The spotlight has returned to Young Communist League (YCL), the youth offshoot of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). In January, TIME Asia reported on their potential use in nation-building, and a week later, Nepali police raided their office in Kathmandu. The YCL has responded with street agitation in parts of the valley, bringing life to a stand still for hours. Telegraph Nepal quoted the league's chairman,"If we so desire, we can capture the capital within five minutes." The league's Kathmandu in-charge, Chandra Bahadur Thapa Magar alias Comrade Sagar, was in the Balaju YCL headquarter during the raid. He told The Rising Nepal, "Police are trying to force us vacate the office, but we will not relent to that pressure." The following photos were taken in August, 2007.

It was clear from the start who the YCL was; some of the better-trained and battle-hardened members of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) created by the CPN-Maoist, soldiers that were supposed to be registered and kept at the various UN Cantonment Camps in Nepal. Its chairman, Ganesh Man Pun, told the Nepali Times in April 2007, "The YCL is a fusion of the party's military and political character, it is composed of PLA members who have an interest in politics."

Every morning at the Balaju headquarter, YCL cadres practiced martial arts and were 'dispatched' in small groups for various tasks in the valley. It was almost like a makeshift barrack, where an empty tin shed in the back served as a mess hall as well. Just minutes away, league Chairman Pun lived in an apartment with his wife and child and a few cadres.

Perched mid-way on a hill in Balaju, the outskirts of Kathmandu city, this building used to be a factory and an office. Inside, big halls were divided into sections with plastic sheets to separate sleeping/private spaces for girls and boys. Several bags of sands guarded various vantage points in the compound, such as the area behind the gate and parts of the balcony/terrace too.

This female YCL cadre, standing in front of her "bed", said she had been a member of the party for more than a year, and that it helped her feel empowered. She also talked about how the government never provided opportunity for girls while "the party has given us people's education."

The reason the CPN-M wanted to maintain this force became increasingly apparent as they infiltrated unions and business houses, often to strong-arm its management and anyone else opposing their mother party. While the People's Government was supposed to have been officially dissolved when the Maoists joined the government, YCL did not hesitate to continue providing social justice even in Kathmandu. Recent media reports from Nepal have claimed that the people's government has in fact been reinstated by the CPN-M. During strikes and street protests, the YCL ensured the party's presence was felt .

In late January, the YCL Central Committee declared they would post 200 YCL cadres at polling stations across the country during the Constituent Assembly Elections to be held this April. The Election Commission has announced that there will be 20,883 polling booths in the country, meaning the CPN-M and YCL would have to mobilize an impossible 41,76,600 YCL cadres. But booth capturing and ballot stuffing is not a new practice in Nepali politics and it is only natural that the CPN-M and YCL be tempted to try doing the same, given the party's history of using intimidation as means of control.

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