Volunteering for violence

UML chair KP Oli’s bid to create a parallel security organ must be resisted.

Whenever KP Sharma Oli, the CPN-UML chairperson, has felt under political or personal threat, he has sought to cultivate a militant youth wing in the party. Last time, when he was removed as prime minister in 2021, he revived the Youth Force, the quasi-militant outfit. Back then the main target of Oli’s ire was the faction of Madhav Kumar Nepal, senior UML leader, which had decided to back the premiership of Sher Bahadur Deuba by breaking ranks with the party. This time, following the Gen Z revolt that removed him from power, Oli has created a new youth militant organisation, the National Volunteer Force (NVF). Oli was the main target of the irate anti-government protests at the start of September after his government gunned down 19 unarmed protesters on the first day of the agitation. The next day, he had to literally run for his life as the prime minister’s residence in Baluwatar was set on fire. Following his ouster, the new Sushila Karki government has significantly cut down his security detail—even as the risks against him have multiplied. Oli thus seems to have calculated that a personal defence force was sorely needed.