्तिको नेपाल प्रवेश
बाबुरामको डेढवर्षे क्रियाकलाप हेर्दा यथार्थमा उनी लेन्डुप दोर्जी प्रवृत्तिको प्रथम चरणमा प्रवेश गरिसकेका छन्
डा. प्रकाशचन्द्र लोहनी
काठमाडौं हाम्रो सहर ! अहिले यो धुवाँ, धुलो, फोहोर र ठन्डीबाट आक्रान्त छ । यसबाट म पनि बच्न सकिन । अचानक ज्वरो १०३ पुग्यो र शरीरै आफ्नो हो कि होइन भन्ने शंका हुनथाल्यो । दौडेर चिकित्सक मधु घिमिरेकहाँ पुगेंँ । डा. घिमिरे पारिवारिक मित्रमात्र नभई मेरो आँकलनमा असल मानव र कुशल चिकित्सक पनि हुन् । उनले रगत र पिसाबको विभिन्न परीक्षण गरेर भने- दाइ, यो पक्का पनि भाइरल निफ्केसन हो । अब औषधी नखाई हुँदैन, मैले लेखिदिएको औषधी खाने र १० दिन कसैसँग भेटघाट नगरी सिरक ओढेर आनन्दसँग घरभित्र सुतेर बस्ने र प्रशस्त सुप-जुसजस्ता तरल पदार्थ खाने ।’
डाक्टरको निर्देशनलाई शिरोपर गरेर घर फर्कें । तर यसै बस्न मन लागेन । पढ्ने कोठामा विस्तारै पसें र सजिलोसँग पढ्न सकिने किताब खोज्न थालें । आँखा अगाडि बाबुराम भट्टराईको अंग्रेजीका केही लेख रहेको संकलन देखापर्यो । अहिलेको बहुचर्चित ‘क्रान्तिकारी’कै भनाइ पढ्नुपर्यो भनी त्यो किताब सुरु गरें ।
राष्ट्रवाद र लेन्डुप संस्कार बाबुरामको एक लेखमा उनले गिरिजाप्रसाद कोइरालामाथि नेपालको लेन्डुप दोर्जी भएको ठाडो आरोप लगाएका छन् । आफ्नो लेखमा उनले भारतीय गुप्तचर एजेन्सी ‘र’ले नेपालको लागि लेन्डुप दोर्जीको रूपमा गिरिजालाई पाएको उल्लेख गरेका छन् । उनको निचोड के थियो भने ‘र’ले नेपाललाई गिरिजामार्फत भुटानीकरण गर्नेछ र अन्तमा सिक्किमको हविगतमा पुर्याउनेछ । यसको विरोधमा उनले पृथ्वीनारायण शाहको ‘सबैलाई चेतना भया’ भन्ने उक्तिअनुसार सबै नेपाली एक हुनुपर्ने तर्क पेस गरे -यो लेखका निम्ति हेर्नुस्, कान्तिपुर, ६ जून २००१) ।
बाबुराम भट्टराईको यो लेख पढ्दा मलाई हाँसो उठ्यो । उनको डेढ वर्षको शासनकालमा भएका आन्तरिक र बाह्य गतिविधि हेर्दा वास्तवमा यदि लेन्डुप दोर्जी प्रवृत्तिको जल्दोबल्दो कुनै राजनीतिज्ञ नेपालमा छ भने ती नेपालका प्रधानमन्त्री बाबुराम भट्टराई हुन् भन्ने आशंका धेरैको मनमा आइसकेको छ ।
गिरिजाप्रसाद कोइरालासँग मैले २०४७ सालदेखि झन्डै १५ वर्ष कुनै न कुनै रूपमा लेखा समिति लगायत अन्य राजनीतिक फोरममा सहभागी थिएँ । उनका थुप्रै कमजोरी थिए होलान् । मूलतः उनलाई उनका सन्तान, नातागोता र राजनीतिक आसेपासेले दुरुपयोग गरे । यो कुरो थाहा पाएर पनि उनले यसलाई रोक्ने नैतिक साहस गरेनन् र यो विकृतिलाई मौन सहमति दिई प्रोत्साहन गरे । यस अर्थमा देशमा सुशासनको जग बसाल्ने ऐतिहासिक अवसर उनले खेर फाले । तर एउटा मेरो स्पष्ट बुझाइ के छ भने गिरिजाप्रसाद कोइराला सत्तामा अड्नका लागि विदेशीको इमानदार सेवक हुन कहिल्यै तयार भएनन् । उनी सुरुदेखि अन्तसम्म राष्ट्रवादी नेता थिए ।
के हो लेन्डुप प्रवृत्ति ?
सत्ताको लागि पैसा र पैसाको लागि सत्ता र यो चक्रलाई निरन्तरता दिन विदेशीको आडमा स्वदेशीलाई कजाउने संस्कार लेन्डुप प्रवृत्ति हो । यो प्रवृत्तिको अन्तिम चरण सिक्किमको पहिचानको अन्त्य थियो । आफ्नो यो योगदानका लागि लेन्डुपले भारतबाट जिन्दगीको अन्ततिर ‘पद्म विभूषण’ पनि पाए, तर एउटा राष्ट्रको पहिचान गुमाउन भूमिका खेले ।
बाबुराम भट्टराईको डेढवर्षे क्रियाकलाप हेर्दा यथार्थमा उनी लेन्डुप दोर्जी प्रवृत्तिको प्रथम चरणमा प्रवेश गरिसकेका छन् । अरुलाई भ्रष्टाचारको आरोप लगाउने भट्टराई यो देशमा इतिहासमा कहिल्यै नदेखिएको माक्र्सवादको खोल ओडेर लुटतन्त्रको नेतृत्व गरिरहेका छन् । उनको पार्टीले नै ४० बुँदे मागमा राष्ट्रियतासँग जोडेर उठाएका कुनै पनि प्रश्नबारे एक शब्द उच्चारण गर्न नसक्ने स्थितिमा पुगेका छन् । [UWB: ४० बुँदे मागमा राष्ट्रियतासँग जोडेर उठाएका कुनै पनि प्रश्नबारे प्रधानमन्त्रीकारूपमा भारत जादा बाबुरामको के गरे, कान्तिपुरमा प्रकाशित लेख यहाँ पढ्नुहोस । पत्रिकाकै पन्नामा पीडीएफ हेर्ने भए यहाँ छ।] उनले गरेका र गर्न खोजेका सन्धि-सम्झौता हेर्दा उनी जनतासँग लुकाएर गोप्य सम्झौताका लागि तयार छन् । यस क्रममा नेपालीको पहिचान र हितलाई ठाडो उपेक्षा गर्न तयार छन् ।
उदाहरणका लागि बिपा सम्झौता हेर्ने हो भने पनि सैद्धान्तिक रूपमा यसको विरोध गर्नुपर्ने कारण छैन । तर सम्झौताको परिभाषाको दफा (एफ) अन्तर्गत हेर्ने हो भने दुई राष्ट्रको क्षेत्रको परिभाषासमेत फरक मापदण्ड प्रयोग गरिएको छ । यो गम्भीर भूल हो र नेपाललाई ठाडो अमान्य हुनुपर्ने हो । वास्तवमा यस्ता सम्झौता गर्दा संसदीय व्यवस्था र त्यस अघिको पञ्चायत व्यवस्थामा पनि नेपालको कानुन मन्त्रालयले आफ्नो खेस्रा पेस गथ्र्याे । तर बाबुरामको लेन्डुप दोर्जी प्रथम चरणमा यो प्रक्रिया हराएको छ । नेपालको कानुन मन्त्रालयले काम गर्न पाएको भए बिपा सम्झौता भए पनि कमसेकम शब्दको परिभाषामा एकै अर्थ लाग्नेगरी लेखिने थियो होला । भारतीय पक्षले पनि ‘विचार गर्नुस्’ र ‘पछि गरे पनि हुन्छ’ भनेका हुन् । तर आफ्नो इमानदार सेवकको छवि बनाउन भट्टराईले सही गरे र यस अर्थमा उनका उपप्रधानमन्त्रीको आलोचना जायज छ । उनका पार्टी अध्यक्ष प्रचण्ड पनि सन्तुष्ट नभएको सन्देश मिडियामा आउँछ । तर प्रचण्डसमेत यसबारे बोल्ने आँट गर्न तयार छैनन् ।
लेन्डुप दोर्जी प्रवृत्तिको हिलोमा एकपटक गाडिएपछि निस्कन गाह्रो पर्नेछ । भट्टराईमा सत्ताको र स्रोत-साधनका लागि देखिएको यो लेन्डुप दोर्जी प्रवृत्ति विरुद्धको संघर्ष अब सबै राष्ट्रवादी-प्रजातन्त्रवादीको काँधमा आएको छ ।
लाल आतंकको असफल प्रयास आफूलाई ‘टिट फर ट्याट’ सिद्धान्तमा विश्वास गर्ने भनेर घोषणा गर्ने भट्टराईले बीसौं शताब्दीमा माक्र्सवादको नाममा सुरु भएको थुप्रै भद्दा व्याख्या (भल्गर माक्सिर्जम) मा नयाँ चरण थुप्रेका छन् । यथार्थ के हो भने सत्तामा प्रभुत्व बनाउन आतंकलाई हतियारका रूपमा प्रयोग गर्नुपर्ने दृष्टिकोण लेनिन र त्यसपछि स्टालिनले नयाँ उचाइमा पुर्याएका थिए । त्यसबखत आम जनता, पत्रकार, बुद्धिजीवीको मुख बन्द गर्न आतंकको सहारा लिइएको हो । सेप्टेम्बर १९१८ मा त्यसबखत देखिएको शक्तिशालीन नेता तथा सिद्धान्तकार जायोनोभले भनेका थिए ः रूसको १० करोड जनतामा ९ करोडलाई साथ लिउँ र एक करोडको सफाया गरौं । यो आतंकको नीतिको सिकार स्टालिनको हातबाट जायोनोभ आफैं हुनपुगे । उनको हत्या स्टालिनले १९३६ मा गरे । यस परिवेशमा आतंकको स्थिति सिर्जना गरेर जनतालाई तह लगाउँछु भन्ने भट्टराईको चिन्तन नयाँ होइन र यसैको अभिव्यक्ति दैलेख घटना काण्डमा देखियो ।
जतिसुकै राजनीतिक तनाव भए पनि भीआईपीको सुरक्षा गर्न र शान्ति-सुरक्षा कायम गर्न स्थानीय तहको आवश्यक उपाय नेपालको प्रहरी प्रशासनले नियमअनुरुप अपनाउनु स्थानीय प्रशासनको कर्तव्य हो । यो कर्तव्य दैलेख प्रहरी प्रशासनले राष्ट्रिय छापामा आएको खबरअनुसार पूरा गरेकै हुन् । तर आफ्नो कर्तव्य पूरा गरेकै कारण प्रजिअ र एसपीलाई रातारात सरुवा गरियो । यो के प्रधानमन्त्रीको ‘सवारी’को कसैले विरोध गर्यो भने स्वतः गोली हान्नुपर्ने नयाँ नियम बनेको छ ? यही तर्क मान्ने हो भने दोस्रो जनआन्दोलनमा पूर्वराजा ज्ञानेन्द्रले देखाएको संयमताको तारिफ गर्नुपर्ने भएको छ । तर यो सरुवा गोली हान्ने निर्देशन हुँदा गोली नहानेको भनी सरुवा गर्नु दैलेखबाट सुरु गर्न खोजेको लाल आतंकमा प्रहरी प्रशासनले साथ नदिएको यथार्थपट्टी पार्टीको आक्रोशमात्र हो ।
राष्ट्रिय छापाअनुसार दैलेखमा वाईसीएलका ‘सज्जनहरु’को कुनै अस्तित्व छैन । त्यसैले दैलेखका पत्रकारलाई तह लगाउनमात्र नभई सम्पूर्ण पत्रकार जगतलाई ठीक लाइनमा नबसे डेकेन्द्रको स्थिति भोग्नुपर्ने सन्देश प्रवाह गर्न सुर्खेतबाट वाईसीएलका २६ ट्रक ‘सज्जनहरु’ दैलेख पुगे । यदि त्यहाँ प्रहरी प्रसासनले गोली चलाएको भए प्रहरीबाट मात्र नभई वाईसीएलका सज्जनहरुले गर्ने मारपिट, हिंसाको जिम्मेवारी पनि प्रहरीको थाप्लोमा जाने थियो । तर सरकारले अबदेखि कसैले विरोध गर्न खोजे प्रहरी प्रशासनबाट मात्र होइन, वाईसीएलले पनि खोजी-खोजी प्रहार गर्ने सन्देश प्रवाह गर्न खोजिएको थियो अर्थात् पत्रकार र जनतालाई आतंकित बनाएर ‘फुच्चे स्टालिन’को शासकीय शैली कायम गर्ने प्रयास स्पष्ट थियो । यो षड्यन्त्रलाई स्थानीय स्तरको सीडीओ र एसपीले नमान्नु कसरी अपराध भयो ?
वास्तवमा उनीहरुले जे गरे, जिम्मेवारपूर्ण काम गरे । उनीहरुको प्रशंसा गर्नुपर्ने थियो । तर हरेक भाषण र सामाजिक सञ्जालमा गोली हान्ने विम्बलाई आफ्नो दृढताको अभिव्यक्ति ठान्ने प्रधानमन्त्रीको लागि प्रहरीले पत्रकारमाथि गोली नहानेर वाईसीएलका ‘सज्जन’हरुलाई थप हमला गर्ने मौका नदिएको र लाल आतंकको सन्देश दिन नपाएकोमा आक्रोश बढेछ । दुर्भाग्यवश यस अभियानमा आफूलाई प्रजातान्त्रिक र पूर्वकांग्रेसी भन्ने गृहमन्त्रीको सहयोग रह्यो । हाम्रा गृहमन्त्रीको क्रियाकलाप हेर्दा न उनी प्रजातन्त्रवादी हुन्, न मधेसवादी, उनी सिर्फ ‘पदवादी’ हुन् ।
पत्रकारलाई कसरी तह लगाउने ?
माओवादीको लागि अहिले सबभन्दा ठूलो समस्या पत्रकार भएका छन् । यिनीहरुलाई ‘लाइन’मा राख्नसके अरु जनतालाई पनि तर्साएरै तह लगाउन सकिने उनीहरुको सोच देखियो, त्यसैले दैलेखबाट पत्रकार भागे । कान्तिपुरमा छापिएको चित्रमा दैलेखबाट सुर्खेत जाने बसमा उनीहरुको त्रसित अनुहारले यहाँ मैले लेखेका धेरै कुरा भनिरहेको थियो । तर त्यो चित्र देख्दा मलाई २०४७ सालको सम्झना भयो । त्यसबखत नयाँ पार्टी खोल्न हामी देशव्यापी दौडाहामा थियौं । तर त्यसबेलाका प्रजातान्त्रिक र प्रगतिशील नेपाली कांग्रेस र एमालेको गठबन्धन सरकारले हामीलाई चल्न नदिने निर्णय गर्यो । हामी जहांँ गए पनि अहिलेको वाईसीएलका यी ‘प्रजातान्त्रिक’ अनुहारहरुले भौतिक रूपमै सिध्याउने प्रयास गरे र यसक्रममा हामीलाई सुरक्षा दिन प्रहरी व्यावहारिक रूपमा निस्त्रिmय थियो । एक-दुई ठाउँमा नयाँ-नयाँ ‘प्रजातन्त्रवादी योद्धाहरु’बाट मैले पनि दुई-चार मुक्का उपहार पाएँ । त्यसबेला आफू युवकै भएकाले थेग्न सकियो । सायद अहिले भए गाह्रो हुने थियो । यसरी मार खानेमा म लगायत फत्तेसिंह थारु, सूर्यबहादुर थापा, राजेश्वर देवकोटा, लोकेन्द्रबहादुर चन्द, पशुपतिशमशेर लगायत थुप्रै थियौं । त्यो आतंकलाई अस्वीकार गरेकाले नै हामी पार्टी स्थापना गर्न सफल भयौं, यद्यपि यसलाई बलियो बनाउने अभियानमा हाम्रा कमजोरीहरु यत्रतत्र छन् ।
अहिले पत्रकारहरुलाई तर्साएर वास्तवमा नेपाली जनतालाई एमाओवादीका लेन्डुप दोर्जी प्रवृत्ति बोकेका फुच्चे स्टालिनहरुले जनताको आवाज बन्द गर्न खोजेका हुन् । यसको प्रतिरोध गर्नैपर्छ ।
अन्त्यमा, लेन्डुप दोर्जी प्रवृत्तिको प्रवेश एमाओवादीका डा. भट्टराईमार्फत नेपालमा भएको छ । यसलाई हरेक पल प्रतिरोध गर्नुपर्छ । यो प्रवृत्तिलाई रोक्न आवश्यक परे यी हाम्रा पाखुराहरुलाई एकपटक दह्रो तरिकाले नेपाली राष्ट्रियता र सम्पूर्ण नेपाली स्वाभिमान र आत्मसम्मानको रक्षार्थ इस्पातको खम्बामा रूपान्तरण गर्न पनि हामी तयार हुनुपर्छ । देशभरका सम्पूर्ण नेपाली दाजुभाइ र दिदीबहिनीहरुले यो सन्देश मनन गर्नु आजको आवश्यकता हो ।
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