Dhan Bahadur Rana, Tansen, 2009
I met Dhan again by chance. I wanted to know more about two of my students who were murdered by the army in the jungle near Deurali. I was introduced to him not realising he was one of my ex-students. Unsurprisingly, he remembered me very well. He was studying in class 9 in 1996, and although appeared guarded throughout our long conversation, was eager to tell his story. After passing his SLC he decided he wanted to join the Maoists. He claimed one influencing factor was a story I related about standards of living in the UK which made him question why Nepal was poor? However, he was quick to point out this was not a major factor in his political enlightenment. He joined the Young Communist League (YCL) and enrolled in an Engineering College in Pokhara, completing 1 year before joining the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) with seven other students. He married another member of the PLA, who is now district officer of Maoist women’s organization. Dhan is currently district head of the YCL in Palpa. They have one daughter aged 3yrs. When we discussed the accusations against the YCL for using violence he kept the party line and claimed it mainly organizes educational programmes in villages to raise awareness amongst the people. He said that any violence they are involved in is in retaliation to other political groups trying to stop their work. It seems impossible that he truly believes this and he seemed to be aware that I didn’t buy the story. He justified the conflict started by the Maoists as a reaction to the violence and discrimination perpetuated by the state against marginalised groups, and although his way of speaking was rather cliched I did not doubt his political convictions. We talked about how diverse political alignments impact on village life, and how he reconciles these differences with people he has grown up with. Given the close ties that exist in these small communities it is hard to imagine how difficult life must have become between friends and family members, even now the conflict is over.
