Not particularly interested to engage in a debate with GP ji who is a fantastic political analyst and an expert on the Maoists, however his conclusive remark about the Maoists in his posting (Maobadi haru ko prabhav niskriya hundai chha) caught my attention. Because I also happen to think on the same line. I also think that the Maoists have lost an extremely consequential political power within last two years. And that loss is continually increasing- to our great relief. I will explain shortly what I meant and how I reached to this conclusion. Let me first speculate about GP's explanation. Knowing his views well enough, I have come to the conclusion that what GP wrote above is not what he actually believes. He actually believes that Maobadi ko prabhav ghatdai hoina baru badhdaichha. Then why would he post the opposite statement ? Tyo kura ta GP matrai jaandachhan. Yes, GP actually believes that the influence of the Maoists is growing. Proof ? Come on. This guy believes that a lot of intellectuals are supporting the Maoists. He even issued a fatwa right here on Sajha to kill Daman Nath Dhungana. He offered that he will donate his hard earned dollars (was it Yen, then ?) for assassination of Daman Nath Dhungana. His sin ? According to GP, he was liberal to the Maoists. He believes Girish Pokharel, a good friend of mine in DC, is a Maoist and his emagazine, The Nepali Post, is maobadi ko mukhpatra. Why only Girish Pokharel, he beleives that I am myself a Maoist. As recent as a few weeks ago, he posted a reply (on one of Ashu's threads) reiterating his belief that Nepe is a Maoist. Right GP ji ? So a guy who probably thinks that anything that moves is a Maoist states that Maobadi ko prabhav niskriya hunadaichha. GP, why is, in your thesis, the conclusion quite opposite of the results ? Now about my own assessment of the Maoists. I have said it many times - the Maoists are extremely powerful because they are carrying extremely powerful political weapons ( the question of full democracy and other social-economic issues) that nobody else is carrying. The only way to weaken and eventually defeat the Maoists is to disarm them from these weapons. And the only way to do that is to snatch these weapons by pro-democracy forces in the country. And this is really happening. Thanks to Gyanendra maharaj ko open adventures which have only accelerated the process. The republicanism is no more a Maoist agenda. It is now our- the democracy and freedom loving people's agenda. Slowly but surely, the Maoists are being left with their obsolete weapon of communism and illegitimate violence. They will have to give these up. Whether they do or not, with these , they will never be able to be a real threat to our democracy and freedom. Even in the worst scenario, these terrorists will be reduced to, let me borrow Kerry's word, a nuisance. We can live with that, can't we ?