DRIZZLE IN CAPITAL Kathmandu, 16 Feb.: The capital recorded a drizzle at one in the afternoon Saturday. The sky is overcast since morning. Nnnn SNOWFALL IN EAST AS WELL Kathmandu, 16 Feb.: The northern belt of Ilam district has witnessed snowfall after the region witnessed slight rainfall from last night [Friday], RSS reports from Ilam.. Sandakpur, Meghma, Tumling, Jaubari and other parts of the district have witnessed snowfall. Similarly, snowfall has occurred in the upper belts of Panchthar and Taplejung districts as well. The upper regions of the eastern hilly districts had also witnessed heavy snowfall coupled with rain in the last month also. Hotelier Pemba Tshering Sherpa in Sandakpur, Ilam said a large number of visitors even from Darjeeling, India have thronged the area to play in the snowcapped hills after the snowfall. Suryodaya Primary School at Kalpokhari has been closed for a week in the region due to sudden fall in mercury. Pauwasarpat, Ranitar, Ithung, Pangwung, Chyangthapu and other parts of Panchthar district have also witnessed a heavy snowfall. Similarly, snowfall as thick as three feet has fallen in Olangchungola, Lelep, Tapethok, Yampudin, Hangdewa and other VDCs too. nnnn WORLD’S TALLEST HANUMAN STATUE IN BUTWAL Kathmandu, 16 Feb.: With the view of recognize the historical, archeological and cultural importance of the district and to promote and development of tourism sector of this area, the world’s tallest idol of Hanuman is being constructed in Jeetgadi of Butwal, The Rising Nepal reports from Rupandehi. . Yogi Adhaitaynath, the successor of guru Goraksyanath Temple will be laid foundation of stone on February 16 organise a big ceremony, informed Sankatmochan Human Dham Committee of Butwal. The gigantic idol of Sankatmochan Hanuman is being established the cost of Rs. 150 million. The 151 fit tall idol of Hanuman will be constructed in the land of around 300 bigha the premises of Durga Temple of Geetgadi. The religious and tourism park, the temple of Ramjanaki and Durga Temple will be constructed along with the Hanuman idol, informed Rajesh Kumar Barma, president of the committee. Nnnn OPINION VISCIOUSNESS OF VICTORY Kathmandu, 16 Feb.: Fresh out of an ostensibly historic convention that supposedly reinforced his position as party supremo, Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is having a hard time standing his ground on something less pivotal , Maila Baje writes in Nepali Netbook. Dahal’s proposal to have Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi head a caretaker government and pull the nation back from the political abyss found few takers where it really mattered. The Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), salivating to salvage the Maoist misadventure, are infuriated by this perceived bid to delegitimize professional politicians. Legal eagles, too, are bewildered by Dahal’s prescription. Those supporting it seem to be doing so out of ideological fealty of sorts. Blistered by the all-round derision, Dahal did what he does best: he denied he had ever etched such a proposal in stone. Clearly, the man thinks he is still waging war. It’s been close to seven years since his side triumphed against the monarchy – not fair and square, though. But that didn’t seem to matter. The Maoists went on to become the largest party in elections deemed largely free and fair by the international community. Prime Minister Dahal, within his first 100 days as premier, had met the presidents of China and the United States and the prime minister of India, each of whose governments had once armed the palace and mainstream parties to crush the Maoist rebels. The ‘people’s war’ glorified and romanticized in contemporary literature as the second coming of Mao Zedong was, in reality, a patchwork of audacious armed offensive, crafty prevarication and outright obfuscation. We now hear stories of how easily Dahal melted away physically and psychologically on the battlefield. His top lieutenant, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, bore his pen with such lethality that at times the swords seemed to drip with far less blood. The chief ideologue is exhausted to the point where he can’t pretend to defend his government. Maoist tomes on the inevitability of radical change were literal translations of the international revolutionary movement that invigorated the ideologically attuned with their mandatory catchphrases and cadence. Those uninitiated in such weighty matters were impressed by the obtuseness of the prose because it extolled class hatred and havoc. The monarchy with its old roots, baffling ritualism and purported remoteness was easily discredited by the votaries of revolutionary change. The mainstream parties were deemed conflict- and corruption-prone, even by those who were in a position to recognize that their shenanigans were thrust upon by the compulsion of electoral politics and that multiparty democracy was not going to operate free. Ethnic, linguistic and regional fault lines made the ground more fertile for geopolitical machinations. The international non-government sector possessed more than enough resources to uncover new injustices and install them in a cantankerous echo chamber. In a sense, all this was beside the point. The Maoists got the opportunity they had sought and were now supposed to implement their vision of a new Nepal. Instead, they have kept us all on edge. Was the party split manufactured to avoid having to deal with Nepal’s real problems? Was their anti-foreigner tirade merely a ruse to attract interest parties and then make their own compromises to stay in power? Is the party’s new commitment to economic growth under a democratic framework a camouflage for, well, who knows what? Even dissemblers need a modicum of credibility to ply their trade. Padam Kunwar, the Maoist cadre who slapped Dahal in public a few months ago, had no money to bail himself out of the episode. In his magnanimity, Dahal ended up paying for the man’s freedom. Kunwar thanked Dahal for coming to his rescue, but seemed not the least bit remorseful for his original action. A fitting metaphor for the Maoist chairman’s plight, indeed. Nnnn PREDICTABLY UNSURPRISING Kathmandu, 16 Feb.: Former mayor of Kathmandu, Keshav Sthapit the boastful has moved the court seeking redress for his dismissal as the chief commissioner of the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority (KVDA). People, who land themselves in jobs on the strength of political favors, would want the same to be retained even when the employer is longer satisfied with their performance or would want to withdraw the uncalled for favor doled out earlier, Trikal Vastavik writes in People’s Review. . Stahpit has not received any semblance of public sympathy, which must have brought him to size as far his self-assessment is concerned. The days of loud talks and antics for him are over. Why for former mayor was appointed to the post supervising the ambitious undertaking was a big surprise to Kathmanduites in particular and the rest of the Nepalis in general. Why he got dismissed is also a surprise. In the first place, someone should have filed a writ against the appointment. It would have at the least helped draw public attention to the travesty of executive power. The public did not know what Sthapit’s credentials to head the development authority were, once again confirming the obnoxious practice of treating posts created through taxpayers’ hard-earned money as a means to satisfy individual whims and fancies. In case the Maoist government just thought that Sthapit possessed some hidden talents the public was completely unaware of, it, too, was in for a big disappointment. The grapevine has it that the former mayor had given the Maoist leaders, notably Baburam Bhattarai’s spouse Hisila Yami, a grandiose plan which would pave way for a huge project mobilizing billions of rupees and generating employment opportunities for many party workers and inviting offers for frequent foreign jaunts. As things ultimately stood, all boasts and no performance rendered Sthapit a non-performing boy for those who had been so enthusiastic about his appointment last year. Those who had a say in his appointment felt let down and deeply frustrated. Their initial enthusiasm turned into ire which sparked off his disgraceful dismissal. People now are more demanding and the task is proving to be more exacting than the political parties and their leaders were used to. UCPN (Maoist) has stood completely exposed for inconsistencies and incompetence. The opposition parties have limited themselves to reacting to the Maoist agendas for seven years. Pushpa Kamal Dahal the other day issued a threat that “if cornered, we will return to rebellion.” To which the NC and the UML could not even oppose. That the Maoists continue to unilaterally call the shots in all directions is more due to the opposition’s pathetic conditions than on account of the ex-rebels’ enhanced strength or widespread popularity. Even after the Maoists split vertically, they are strong forces to reckon with. Whatever Dahal or the breakaway group’s Mohan Baidya says or does makes bigger news than by the Nepali Congress or the CPN (UML). Widespread corruption in the Maoist camp is well-known and its members raised the issue within the organization. Technically the post-2006 movement governments are the least corrupt. Not a single minister has been booked for investigation while people are baffled by the luxurious lifestyles the politicians have developed overnight without any known means of income sources to support. It is beyond dispute that corruption in the last six years has been the worst in the country’s modern history. Transparency International’s corruption index shows Nepal competing with war-torn Afghanistan as one of the most corrupt nations. Dahal hoodwinked Girija Prasad Koirala and then Madhav Kumar Nepal with promises of making the country’s first president. Till then a most unlikely person, Ram Baran Yadav out of the blue emerged as a candidate who eventually made it. How and why is clear to one and all. Dahal made numerous promises and never fulfilled them. But he has managed to have the opposition come to him for the elusive “consensus.” He has been exposed too many times as a habitual promise-breaker and yet he continues to call the shots. A visibly weakened Dahal is still stronger than all his opponents. Baburam Bhattarai the “intellectual” has proved to be the worst prime minister but he continues to rule, threaten and stand defiant. The NC -UML movement to remove Bhattarai is a child’s cry. Without extraneous backing, they will never succeed. They would not have done so in 2005-6 too. It was only after New Delhi’s backing that the movement gathered momentum. BIPPA imposer and airport-security-to-foreign-agency approver Bhattarai is exposed and yet his party remains the strongest. Last season, he said he does not hold the key to governance, “it is somewhere else.” He is still the prime minister. This is because of the imbecility of the NC and UML. Ram Baran Yadav declared Baburam Bhattarai’s a caretaker government and gave deadlines nine times for consensus government. Tired by public ridicule for his inability to do anything beyond just extending the deadline so often, he has stopped issuing such time frame. So the “just a caretaker premier” has outwitted the president, his former party Nepali Congress and the UML which is conspicuous by never failing to utter “Rastrapati Mohadaya.” Bhattarai showed that a lame duck premier is far more powerful than the ceremonial president testing whether and how far he can stretch his role as the “custodian of the constitution.” His erstwhile comrades-in-arm, now forming another independent party, call Bhattarai as serving foreign interests instead of national interests. The “foreign agent” tag foisted upon Bhattarai is the heaviest and the most persistent, the like of which was never heard of in the past. Having broken his boast about not being keen in sitting in the prime minister’s chair, he now shows his cravings for clinging on to power like a leech. He has broken the rule-book’s clauses that others had not dared to stretch their limits. Bhattarai’s party boss Dahal was chagrined when the deputy climbed to the prime minister’s chair. His heart sank all the more when overenthusiastic media people and the so-called civil society leaders overrated the “intellectual” premier who they thought “will do something.” Well, Bhattarai did do more than something but that something is costing the nation hugely. What does it all mean when the truncated Maoists and their badly exposed leaders continue to hold on to power? It declares that the opposition, mainly the NC and the CPN (UML) have neither the required leadership qualities nor the willpower to take on the divided Maoists even after the latter have taken them through the garden path so often. (The writer can be reached at: trikalvastavik[at]yahoo.com) nnnn