Maoist aligned Young Communist League (YCL) are pitching their camps in not only abandoned buildings and warehouses but now in buildings of defunct government-run corporations also, Kantipur Daily reports.
The youth organization, which was famously termed Young Criminal League by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala some time ago and which has been denounced for their highhandedness including roughing up rival political party cadres, has been giving “political training” to new recruits at the Minbhawan located garage of Trolley Bus Corporation in the capital city, which is adjacent to BICC complex which is being spruced up in war-footing for the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly.
Kantipur Daily reported that on Tuesday YCL’s “regional chairman” Akash Maharjan was giving political training to few youths wearing YCL costumes inside the garage of the near defunct corporation.
The young commies with the YCL area 1 were also there discussing their future strategy including their one-month long campaign set to start from Wednesday. Although various political parties are putting concerted pressure on the Maoist leadership for the dissolution of this outfit, the cadres there seemed without any cares.
Half of the 40 YCL cadres who were there call this trolley bus garage”home” as they also sleep here.
“After the night sets in, 20 of us go to sleep in Maoist headquarter in Buddhanagar and the remaining of us sleep here,” one cadre who had recently joined the outfit told the daily adding, “we go to Dashrath Rangashala (national stadium) in the morning to learn Judo and Karate.”
A small vacant piece of land in the premises of the Trolleybus office is also being used by them and where they aim to grow vegetables for their comrades living in Kapan, the Balaju head office of YCL and to the Maoist party headquarters in Buddhanagar. The trolleybus workshop has also been turned into a pond to spawn fish, only that they need pour water into it now.
The trolleybus garage has now become the temporary residence of YCL cadres just like few other companies and factories that have closed down, government offices, warehouses including abandoned buildings in the city.
Kantipur Daily quoted one of the cadres as saying that their friends are living in 50 to 60 places like this scattered around the capital city, and it is set to grow as the YCL is busy in a one-month long people’s campaign to extend its organizational influence.
To recall, YCL’s central meeting had concluded last week deciding to increase its strength to 1 million members within a year.
“We saw it necessary to build an outfit comprising of young volunteers so as to realize the dream of a civilized and highly cultured Nepal in a 100 years time,” Maoist central member cum YCL in-charge Kul Prasad KC told Kantipur Daily.
YCL general secretary Dilip Kumar Prajapati said that if their parent party, CPN-Maoist, goes on to form the government, then YCL would actively involve itself in security including other areas. He said that they would also commit themselves to big government projects to help bring about the “economic revolution” the party has promised.
“We would determine our strategy based on the kind of government that would be formed,” Prajapati told the daily adding, “for that the central working committee meeting would take place once the government is formed.”
YCL claims that till now more than half a million people have already taken its membership. Among them some 450,000 are said to be ordinary and around 50,000 are active cadres. Some 6 to 7 thousand among them are whole timers. nepalnews.com ag May 14 08