Red flag in Nepal

While his family and associates say the house is rented (rent amounts differ),a Nepali tabloid alleges that it has been bought under questionable terms,possibly involving some favour-mongering with a local businessman. As chairman of the ruling party,Prachandas known sources of income do not appear commensurate with his spending. Since he entered mainstream politics in 2006,his luxe lifestyle,Rado watches and designer suits,have been a blatant declaration that he has come a long way,and does not care even about lip-service to revolutionary pieties. Its not just him many top Maoist leaders now travel in luxury vehicles,registered with the peoples government. At a party plenary in 2007,Maoist general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal publicly criticised this lifestyle asking,to sustained applause How will you motivate your cadres to work for you in the election when the disparity between how we live and how they live is so stark?

The question is not about whether Maoist leaders should preserve appearances and shun conspicuous consumption that was then,this is now. They are nor insurgents,they are potentates. But the troubling thing is that Prachanda,and other Maoist leaders,have not bothered to explain their actions,disclose their assets or otherwise dispel the doubts about their probity. They have simply taken advantage of a weak state,one that cannot enforce minimal accountability on its elected leaders and officials. Nearly six years after the end of its bitter internal conflict,Nepals republican ideals have been thwarted,its constitution still unresolved,its politics chaotic. The Maoists,as the largest party in the House,must take much of the responsibility. Their attitude now is only a reflection of the morass Nepal finds itself in.