The Maitighar Effect: Nepal's Hyde Park erupts in anti-government protest

Kathmandu: For a few days, #Nepal's very own #Hyde Park, the #Maitighar Mandala, has been the major hotspot of the protest against the #Guthi Bill, the nearly two-third KP Oli government's bid to make changes in Guthi (cultural-religious trusts) administration. 

The Bill has not gone well with large sections of the public, including people of the Kathmandu Valley, who largely see it as part of the design to hand over to cadres of the present ruling party both public and private trusts like the Swargadwari Guthi (Pyuthan) with huge landholdings, which ensure continuity of ages-old cultures and traditions, numerous jatras and preservation of both tangible and intangible heritages, by making resources available. 
Culture experts fear that changes in the traditional Guthi system will put Nepal's UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites, including those in the Kathmandu Valley,  in peril. Even leaders of the ruling party have opposed the Bill, that is increasingly being seen as part of a well-thought-out plan to further weaken Nepal's traditional religious identity, create a vacuum and thus make way for conversions.      

The Bill, the latest in a series of unpopular moves of the Oli government, could not have come at a worse time. Already, it has come under fire for the #Citizenship Bill, which, critics say, is meant to make Nepali peoples a minority in their own country by making it easier for foreigners to acquire Nepali citizenship. With lakhs of Nepali peoples sweating it out abroad and an open border allowing any number of people from across the border to enter Nepal, stay indefinitely and acquire citizenship quite easily, the concern, the fear and and anger over the Bill seems quite natural.     

The 'scam-ridden purchase' of wide-body aircraft for the national flag-carrier has further eroded the credibility of this government, which was expected to usher in an era of progress and prosperity by bringing about political instability. 

The Bill, though hastily withdrawn in the wake of the protest, is likely to provide ammunition to the main opposition, which otherwise seemed to have become irrelevant thanks to its very weak presence in the Parliament. 

The groundswell of protest will add to the troubles of Prime Minister Oli, who has also to shoulder the tough task of managing expectations of not only the people but also the leaders of the CPN (CPN), formed after the unity of the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Centre. With the erstwhile faction of the Biplav-led Maoist party waging its own struggle and Kathmandu streets rocking with daily protests, coming days will not be that easy for the Oli government. In the worst-case scenario, if the unsinkable government (remember, the Titanic was also considered unsinkable) fails to deliver, Nepal may land into another period of prolonged instability, like it did after 1990 due, mainly, to disappointing performance of democratic governments post-1990. 

For now, yours truly does not even want to think about the gloomy scenario. In these pages, one of these days, I will surely write about the matter. 

For now, lemme present you the pictures taken during the protest at Maitighar today to give you a fair idea of the goings-on. 

Text and pictures: Devendra Gautam