Monday, November 07, 2005

Gameplan


Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2005 22:03:26 -0800 (PST) From: "Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"
Subject: To: Madhav Nepal. Subject: A Proposal
To: "Madhav K Nepal" , "Madhav Nepal" , "Lila Mani Pokharel" , "Rajendra Mahto" , "Hridayesh Tripathy" , "Gagan Thapa" , "Krishna Pahadi" , "Dinesh Prasain" , "Sujata Koirala" , "Bimalendra Nidhi"
CC: "Puru Subedi" , "Anand Bist" , "Anil Shahi" , "Sanjaya Parajuli" , "Mridula Koirala" , "Ratan Jha" , "Lalit Jha" , "Tara Niraula"

Madhavji. Ahile tapain India tour ma hunu hunchha. I have been following the news. Aghi kehi ghanta agadi Krishna Pahadiji boleko sunna paiyo.

I have a proposal to make. I have tried to include as many of the seven party names as I could, but I don't have all the email addresses to be "fair." But this is a crisis, not a time for formalities. Bhoolchook maaf ho.

The proposal is this, and I myself would like to help coordinate.

(1) The seven parties hold a meeting and revise their agenda. Make it a three point agenda. (i) all party interim government, (ii) peace talks with the Maoists, and (iii) constituent assembly.

(2) All Nepali organizations in the US engage in major membership drives. Set up PayPal accounts on their websites so people can easily pour in money, also accept all other forms of payment. Say Alliance and the Youth Council, the two based out of New York City, life membership fee of $100. And all money thus raised is to go to the movement in Nepal. This is a once in a lifetime thing, maybe a once in three or four lifetimes thing. Like 1776 in the US, 1947 in India. The money will go to the seven party alliance as long as it will do (1) and formally elect a leader and an interim government in waiting. And as long it will keep all book-keeping transparent. By transparent I mean willing to put it online. If 10,000 Nepalis give $100 each, that is $1 million. If only 1,000 give, that is still $100,000. That might be more than enough.

(3) What to do with that money? One decisive street protest. Either take over Tundikhel or New Road, whichever might be available. It is very important there is not a single martyr in this movement. We neutralize the army: the propaganda work is already on the way. And we befriend the police. Avoid confrontations if possible. The bureaucracy is already with us. By take over Tundikhel/New Road, I mean, get at least a hundred thousand people to show up at once and not leave until the all party government has been formed: and hopefully thousands more will pour in and keep piling up. It might be two weeks, it might be a month.

(4) Capture it all on video, hundreds of hours of it, and put it all online for the world to see. This is key. We are getting people out to sway world opinion. http://video.google.com

I think it is high time we waged a decisive fight. The political paralysis can not continue forever.

Coordinator: Paramendra Bhagat
Treasurer: Mridula Koirala
Co-Coordinator: Puru Subedi (NAC)
Co-Coordinator: Sanjaya Parajuli
Co-Coordinator: Ratan Jha
Co-Coordinator: Anand Bist

In Nepal: The Seven Party Alliance, plus Civic Society Movement rep, plus youth rep.

Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2005 22:29:44 -0800 (PST)
From: "Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"
Subject: Step 2 of the proposal
To: "Madhav K Nepal" , "Madhav Nepal" , "Mridula Koirala" , "Puru Subedi" , "Sanjaya Parajuli" , "Anand Bist" , "Ratan Jha"

Supreme Commander of the movement: Girija Koirala (owing to seniority .. but only if he lets go the House revival stance)
Also Prime Minister in waiting.
Deputy Prime Minister in waiting: Madhav Nepal.

In the US.

Each organization raises money separately. And sends money to a bank account in Kathmandu opened jointly by the seven party coalition. The money gets sent directly from the organization to that bank account. But all info at all stages will be shared with the Treasurer and also other members. And the Treasurer will make sure all book keeping stays transparent/online in as real time as possible.

The seven party coalition will have to propose "budgets" as to how the money will be spent, and so requests will have to made before money gets sent. So the seven party coalition makes formal requests and the committee in the US decides on whether or not to approve. In most cases, it should be an automatic yes.

I think we could start work right away on starting the $100 club. About a thousand people who will happily part with $100 for the cause. Should not be hard.


Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:06:23 +0530
From:"M. K. Nepal"
To:"Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"
Subject: Re: To: Madhav Nepal. Subject: A Proposal

ParamendraJi ,
Namaskar !!
I am still today in India -Delhi. It is my long tour to India almost 21 days. I hope it is a most successful visit this time. I have been able to meet with cross section of People in India--- P.M. ManMohan Singh,Defence,Home,Foreign Ministers, Former P.M.'s Bajpayee,I.K.Gujral,Chandrasekher, BJP Leaders Aadwani,Yaswant Singh,Susma Swaraj, Other Pol. Party Leaders- George Fernandes, Left-Surjeet,Prakash Karat,Bardhan,Sitaram Yechuri, Forward Block G.S.,R.S.P. Secretary, others also. I attended get togethers , Talk Prog. Meetings with Intellectuals,Diplomats,etc.
I would like to thank you very much for your concern as well the proposal to help Nepali Democratic movement . I will talk to others about your proposal. Thanks again for sending your fine proposal.
Thanks M.K.Nepal 1



To: gagan thapa , Madhav Nepal
Cc: Mridula Koirala , Puru Subedi , Sanjaya Parajuli , Anand Bist , Ratan Jha
Subject: Re: Hi (reply to Gaganji)

Gaganji. I just also got an email from Madhav Nepalji. I posted it promptly at: http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2005/11/gameplan.html

(1) Take over New Road for 2-4 weeks 24/7. Launch time to be decided by seven parties.
(2) Hundreds of hours of video of street demonstrations online to be uploaded at http://video.google.com

Yo duita ka lagi tapain le agrasarata dekhaunu paryo. Paisa yata bata. Not that you guys can not raise money right there, but we want to feel like we are also part of it.

Budget lekhna tayar gare hunchha.

Tundikhel bhanda New Road nai ramro hola ki? But launch time has to be a surprise. Ekai choti 100,000 manchhe minimum. But only after 7 parties have come around to the 3 point agenda.

Yo 3 point agenda ko arko phaida. Yadi raja all party government ma chandai ayenan bhane, ra manchhe 1 lakh bata 2 lakh pugema, we can think of unilaterally declaring all party governemnt. Raja ko rajdoot haroo tyas pachhi bishwa byapi phalne prayas ma lagne.

Tapain to 2/1 pachhi ko pahilo corner meeting ko jasto organizational skill pheri large scale ma dekhauna paryo.

Party haroo 3 point agenda ma auna saath hamro fund raising shuru hunchha yata.

Key point: zero martyrs. Organization tyati durusta huna parchha. No confrontations with the police. Police line samma jane ani police sanga guff garna thalne. Small talk. Tyasto chiplo guff garne manchhe haroo frontline ma rakhne.

Baroo yo Pyramid of 7 idea kasto chha?

http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2005/08/project-take-over-tundikhel-draft-1.html

So that every single person is accounted for. Yasto neat and clean nai field ma na hola. But this would make it disciplined.

The dawn is imminent.

--- gagan thapa wrote:

> I have been reading all ur write up. There r lot of new ideas. Keep
> it up.
>
> gagan

In The News

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Sunday, November 06, 2005

Pahadi Says Goal Is Democratic Republic



94 photos.

Video clip 1, Video clip 2, Video clip 3.

Krishna Pahadi November 6 Sunday 5 PM

Krishna Pahadi, in his speech in Jackson Heights, said his fight will only end after Nepal becomes a democratic republic. He said he was willing to make any sacrifice for that ultimate goal.

He pointed out there was a major grassroots sentiment in support of his goal, and he has felt it in his travels across the country. He asked the Nepali diaspora to extend its full moral support to the movement in Nepal. His message, speak up for us.

He is also set to speak at New York University Tuesday evening.

The crowd in attendance was as big as the crowd for the seven party gathering. (Seven Party Forum In Jackson Heights)

Pahadi has a very pleasant personality. And he speaks fluently, in a singsong way almost. What he had to say sounded very much like what Gagan Thapa had to say. They both made a clear case for a democratic republic, and both said they are willing to pay the ultimate price for it. (Gagan's Talk In New York)

He wears orange. That is one of his trademark things.

If you showed up early for the program, you got to see the video of the civil society mass gathering in Basantapur, Kathmandu. Then Samudaya showed its own video, which was like the video Aandolan Jari Chha. Then there was poet Parajuli reciting his poems, the video of his program in Kathmandu. I bought a DVD of it. $10. A big chunk of the money goes to the movement in Nepal.

We need to upload all these videos on Google Video. We can charge $1 or $2 per view. That way we reach a larger audience and raise more money. And we plough back that money to produce more videos of the street demonstrations. The more video footage of street demonstrations from Kathmandu and all over Nepal that the global audience sees, quicker will be the resolution. The whole idea is to get hundreds of thousands of people out into the streets so as to sway global opinion. We need to become our own media. We need to put hours and hours of video online. The more the better.

This has to be a movement with zero martyrs. Noone should have to die. Noone died in the orange revolution of Ukraine in 2004. That is also my goal for Nepal. People should not have to die. Not the king, not peaceful demonstrators. Noone. Period.

And you massively reduce the chances of extreme forms of police brutality by showing it all to the global audience.

Many poems were recited.

The program started late.

Pahadi is an amazing speaker. There is this smoothness to both his logic and delivery. As I said, he sounded like an older version of Gagan Thapa.

I told him in person that this movement has produced two heroes: him and Gagan Thapa.

I helped fold up some of the chairs and put them away after the program ended. A bunch of us also had to agree to take home some of the leftover samosas. First I said no. Then I said yes. What the heck, I thought.

My final question to Pahadi was on federalism. He said that is a second step issue. There are still discussions going on if to go for decentralization or outright federalism. He has a right to his viewpoint, but that was an answer I did not like. I feel as strongly about federalism as he does about a republic. But then we settle that issue during the constituent assembly.

And I listened to Deepak "Nepe" Khadka on the train all the way to Penn Station where he got off. There is some kind of a Google group called Nepal Democracy. He has been trying to get me to join the group. It is supposedly a whole bunch of who's who types, like Kul Chandra Gautam and all. But it is a closed group. I think I tried to join, but received no response from the moderator. The frat house is busy and noisy, looks like.

Nepe is a hard core republican. He recited a poem of his own, a gazal. He is a good writer. Nepe is a college classmate of Pahadi, I learned. I told Pahadi I had the same thing going on with Dinesh Prasain, who he addressed as "Dineshji."

We have to push the seven parties for internal reforms, but we can not be hard on them like we need to be hard on the king and the Maoists, especially the king. The seven parties are our political leaders. The seven parties, and the youth represented by Gagan Thapa, and the civil society represented by Krishna Pahadi are all part of the same stream.

This movement has forged an amazing global Nepali solidarity. It is almost like America after 9/11.

I took a whole bunch of pictures.

I am sure the audio clip of Pahadi's speech will be online soon at the Samudaya site.

Ever since I got into town I have been trying to get Dr. Binod Sah of Janakpur to launch the NYC chapter of the ANTA. So far to no avail. Today we realized neither of us have the other's current phone numbers. And today we made some headway. He has invited me to come to his place. It is important to float the ANTA banner in town. Madhesi pride is at stake.

Dr. Tara Niraula teased me about me no longer sending him emails. "Have you taken me off your mailing list?" How could I? It is just that I refrain from emailing people too often. But now Niraula just sent the wrong signal. He is going to start getting a bunch of emails from me.

I have known Mridula Koirala and her husband independent of each other. Today Mridula introduced me to "my husband." And she sang a classic revolutionary song beautifully. I don't think Anil and Sanjaya can sing.

Sanjaya's son was creating a major ruckus, before, during and after the program. He was on the floor right next to where I was sitting. So I took a few pictures for evidence purposes.

Tilak Pokharel of the Kathmandu Post asked me if I recently met Bill Clinton. Answer: yes. "Me too," he said. He said he was going to use his press pass also to meet Amitabh Bachchan in a few days. I tried to talk him into taking me along. He said it was hard enough for him alone. That guy is one step ahead of me.

Anil's wife was part of the walk to the train station. When I said the movement should conclude in a few months, she said I was being optimistic.

Before the program began, I thought I was getting a picture taken with Pahadi, but Pahadi is looking the other way. I have my palm on his shoulder though.
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