Democracy For Nepal: Surya Subedi, Not A Democrat

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Surya Subedi, Not A Democrat

So far, despite repeated attempts, I have not been able to get published at NepalNews.com, Kantipur or The Kathmandu Post. And the honchos at the Nepal Democracy Google Group kicked me out of that self-styled Skulls And Bones Society in December: diaspora Bahuns/Pahadis on overdrive.

Why do I bring this up?

I don't need NepalNews or the Post: my blog works just fine. It gets read by many key people. It is like one of those insider Wall Street newsletters. On the other hand, if things I say carry weight with the likes of Madhav Nepal, perhaps Kantipur is not right in acting like I did not exist. I just feel the urge to take offense on behalf of the 13 million Madhesis in Nepal. It is not about me. I am beyond the reach of any Pahadi.

My blog's Google group is six times larger than the Nepal Democracy Google group. I expect it to have become 15 times larger in a few months. I think it is just fine that that group is exclusive. But they should have the guts to go public with the archives. As in only members may post, but anyone may read. Or they should change their name from Nepal Democracy to Nepal Plutocracy, or Nepal Bahuncracy, or Nepal Pahadicracy. These guys don't get social justice, they don't get free speech half the time. By extension they don't get democracy.

What are my credentials? I am the only Nepali in the diaspora doing Nepal work full time. I am the only Nepali in New York City who gave some time to the mayoral election in New York City a few months back. My blog on US politics gets page hits from the US Senate, but to these Pahadis/Bahuns, I am invisible.

And there comes along Surya Subedi. I can't believe this guy was ever a student leader. Student leader of what? Nepal Bidyarthi Mandal? This guy has his Bahun blinders on.

Nepal in a state of legal and constitutional anarchy Surya Subedi, NepalNews

Subedi Surya, Not Surya Subedi 24 Jan 2006

Subedi is proof no amount of education can cure you of your ethnic and caste prejudices.

Subedi, how hard is it for you to understand that only the Nepali people may write their constitution? That that is what democracy means? That that is what sovereignty means? That the idea of a constituent assembly was first talked about in Nepal more than 50 years ago? That it is that idea in Iraq for which the US has spent more than $200 billion, 2,200 American lives and 30,000 Irqi lives? How hard is it for you?

Subedi is one of those people who initially became happy when the king took over.

Well, it would have been good if he had been able to do what the country expected him to do. But even on that count he has failed miserably.

After the coup, what if the king had delivered? What if inflation had gone down? What if the happiness index in the country had gone up? What if the Maoists had surrendered, Phulan Devi style? If the king had delivered, Subedi would have been happy. But he is sad that the king did not do what he said he will do. This sentiment is flawed at several levels at once. The king is illegitimate, his rule in illegitimate. He was wrong as soon as he decided upon the coup. And it is no surprise that he has not delivered. Autocracies don't deliver, democracies do. Nepal never had democracy.

He talks of five options.

The first is an outright revolution to overthrow the monarchy and to tame the feudal class..... Option number two is to revive the old parliament...... The third option championed by the Maoists and supported mainly by another main political party, the UML (United Marxist Leninist), and a large section of the intellectual community in Nepal is holding elections for a constituent assembly to write a new constitution....... The fourth option that the Maoists and some left-leaning intellectuals have talked about is forming some sort of a parallel government, which would unite the Maoists and the seven-political parties to challenge the King head on...... The fifth option, which I personally have advanced, is amending the present constitution in order to complete the unfinished job of the people's movement of 1990.

The only good thing about this analysis is that he has managed to show that the Congress' heart is not yet into the idea of a constituent assembly. If it was, it would not be so stuck on the idea of House revival. And then Subedi goes on to diss the idea of a constituent assembly himself. Makes me think he might be a Congressia.

.....if one were to accept the principle of peaceful coexistence of all political forces within the country, and take into account the ground realities in existence today, the constitution that may be written by the constituent assembly may not be very different from the present constitution. This is because people representing all political spectrums, including the monarchy, may get elected and if the majority were to write a constitution in complete disregard for others it would create more problems. The constituent assembly may very well open up a Pandora's Box in the country and create even ethnic and religious tensions of protracted nature in such a precariously balanced diverse society.

Subedi is among those people who think they know everyone who is worth knowing in Nepal, many of them are friends and relatives. 27 million people are at best background noise. Either you accept Bahun hegemony, or there is going to be chaos. It is people like Subedi who help you understand why the Maoist insurgency might have erupted in the first place. This guy has no idea, not the slightest inkling as to why a constituent assembly is needed for Nepal, how that is the one and only way out of the present situation. Subedi is part of that tribe that claims the king is the symbol of unity in Nepal whereas the truth is precisely the opposite. The ethnic prejudice in Nepal is so fundamentally airtight and suffocating, no wonder the Newars and the Bahuns in Indianapolis do not talk to each other, that finally the Sheraps, Gurungs and Tamangs of New York City have organized themselves along ethnic lines. They have to come tens of thousands of miles away to finally be able to assert themselves.

These Bahunds don't change. They can go to England, America. Heck, they could go to the moon and they will still not change. It is this thick headedness that makes the oppressed feel there is no point reasoning with them. And that is what gives rise to violence. The Subedi school of thought drives the oppressed desperate. Equality, social justice and the like are recipe for chaos in Subedi's world. 27 million people in Nepal can not be trusted. The fundamental law of the land can only be written by some small clique behind closed doors. These chosen ones are god.

Subedi is wrong, patronizing and prejudiced. Subedi is dangerous.

If divesity is such gunpowder as Subedi describes, New York City would be under a permanent civil war. Instead it is the capital city of the world. The 1990 constitution is crap. Even if the Maoists were to magically disappear, there is no going back to that crap. I am for a constituent assembly with or without the Maoists. I challenge Subedi to come up with a few intelligent arguments as to why not. So far he has only offered a few stupid ones.

This Inadequate, Improper, Insufficient 1990 Constitution (April 4)

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