Silent majority my ass!

The much touted “Silent Majority”, after a lot of chattering about the chaos that was the Jana Andolan II (to a large extent limited to the net), have once again become silent. Blog dai prefers to focus on free Tibet, and Maila Baje diligently posts with a tinge of melancholy for the good ole days of Gyanendra. This supposed majority supports the king, thinks the Maoists are the devil incarnates, and democratic expression of dissent is a disruption of normal life. Culling freedom is okay, for the sake of law and order. Ethnic rights is de facto disintegration. Glad to see them back to being silent again. The real silent majority was the rural poor, the downtrodden, the marginalized – and they have spoken loud and clear.

But old habits die hard. Here’s a defense of why Gyanendra should win the Nobel Peace Prize:

If Girija deserves the Nobel Prize for democratizing the Maoists, Gyanendra deserves the Nobel Prize (even more) for engineering the conditions that enabled Girija to reinvent himself and subsequently, "mainstream" the Maoists. Girija may be in the process of "unselfishly" sacrificing the Nepali Congress to build his own legacy but King Gyanendra already has sacrificed all his followers, his personal legacy, and a 240 year old dynasty to prove a point - what this point is, only history will tell. So who deserves the Nobel Prize more?

Talk about sophistry!

And what’s up with old Girija babu’s insistence on holding power? Next thing we know, his death wish may be to convert the Baluwatar Niwas to a mausoleum, mummify his body, and let him reign till eternity.

Three weeks after the elections, a clear public mandate, and still no clear future head-of-state? We need to build this Naya Nepal fast.