Both Deuba and Thapa remained unharmed although over a dozen students close to the NC, Maoist cadres and the police were injured in the clash that followed the vandalism. The window glass of Deuba´s vehicle was completely damaged.
Deuba and Thapa along with Minister for Irrigation Bal Krishna Khand and lawmakers Mahendra Yadav and Laxmi Pariyar among others, had reached Narayanghat on Monday to attend a program of the Tarun Dal at Narayan Kalamandir.
Journalist Badri Sigdel, who accompanied Deuba in the vehicle when the Maoists cadres pelted stones at the latter, told Republica from Narayanghat that a group of Maoists attacked Deuba´s vehicle with stones and swords as it was about to enter Narayan Kalamandir where he was to address the Tarun Dal function. His bodyguard and police did not allow the assailants to come close to Deuba to harm him physically.
Lawmaker Thapa said from Narayanghat that he survived the attacks as he hid in the house of a friend. “They tried to break into the house but could not as it was locked from inside. They then tried to break the doors,” Thapa told myrepublica.com. “They then vandalized with swords a motorcycle I had pillion-ridden.”
According to Pradip Poudel, president of the NC-aligned Nepal Students´ Union, the assailants carried swords and khukuris to attack the NC people attending the program.
The attack on the former prime minister and Nepali Congress lawmakers comes on the day they announced a fresh round of protests against the government in Kathmandu.
“Local people told us that Maoist combatants from the cantonment [at Shaktikhor] were among the assailants. They told us that they identified the combatants in civilian dress,” Poudel told myrepublica.com.
But the involvement of cantoned combatants could not be verified independently.
“Prachanda [Pushpa Kamal Dahal] must define what he means by civilian supremacy,” Thapa said over the phone, commenting on the attack and vandalism. “We have not been able to teach the Maoists the fundamentals of democracy. They do not accept co-existence which is a fundamental of the peace process.”
The Maoist cadres had tried to show black flags to Deuba right from Bharatpur airport but could not until Deuba reached near the program venue.
In the clash, Tarun Dal leaders Thakur Raj Bista and Gopal Devkota and Maoist cadres Gopal Kunwar, Prajwol, Bhanu Neupane and Utsam among others were injured. Some policemen were also injured.
In Kathmandu, NC General Secretary Bimalendra Nidhi and NC parliamentary party spokesperson Nabindra Raj Joshi condemned the attacks, issuing separate statements.
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