Brute force

Political parties are increasingly inclined to unleash the brute force of their youth cadres. The Maoists were the pioneers; the UML quickly followed suit; and now even a section of the NC seems tempted to join this unsavory bandwagon. The Nepali Congress in Sindhupalchowk was all set to announce the formation of its youth brigade last Saturday, but the plan was aborted at the last minute, thanks to intervention by Acting NC President Sushil Koirala. Koirala had to reprimand NC leaders Sher Bahadur Deuba and Khum Bhahdur Khadka that the party would be compelled to take action against them if such an outfit was announced from a function attended by them. Mohan Bahadur Basnet, NC´s Sindhupalchowk district president and close associate of Deuba and Khadka, had made all preparations for the announcement of the youth brigade. So much so, cadres of the proposed brigade had come to the function in full combat fatigue and had planned to do a march pass and offer a salute to the party leaders.



The temptation of the three NC Bahadurs to form such a brigade is understandable. When rival parties increasingly resort to brute force and your cadres are routinely beaten up and threatened, or even killed, you are inclined to deal with them in their own currency. In that sense, where the three NC stalwarts were headed makes complete sense. But we hope the NC, as a party, is a much better lot and stronger in its moral standing and commitment to peaceful politics. The NC has all along been demanding the sorting out of the PLA issue and dismantlement of the paramilitary structure of the Young Communist League (YCL), youth wing of the Maoist party. Now if the NC itself starts forming such a youth outfit, on what moral ground will it demand de-barracking of the YCL? Equipping youth cadres with arms and motivating them to violence is nothing less than criminal. Politics is about ideas and ideals; use of force and muscle should be strictly prohibited.



The Sindhupalchowk case also underscores the need to immediately dismantle the paramilitary structure of the YCL. NC leader Khadka, who has for long been calling for the formation of a NC youth brigade, is right in his argument that so long as other parties maintain a ready-to-strike youth force they deprive other parties of a level playing field. It´s not just the Maoists, the UML, MPRF and TMDP also have their youth outfits. What happens if all these youth wings start staying in barracks, extort money from businessmen and common people and engage in daily clashes with each other? Can Nepal afford to go down that road? More importantly, is this what we deserve? We appreciate Acting NC President Koirala´s intervention to stop his party from forming a youth brigade, which would have had an immediate and contagious effect throughout the country. At the same time, we renew our call to Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to earnestly and unconditionally implement all past agreements related to the peace process, including de-barracking of the YCL and abandoning the use of violence.

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