Kathmandu agog to hear what justice the loan shark victims or meterbyaji pidit will get, read one more time that the government has made a four-point agreement with them on March 11, 2024. That means these men and women, the helpless usury victims who arrived here over two weeks ago after walking for 23 days, will return home. A pattern of resistance is visible in these marches. These "predatory lending" victims even made it to the precincts of the parliamentary building on February 26, 2024, creating a stir in the power-savvy political circles obsessed with the psyche of ruling games. These marchers have introduced a strong mode of nonviolent protest in today's so-called revolutionary socialist Nepal.

This is not the first such long march of the victims to the capital to seek justice. The same people had marched a long distance earlier on foot. But the other groups of people, all victims of similar acts of injustice, made by the rich landlords and the factory owners have created a pattern of resistance of the peasants and the subalterns. Some succumbed to the cold and the stress of the travel.

In this article I am alluding to a few topics that evoke the simple dialectics, to use a Marxist term, between the exploiters and the exploited people of this land. The irony of political structuralism is that the majority of the political parties are communists, making the debate triggered by them important in post-conflict Nepal. One example is in order. The Maoists called over 100,000 people to march on May Day 2010 and paralyse the life of the selfsame mythopoetic city called Kathmandu—the centre of power, consciousness, governance and ideas. Madhav Kumar Nepal, a prominent communist leader, was the prime minister then. I wrote an article about that in this newspaper titled "Whose city is this?" (February 2, 2011).

The largest party, the Nepali Congress, also espouses socialism as its main principle. To illustrate that, I mention below the diary entries of BP Koirala in which he describes the peasant protests in Tarai. While writing an introduction to BP Koirala's Diary of 1951-56 for my book BP Koirala's Diary: Story of Courage and Freedom (2020), I have highlighted the nature of the peasant revolt that had become a subject of interest in Nepal and India at that time. I quote some lines from the same introduction: "To understand this, one should read the diary entries of this year, especially of BP's visits to different places in the light of the liberating spirit of the peasants. The diary entries of April 7, 19 and 22 of the year 1953 are only windows to those moments of uprisings and consciousness.

Referring to the flames of the peasant uprising, BP writes, "If we had not very sternly put ourselves against it, the whole district would have been aflame—the peasant revolution would have started.” He writes, "I am prepared for it today before other districts are also ready. … The present tour has been a great eyewitness to me. The reality is that the masses demand an agrarian justice" ( April 22, 1953). The Nepali farmers have not received justice yet. BP's dream remains unfulfilled. BP was planning to give leadership to such revolts. He writes the Indian ambassador "Mr Gokhle," was trying to convince him that such plans would lead to a violent path." The reason was "they were fully familiar with the leadership quality and power of BP Koirala; … any such revolt of the common mass if that happened in Nepal under BP's leadership could trigger similar movements in India.” I don't know how many Nepali Congress people have noticed these entries.

Similarly, I want to allude to another book entitled Nepali Communist Andolan ra Janakrantika Aitihasik Dastabejharu Grantha 1 (2069 BS Magh). This fat tome of 800 pages was given to me for review by its organiser and the main person behind its publication Lokendra Bista. I wrote a short review of this historical book titled Bam, Itihas ra Express or “Left, History and Express” in Kantipur (May 19, 2014). This book contains diverse texts starting with the first pamphlet or parcha issued on September 15, 1949, after the establishment of the Nepal Communist Party. It presents important documents, including the report by the general secretary Pushpa Kamal Dahal presented in 2045 BS at the central committee meeting of Mashal.

The interesting part of the documents is the diverse approaches of the communists to the problems of the peasants and common mass and the question of the establishment of the socialist system. The report of the general secretary Manmohan Adhikari presented at the first party congress in Magh of 2010 BS puts the historical context in these words, "communist party does not talk about the establishment of socialism in Nepal, because it experiences that the situation of the country now is not appropriate for this". The following reports too present party views on this subject.

Marching as a form of protest is a favourite term in the history of both the communists and the non-communists alike. It is very interesting to see that those who have been making peaceful marches to the capital Kathmandu for justice after establishing a democratic republic in Nepal are the genuine peasants, proletariats and subalterns. Some march in their own areas. And those who are ruling the country are mostly communists and, of course, the socialist Congress Party. Peasant march has become a metaphor for protest. What is worrying and also surprising is that the above parties are drifting away from their historical responsibilities and their avowed political principles, which invites analysis.

Let us evoke two great metaphors of marches. Long March (1934–35) of the Chinese Communist Party made under the leadership of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai is one. The 80,000 revolutionary soldiers who began the March in 1934 against the powerful force of the Guomindang covered nearly 6,000 miles of difficult terrain. Only a few thousand "ragged survivors" reached the remote corner of Shaanxi province. Anthony Lawrence's monumental huge tome titled China: The Long March (1986) presents rare photographs of the Long March with description; it is a stunning book.

Another prominent event representing resistance against the British policy on salt is associated with the Salt Satyagraha march called by Mahatma Gandhi. It began on March 12, 1930, and covered 240 miles in three and a half weeks. The march drew huge crowds every day. Ultimately, about 60,000 marchers were jailed though the protests were non-violent.

All marches are not made for change. Retrogressive forces too march. But history says only marches of democratic resistance and rights win.