Cannabis, Christianity and headquarters: Three reasons why the Maoists started an armed war
By Salokya, on February 13th, 2015
Maoist-army-training-02 19 years ago today, the Maoists started an armed war by attacking police posts in Rolpa, Sindhuli and Gorkha. After the Maoists spread across the country faster than expected after 2052, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) hired Robert Gersoni as a consultant to conduct a study to find out its root cause. A report published in 2003 entitled 'Sowing the Wind: History and Dynamics of the Maoist Revolt in Nepal's Rapti Hills' outlines various reasons for the outbreak of the Maoist People's War. Three of them are: cannabis ban, change of headquarters and Christian activities
1) Cannabis ban
Rolpa and Rukum were prosperous districts in the western hills 40 years ago. With the money earned from the quality of cannabis produced from these places, they used to buy salt, oil, clothes, necklaces with silver coins, and gold jewelry. Cannabis was also grown in the forests of northern Rukum, northern Rolpa and parts of eastern Salyan and Surkhet. Marijuana was not illegal at that time. Marijuana was the main source of income for the people there. But in 1976, the government enacted the Narcotics Act, banning the production, sale, and distribution of marijuana. Police also enforced the ban. Ordinary farmers who went to the Indian border to exchange cannabis for salt or oil were also caught. Fields planted with marijuana were turned into forest lands.
The ban on marijuana was imposed on the residents of the area by the Kathmandu government, which had a direct impact on their lives. In the years following the ban on marijuana (1976 to 1980), they slipped into a cycle of poverty. In order to survive, they had to share food with their neighbors. Women had to pledge their jewelry. And, to support the family, the boys had to leave the village to find work. They felt that the government had snatched cannabis from the mouths of their children by banning it.
Local leaders petitioned the court, saying neither the government nor the poor had to provide some relief or alternative development. But there was no hearing. King Virendra came to Taksera by helicopter in 1983 and 1988 and declared the place a priority for national development. But only on paper.
The cannabis ban had left a bitter impression on the people against the government. The areas where the Maoists initially spread are among the places where cannabis is widely grown.
2) Headquarters change
East Rukum was connected to Baglung district before the 1970s, with its headquarters 75 to 90 kilometers away. Leaders of East Rukum have been emphasizing the need to link their region with Rukum district. Rukumkot, the district headquarters of Rukum, was close by. The people here treated them better than the people of Baglung and West Rukum. If the administrative work was done from Rukumkot, it would have been easier for them. In the early 70's, the court decided to merge the present districts of eastern Rukum into Rukum districts. Their headquarters was in Rukumkot.
But the Magars of East Rukum did not get to celebrate this joy much. Kumar Khadga Bikram Shah, who was married to Princess Sharda, was replaced by Musikot and Dhruv Bikram Shah, who had good relations with King Mahendra, and his son General Vivek Shah's village Baflikot. And, the headquarters was shifted from Rukumkot to Musikot. After this information was published in the Gazette in April 1973, Zonal Magistrate Laxmi Raj Bhakta ordered to move the government furniture and files from Rukumkot to the new headquarters. Police went with the residents of Musikot and moved the goods. There was a small clash.
The people of East Rukum were outraged. The youths there are going from house to house to return our future to the district headquarters Rukumkot, so they issued an order that at least one person from each house should be present for the protest.
On April 13, 1973, more than 10,000 protesters marched on Musikot. They had 60 guns and 50 khukuri. How much is the stick? A curfew was imposed in Musikot. But the crowd ignored him. Sub-inspector Nara Bahadur Khadka fired in the air, but the crowd did not. Police and locals opened fire. A 23-year-old resident of Rukumkot was killed on the spot. A Magar woman was injured. He later died. One sannyasi man and another field man were injured. The crowd dispersed after police and Musikot residents pelted stones at a high hill.
The government has issued arrest warrants for nine of the protesters. On the first anniversary of this incident, the youths of Rukumkot posted anti-monarchy pamphlets. Warrants were also issued against them. The government could not arrest anyone. They either went underground or fled to India, where they met Communist Party cadres. The fourth general convention of the Communist Party in 1974 also addressed the movement for the headquarters of Rukum.
Even after the start of the Maoist armed war, the Maoists remained dominant in the eastern Rukum and the anti-Maoists in the western Rukum.
3) Christian activity
One of the centers of East Rukum was Taksera. In the year 2025 BS, with the permission of the Government of Nepal, the Summer Institute of Linguistics (CIL) established Nepal through Tribhuvan University.
An agreement was signed to classify the languages and speakers of the language. Despite the language cover, it was a missionary organization that translated the Bible into indigenous languages. Silka Project Director Dr. David Waters reached Taksera and other VDCs of East Rukum through Jomsom of Mustang. Not only did he study the Kham Magar language there, he and his family built a house there.
Dr. Waters translated the Bible into Kham. Meanwhile, the agreement with the government expired and the Waters family left Taksera. Even after he left the village, some Kham Magar-speaking locals lit candles and sang verses from the Bible translated by him every evening. According to the report, four years later, a few hundred locals had converted to Christianity, a small percentage of the total population of Taksera.
The news reached Musikot (formerly Rukumkot), the new district headquarters. Conversion was illegal in the only Hindu kingdom in the world. The Chief District Officer sent police to investigate after receiving information that conversion was widespread among the Magars of East Rukum.
Local Christian leaders were ordered arrested. Nine men confessed to converting to Christianity and were sentenced to one year in prison. He was acquitted of forcing others to convert. Even then, many Christians were persecuted and arrested. Even non-Christians in East Rukum were outraged.
According to the report, one of the nine Christian leaders in prison secretly composed Christian songs in Kham language and secretly sent Taksera, which attracted more locals to Christianity. It said one of the nine arrested Christian leaders was a Maoist.
Around 1939, Christians living abroad began collecting donations for their families after receiving information about the prisoners in Taksera Prison. So much money was raised that Christians decided to use the money not only for their families but also for the region's first economic development plan. After a long discussion and study in the village, they decided to buy a river-powered mill in Switzerland and a small mill.
This community's first economic development project worked well. The mill served both Christian and non-Christian communities. The house was two storeys high. Upstairs was the church meeting hall.
In the year 2040 BS, a regional officer wrote a letter to the people of Taksera to close the mill. The village chief refused to stop writing a letter. Government officials warned that the mill would be demolished if it was not shut down. Those who became Christians illegally were accused of undermining the king's role by initiating such a project on their own initiative. After receiving warnings of demolition, the Christians did not want to take any more risks and closed the mill.
But non-Christians insisted it should not be stopped. As coming to the mill to close the mill village, the police village, according to the report,, the non-Christian, started ambush. They snatched their weapons, stripped them of their clothes, pulled out their mustache hair and tied a rope around their necks and dragged them around the village.
No comments:
Post a Comment