Nepal¿s ¿red¿ press thrives underground
King Gyanendra has muzzled Nepal`s independent media but the rebel propaganda machinery continues full steam from secret centres.
Sudeshna Sarkar
Indo-Asian News Service
Kathmandu, Nov 30--When the rest of Nepal is getting ready to start the day`s work, people in the mountainous mid-western district of Rolpa reach out for transistors to tune in to the transmission from Nepal`s Maoists. While King Gyanendra muzzled Nepal`s independent media after seizing power in February, the rebel propaganda machinery continues full steam from secret centres.
Playing a key role propagating the Maoist ideology is Radio Janaganatantra (Radio People`s Republic) - Nepal`s `red` radio run from the underground by the guerrillas in Rolpa district, considered as the cradle of the Maoist insurgency. The radio is estimated to have more listeners now since its competitors, the independent FM stations, were banned by the government from airing news bulletins.
The Maoist FM station has five divisions, each running separate programmes in a different zone - the Seti-Mahakali area in the far west, Bheri-Karnali in midwest, Base area in the west, and the valley area covering Kathmandu and Mechi-Koshi in the east.
While the government has been able to jam the valley service in the remote areas, listeners can tune into the Maoist service that runs from 6 a.m. to 7.30 a.m. and again from 6 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. It airs news, as seen from the Maoist perspective, "people`s education" as opposed to the education in state-run institutions, information about the guerrilla programmes and even, bowing to popular demand, songs on request. There is also the red press with a wide range of publications.
The most widely read is "Janadesh" (People`s Command), a weekly that publishes news, interviews and articles by guerrilla leaders. Into its 15th year, Janadesh earlier used to be printed from Baghbazar in the heart of the city. It went underground after its editor Krishna Sen was arrested in 2001 and tortured to death.
Today, though Janadesh is mainly an online publication, about 20,000 copies are still printed from an underground press and sold in rebel strongholds as well as abroad. In the far west, there is Jana Sandesh (People`s News), and in the east, Jana Bidroha (People`s Revolution).
Like the royalist government, the banned Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist too has a full-fledged information and communication division that brings out the mouthpieces of its different units. There is Yoddha (Warrior - to represent the students` union), Mahila Dhwani (Women`s Voice - of the rebels` women`s wing), Kishan Sandesh (Peasants` News) and Sangin (The Bayonet), the mouthpiece of the teachers` union.
These publications come out once in three or six months and on special occasions. There is also the secret bulletin - Maobadi - meant only for internal consumption. For the rebel journalists, the king`s rule has not made much difference from the earlier governments.
But Hiramani Dukhi, a former teacher who is now one of the editors of Janadesh, says his team members are not Maoists, only sympathisers. Besides Krishna Sen, nine to 10 Maoist journalists have been killed so far, Dukhi estimates.
Why do they still stick to their guns?
"We are supporting the people`s revolution because it will bring democracy and liberation from repression and exploitation," Dukhi says. "Besides, there`s no such thing as an independent media. Everyone supports one mission or another," he adds.
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