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Heartland of Maoist insurgency is boycotting Nepal's Nov.19 polls

(Xinhua)    14:19, November 17, 2013
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KATHMANDU, Nov. 17 -- While the election mood is now felt in almost all parts of the country, there is a village in the midwestern district of Rolpa that had remained impervious to all the political activities.

The CPN-Maoist Party, which has opted not to participate in the Nov. 19 polls, is working hard to make the village of Thawang a " zero-vote" area. It was in Thawang that the Maoist rebels took refuge from government forces during their decade-old insurgency.

The CPN-Maoist, a breakaway faction from the UCPN (Maoist), leads a 33-party alliance that has opposed the election for members of the Constituent Assembly that would draft a new constitution for Nepal.

The UCPN (Maoist) and the other political parties that are participating in the polls, such as the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML, have not ventured to campaign in Thawang as they are obviously aware that the village is a stronghold of the breakaway Maoist faction.

A local police official requesting anonymity told Xinhua that CPN-Maoist is planning to deploy cadres in the polling stations on the election day to prevent people from voting.

During the Maoist insurgency, people in the village provided shelter, food and even dedicated their lives to make the Maoist insurgency a success. But today cadres of Maoist party in the village are not satisfied with UCPN (Maoist) which, they said has failed to address their grievances or have abandoned the goals of the revolution.

Most of the villages now support the political stand of the CPN- Maoist, formed after the party split in June last year. During the insurgency several houses were burnt down, many people were captured and tortured and injured but the main Maoist party failed to provide relief or reconstruction package even after it formed a government.

"We had a big dream that our hardships would end after our victory in the revolution. But after the last election, all our aspirations remained unfulfilled. So we are not going to vote this time," said Tej BK, a villager.

Santosh Buddha Magar, a senior leader of this area during the insurgency period, joined Mohan Baidya Kiran's CPN-Maoist party after the party split and the whole village now listens to him.

But UCPN (Maoist) leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara is trying to convince the people in the village to reconsider their position and to participate in the election but so far they have not been successful.

"People are against the election. And we are urging them to stay away from the polling places on Nov. 19," said local CPN- Maoist leader Kesh Bahadur Butha Magar.

(Editor:HuangJin、Hongyu)

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