Global Integrity contributor Ghanashyam Ojha starts a fire — literally — with a story exposing the financial workings of the Young Communist League in Nepal.
The report reads:
“Shoe factories provide us shoes and various other industrialists provide food and other items. Even some hoteliers here willingly give us a monthly levy ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000. So we have not faced any financial problems so far” says Gurung, former company commander of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Third Division in Chitwan…
The locals in Kapan refuse to talk to the press about what they think of YCL activities in their vicinity. “I don’t want to speak about it,” a local hotelier told the Post, refusing to reveal his identity.
Ojha reports that the publication of his story drew immediate attention from the government and the YCL both. In an email to Global Integrity, Ojha writes:
This week I wrote a story on the economy of Young Communist League (YCL), a youth wing of Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists. The economy of YCL was never reported and it exploded right after it was published in The Kathmandu Post and Kantipur daily, two largest daily newspapers in Nepal.
The same evening, when the story was published, police raided offices of YCL in Kathmandu. The YCL burnt tyres, called a brief strike in Kathmandu. I also received threats in a very polite way by some YCL leaders. I was pleased to have been successful to expose such a sensational issue in Nepal.
