Nepal Maoists take Raajneeti break from politics
Fatigued and frustrated by their fruitless one-year war to topple the government, Nepal’s Opposition Maoist party took a break from politics to recharge their batteries — by watching the recent Bollywood blockbuster Raajneeti.
Nearly a dozen top Maoist leaders, including former ministers and current MPs, trooped into the Kumari cinema here on Sunday to watch Hindi film director Prakash Jha’s new political thriller starring Ajay Devgn and Katrina Kaif.
They included former finance minister Baburam Bhattarai, who is also projected from time to time as an alternative to Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, his wife, former tourism minister Hisila Yami, former peace and reconstruction minister Janardan Sharma Prabhakar and Nanda Kishore Pun Pasang, one of the top commanders of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army that waged a 10-year war against the state from 1996.
The group of comparatively young leaders are serious Bollywood watchers, known not to miss films on serious social and political issues. A few months ago, some members of the same group had watched the Ram Gopal Varma offering, Rann, about a media baron and found it “inspiring”.
However, Raajneeti, loosely based on the Hindu epic Mahabharat, left the Maoist leaders unmoved.
Manushi Bhattarai, young Maoist leader and daughter of Baburam Bhattarai, said she found the film related to happenings in India, not Nepal.
Maoist journalist Manorishi Dhital said he found it negative.
“Raajneeti focused on the negative aspect of politics and conspiracies,” Mr Dhital said. “It ignored the positive impacts when you regard politics worldwide.”
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