Nepal’s Maoists continue tirade against India

Even after leading the government for almost six months, Nepal’s Maoists have not given up their crusade against India.

Speaking at an interaction programme at the Reporters’ Club in Kathmandu, senior Maoist leader Mohan Vaidya on Sunday accused that New Delhi has been conspiring to divide Nepal.

“We are not going to tolerate India’s evil design in Nepal,” the veteran Maoist said, adding that the southern neighbour is trying to disintegrate Nepal using Bhojpuri and Maitheli-speaking Madhesh as a weapon.

Vaidya, a hard-line Maoist ideologue, accused India of inciting anti-national elements into wrong doings in the southern plains of Nepal, which shares long border with Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

During the last two years, there has been a strong uprising in the southern border districts of Nepal, and the Maitheli-Bhojpuri people have been demanding for their rights.

In addition to the political demands for right to self-determination, a section of armed insurgent outfits in Madhesh have also been fighting for a sovereign homeland.

“We will fight tooth and nail to stop India’s evil game-plan to disintegrate Nepal,” Vaidya, who was arrested in India in 2003, said. The Maoist leader spent three years in Jalpaiguri jail in West Bengal.

In fact, it was unusual for Vaidya to make such a strong statement against India. During the last couple of months, the radical communist party has been trying to befriend India.

After leading the government, the Maoists had softened their stand against India, and had even said that it was in no hurry to repeal the controversial Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty of 1950.

Earlier, the Maoists have always been campaigning India’s “expansionism” in Nepal, and had demanded immediate repeal of the Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty, ban on Bollywood films and also demanded end to recruitment of Nepali youths in the Indian Army.