Public humiliation of Public Leaders
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: November 23 2012 -

The recent attack on Chairman of United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda, who is not just one of Nepal's most powerful politicians but also a former Prime Minister of the trouble-torn Himalayan country, by a young activist of own his party, has once again brought the issue of 'public humiliation of public leaders' in focus.

On November 16, Prachanda was left shaken after the young activist slapped him in full public view, breaking his glasses.

The incident, which sent a shockwave among the top notch leaders of the party, who jumped to the conclusion of a 'premeditated conspiracy' behind the bold act of the young activist, happened during an annual tea reception hosted by the party to mark the festivals of 'Deepawali', 'Chhath' and Nepalese New Year's celebration, and it was thrown open to the public.

Party cadres were approaching 57-year-old Prachanda one by one to exchange greetings when the 25-year old youth activist identified as Padam Kumar from Baglung district of western Nepal slapped his party boss hard on the face before being overpowered by other party cadres.

Prachanda's spectacles flew off his face and one of the lenses shattered and he was immediately whisked away for safety. As for the young attacker, he was, predictably, beaten up black and blue by other party cadres until police intervened and rushed him to the hospital with a profusely bleeding nose and injuries all over his body.

Acting promptly, Nepal Government has formed a committee headed by Additional Inspector General (AIG) to investigate into the incident and gave a seven-day deadline to come up with a report.

While we wait for the report, it would be interesting to analyze why public leaders in Nepal are being humiliated and attacked time and again. Earlier, CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal and UCPN (Maoist) leader Jhakku Subedi were slapped in two different events in the last couple of years.

Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala was also attacked by his own party cadre some one-and-a-half months ago at a public event in Kathmandu.

In India too, we have witnessed more than a handful of incidents in which the public leaders are at the receiving end of public fury.

Right from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Leader of Opposition and Prime Ministerial candidate of National Democratic Alliance L K Advani, many public leaders have got a taste of public fury.

While Advani was shoed by his own party member Pawas Agarwal, a former district vice-president of BJP at Katni Town in Madhya Pradesh on April 16, 2009, Dr Manmohan came under the target of a computer engineering student who hurled a sneaker towards him during an election rally at Tagore hall ground, Ahamedabad in Gujarat on April 27, 2009.

When we look into deeply, we should not be surprise that all these incidents of 'public humiliation of public leaders', whether slapping or shoe throwing, are nothing but manifestation of public frustrations.

There is no guarantee that such incidents may not spread to Manipur where the so-called public leaders are better known for lack of co-ordination between their mouth and hands.

So, it is definitely high time for them to start giving a serious thought to their accountability towards the public.