Audio Clip Mr. Anil Kumar Jha, a joint general secretary of Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandi Devi), sat down for an interview on 18 October 2005 while he was in Boston on another program.
In the interview, Anil speaks about his party’s struggle to represent Madeshi issues, in terms of proportional representation, cultural and linguistic rights.
He speaks about the armed conflict and dynamics between the 7 agitating parties and the CPN(M). In this regard, he touches on what the role of international community could be, to support a nascent 7 Parties/CPN(M) alliance that may yield peace with dividends of social justice if enacted correctly.
He touches on the split in the NSP that occurred in 2003. The leader of the other faction, Mandal, is now an acting minister in the King’s government. He predicts that the Anandi Devi faction, which is representing the will of the people, will survive as the Nepal Sadbhawana Party while the Mandal faction will subside.
Listen to the interview by saving the file from the link below:
MP3 file, 3.59MB
Produced by Sage Radachowsky for INSN.
Madhesis are exploited. That has been true since Nepal got established as a country. The country is there, but the state is not there. The Madhesis pay more than 70% of the revenues, but get less than 20% back. Less than 5% of the civil servants are Madhesi, there are none in the army. Maybe there are a few doctors, engineers, barbers, dhobis in the army who are Madhesi. Same with the police. Only one Madhesi became DIG.
Another issue is to do with parliamentary constituencies. In Manang 10,000 people get one seat. In Rautahat half a million people have only four seats. All constituencies should be based on equal population.
We are also demanding a federal form of government. The central government can not do everything. We are for five state governments and one central government. The centre can take defense, foreign relations. Development work should be by the states.
We also talk about our culture. There is no such charter in the world anywhere. In the Nepali parliament only one race is allowed. The MPs are not police or military. So why is there a unform for MPs? In other countries, the MPs decide what they want to wear.
There is Mt Everest and there is Rajbiraj. In the same zone. When it is 40 degrees celsius, Everest might have minus 10 or minus 20. How can you control both places? That is why we are talking of federal government. A tribal of Namche wears bakkhu, a Madhesi wears dhoti.
As you know Nepal is multi-lingual, multi-cultural. We are also talking about language. Nepali is the common language in the hills. More than 60-70% of the Madhesi people can not speak Nepali. Our lingua franca is Hindi. So we want Hindi to be the second national language. When hills people talk to the locals in Rautahat they do so in Hindi.
Our all these demands have been momentarily sidelined. For now we are focused on democracy. We are one of the seven agitating parties.
The Maoists are fighting with the establishment. Their slogans are positive. That is why they became popular. They became popular among the tribals, Dalits, women, the Madhesis. Those groups never got justice during 12 years of democracy.
The international community does not listen to those with no muscle. We have no bargaining capacity. The Maoists through guns and ammunition attracted all the world community.
All things in the country are derailed. Democracy is derailed, development work is derailed. We are very aware about that.
Peaceful movement is not noticed. The big powers only listen the sound of barrels. Otherwise we Sadbhavana Party people have been talking peacefully for 15 years. We waged hunger strikes. But noone noticed. Not the international community. But they notice the Maoists.
This is a very fertile time. This is a negotiable time. All the major parties, even the pro-palace party RPP is not supporting the king. The RJP is not either. All the parties are against the king. All seven parties, who had 95% of the parliament, are all for a constituent assembly. This is a fertile time for the Maoists also. This time will never come in the future. If the Maoists miss this opportunity, they will not get this ever again. They should come talk to us, the seven parties.
They have stopped their People's War by our request. We hope we will settle something.
In 2003, our party split. Badri Mandal is a Minister, he was Deputy Prime Minister. He wants to be Minister at any cost. He has no principles. He has card given to him by Gajendra Babu. He is cashing that card. But once there is democracy, his party will collapse. We will be the only Sadbhavana left. If now there is regime of king, but when the time of public will come, only those who are with the people will survive. We are with the people.
Any talk between the Maoists and the seven parties, the obstacle is what and how we can implement any negotiated agreement. This is a major obstacle. Neither they nor us are in power. That is why. We can only make strategies in terms of joint agitations. Something will be negotiated. We should convince the international community. That is necessary. If Maoists by heart and soul and by brain, if they would like to, they can do so. The general people are with us. The people are not with the rulers.
The international community is confused by the Maoists. Their goal is totalitarian. But they are also wanting to convince the international community that that is not the case. That they will obey rule of law, multi-party, market, press freedom. By their activities they can convince the international community. They have captured parts of the country. If they will practice these things in those parts, then they will earn legitimacy. By thier acts. By doing.
If someone can organize a Maoist party, they must know the international reality. They must know geopolitics. They must be thinking about their future.
Politics has two sides of coin. One is change society. Another is to rule over the country. Prachanda is more than 50 years old. If he wants to be Prime Minister. I am in politics for the last 16 years. I have never seen Prachanda. So I think he is thinking about this. I think he will come into the open soon. But for that the right environment has to be created.
Some are seven party opinion, some are my party's opinion, some are my personal opinion.
My English is not so good. But I wanted to express myself. You can edit if there are any mistakes.
Sage: Your English is 10 times better than my Nepali.
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