September 14, 2010
There is no political party in Nepal that does not
understand the necessity and the
attractiveness of currying favor with the Chinese. The benefit of being chums
with their northern neighbors is all too obvious from the recently intensified
injections of Beijing aid.
But no party is more bent on becoming China’s poodle than the
Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) -- UCPN(M).
The biggest show in Nepal right now is the massive 21-member delegation from Beijing, led by He Yong, China’s Vice Premier and Secretary of the Secretariat of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. It is the senior-most delegation to visit Nepal in nine years.
And the timing could be not more significant. It comes on
the heels of a leaked audiotape in which a man, believed to be Maoist former
minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, sought to strike a deal with a Chinese
“friend” to obtain NRS 500 million and buy the votes of 50 MPs for Maoist chief
Prachanda, who has failed in seven consecutive elections to take back the prime
ministry.
Not surprisingly, the scandal unleashed the fury of the
other parties and – something novel in Kathmandu -- a youth-led protest
gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy, demanding that China stop interfering
in Nepal’s internal matters. This sort of hostility from Nepali citizens is
almost exclusively reserved for their much-reviled neighbors to the south,
India.
Concerning the audiotape, the Maoists initial response was
that it was a fake, produced by India’s external intelligence agency, Research
and Analysis Wing (RAW). On September 12, however, they backpedaled. Maoist
spokesperson Dinanath Sharma said the tape, “may be genuine, and it may not be.
But the episode reveals the status of our national security and individual’s
right to secrecy. It is a serious issue as the phone-tapping incident has
highlighted the extent of direct interference in our internal national security
by foreign powers.”
Thus the Maoists tried to sidestep the real issue – the
possibility that the Chinese and the Maoists were conspiring to rig the
elections – by presenting the Maoist party as the wronged entity: The Maoists’
right to privacy had been breached.
The Nepali Congress (NC) party was not impressed by this
logic. NC General Secretary Bimalendra Nidhi said, “The Maoists, by raising the
issue of an individual´s privacy have indirectly admitted that they had
demanded money from foreigners to buy elected parliamentarians. This is very
serious issue and needs independent probe.”
The Maoist reaction was to go on the offensive. On September 13, they announced that they would launch a month-long protest movement, beginning on September 17, which will include graffiti, papering the streets and mass meetings. Presumably, this will help deflect criticism that, although they promised to conduct an “internal investigation” of the tape, there has been no evidence to suggest that the Maoists seriously intend to mount an internal probe.
Meanwhile, the high-powered Chinese delegation has made the rounds in Kathmandu spreading goodwill among all the major parties. Beijing’s lobbying power in Nepal is truly remarkable and something Delhi’s counterparts – who seem to cause more harm than good every time they open their mouths – should scrutinize in minute detail.
While He Yong and company cast their giant munificent shadow
over the nation’s capitol, the Maoist scandal mildews off stage. What Nepali in
the political arena is going to rock the Chinese boat – particularly when the
boat is docked in town?
As long as Sino-Nepali relations are in the limelight, neither the caretaker government nor parliament dare initiate an official investigation into the tape incident. And the Maoists – not the opposing parties – reap the benefits.
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