By IANS
Kathmandu : Two icons, as different from each other as chalk and cheese, were feted by two different groups in Nepal Tuesday for their contribution to diverse causes.
Two different groups in Nepal honoured Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Manvendra Singh Gohil, a scion of the former princely state of Vadodara who is India’s first gay prince to come out of the closet.
Che, who helped Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro seize power from the regime of Fulgencio Batista and became an icon of the socialist revolutionary movement, was remembered by Maoist guerrillas in Nepal Tuesday, the day when 40 years ago he was summarily executed after being captured in Bolivia by the Central Investigative Agency (CIA) and US Army Special Forces.
The Maoists have fought a 10-year underground battle to overthrow Nepal’s omnipotent royal dynasty.
“The world remembers Che,” said the Janadesh weekly, one of the Maoist party’s organs. “Forty years later, he still petrifies America,” said its sister concern, the Janadisha daily. “It’s been four decades since he died, yet his fame is rising.”
Fans of the legendary revolutionary, whose face looks out at people from T-shirts in Kathmandu’s shops, are also holding a meet in his memory in Kathmandu.
While Che’s death is remembered in Nepal, a group is toasting another icon’s birthday.
The Blue Diamond Society (BDS), Nepal’s only organisation devoted to promoting and protecting the rights of the sexual minorities, is feting the 42nd birthday of Indian prince Gohil.
Gohil, a champion of the gay civil rights movement in India and supporter of people living with HIV, celebrated his birthday Sunday on the grounds of the royal palace in India’s Gujarat state along with AIDS patients and gay musicians and artists.
Gohil is an icon for Nepal’s gay community for declaring his homosexuality publicly last year, which resulted in his family temporarily disowning him and stripping him of his title.
Since its inception in 2002, the BDS has been encouraging homosexuals to seek their rights and has hosted Nepal’s first public gay and lesbian marriages, the first gay beauty pageant and first gay film festival.
It is also campaigning to get the government to issue citizenship certificates to transgenders and had its first victory when a citizen in south Nepal was issued a certificate that instead of listing him as male or female said both.