True Tribute to Martyrs

A special type of "fascism" tendency which can be seen in Nepal, is playing
with the sentiments of people in the name of Martyrs by Corrupt Bureaucrats
and Politicians. They need to recall the well-known saying shown below;

"All men must die, but death can vary in its significance.  To die for the
people is weightier than Mount Everest, but to work for the fascists and die
for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather."

Anonymous

And remember all the Nepalese martyrs who offered blood to free Nepalese
society from the yoke of oppression and autocratic Rana regime. Due to the
great sacrifice of these martyrs, the Nepalese People achieved peace,
prosperity, enlightenment, glory and democracy. These martyrs lived for
others, worked for others and died for others.

The first martyr of Nepal,  Lakhan Thapa, a religious preacher who started
revolting the general public against the rule of Jang Bahadur Rana and was
hanged to death. The four great sons of the nation Shukra Raj Shastri, Ganga
Lal Shrestha, Dharma Bhakta Mathema and Dashrath Chand Thakuri who also
fought against the autocratic rule of the Ranas and achieved their martyrdom
60 years back. Thirbam Malla, Krishna Prasad Adhikari (Makai parva)
Naradmani Thulung, Khagendra Jung Gurung , Ram Prasad Rai, B. B. Chemjong
were other freedom fighters at the same era.

Martyr Bhakti Thapa who fought the forces of British India which attacked
Nepal in the 1810's and everyone retain the memory as the "Treaty of
Sugauli".

Other martyrs, Bhim Dutta Pant, Biren Rajbansi, Captain Yagya Bahadur Thapa,
Bhuvaneshwari Pathak, Durganand Jha, Prabhakar Poudel, Ratna Kumar Bantawa,
Shree Prasad, Saroj Koirala, Yogendraman Sherchan, Netra Ghimire, Ramnath
Dahal, Krishna Kuinkel, Narayan Shrestha, Raj Kumar Suwal, Hari Krishna
Bhuju, Nirmal Kumar Shakya, Krishna Ram Duwal, Puspa Ratna Shakya and Mahesh
Shrestha opposed King Mahendra and his regime of "dark days of the Panchayat
system" which started in 1960 and attained martyrdom in the popular movement
of 2046 B.S.

Mina Swarnakar, who spearheaded the movement to liberate the oppressed
classes.

Apart from the above, there were many others "known and unknown" people who
were killed, imprisoned, banished, physically tortured and suffered in one
way or another in the hands of the Ranas and Panchayati rulers.

Every year, the nation observes Magh 16  as  Martyrs' Day but the 
observance of the Martyrs' Day has just become a formality.  Garlands,
wreath, bouquets, and condolences are offered on the portrait of martyr and
at the martyrs' memorials. The corrupt bureaucrats and politicians that rule
the country make a hypocritical show of paying tributes and respects to
them. The important thing is that we must understand the value of martyrs'
blood. Paying condolences and offering flowers are not enough.

Thirteen years of democratic rule too has given nothing but frustrations and
disgusts. These thirteen years have rather aggravated the miseries of the
poor since the rulers are not only corrupt but are also immoral, callous and
decadent. They do not have feeling of shame to commit the meanest of crimes,
corruption and vulgarities.

Honestly writing, these corrupt bureaucrats and political leaders should
forbear from besmirching the holy names of the martyrs. These corrupt
bureaucrats and political leaders should be forbidden to defile pious
statues of martyrs by touching with their unholy hands.

National Institution that manages Martyrs' Day celebrations should not
invite these corrupt bureaucrats and political leaders to defile pious
statues of martyrs by their filthy touch. Instead they should invite
virtuous and patriotic ordinary person to pay our heartfelt respects to our
beloved martyrs.

Government needs to realize the facts that martyrs are dead and gone but the
government has no right to make the families of martyrs living dead like.
There is a need of providing financial assistance to the families of martyrs
by giving them pension from the national treasury and that will be the true
homage to the martyrs if nation wants to honour them. All must understand
the need for honouring the martyr's family and extending necessary
assistance e.g. giving special quota in the Education Institutes, to send
the children of the martyrs abroad for higher studies on government fund,
job reservation in government institutions etc.

While paying homage to these martyrs Politician and Bureaucrats always say
that their tributes are for "known or unknown martyrs". Can they say what
they have done for known martyr's families? If the families of known martyrs
are not been looked after or taken care then how come the government can do
something for unknown martyrs, as they are unknown. Nation has never tried
to find out the truth and list all those unknown martyrs.

I strongly suggest that nation should start taking account of all known and
unknown martyrs from now on. Their data must be collected through related
political parties and families. The nation should realize that a martyr does
not belong to any particular party or community but is the priceless
property of the entire nation. This data collection will help the nation to
make some concrete decisions to preserve their contributions to the nation
and possible support for martyrs' families. It will also help  to  include 
all the known and unknown martyrs in the school curriculum as well.

I would like to acknowledge that I am thankful to various scholars for the
discussions, which helped me formulate my ideas and opinions. However
responsibility and weaknesses of these formulations are entirely mine.
Misrepresentation of any names above is highly regretted and corrective
suggestion would be appreciated.
Adieus,

Krishna B. Thapa
Hong Kong
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