UML Regression On The Madhesi Question

Nepal Preace Process: Breakthrough On Arms Issue, UML Has New ... United We Blog, Nepal UML’s stands come at a time when all parties have almost reached consensus on major issues. UML stands are following: 1. The voting list of the referendum of 2037 BS should be the basis of distributing citizenship. [A bill with the provision of providing citizenship to all people born before or in 2046 is under consideration in the parliament. Earlier, UML agreed on the bill. When the cabinet passed the bill, no UML ministers raised voice against that.] 2. A referendum must be held to decide the fate of monarchy. [The summit talks on Bhadra 24 had decided that the first meeting of the CA would decide the fate of monarchy: to continue it or not. Nepali Congres is strictly against the referendum arguing that going for voting will give opportunity for the king to play the game. Even Maoists are now against the referendum saying that April Uprising was the biggest referendum in which people expressed their vote against monarchy. The party thinks that to have voting again on the same issue will be ‘regressive’.] 3. The whole country must be taken as one constituency and proportionate voting procedure must be opted. UML thinks that with this procedure, the agendas of parties will get importance than the individual contestants. This will, UML thinks, will strengthen political parties’ representation in CA. [Parties in the last summit had almost agreed on holding elections via mixed voting method. That means 205 (out of 425) members will be elected from current constituencies and parties will nominate other 204 in proportion to the popular vote they get. The Prime Minister will nominate the remaining 16 members.]
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This asinine stance of the UML on the citizenship issue raises many large questions. Of all the large parties, it is the central committee of the UML that is most eskewed towards the Bahuns. They are the one who have most excluded the Dalits, Janajatis and Madhesis in the top ranks of their party, Madhesis more than most.

And now that Bahunbaad is exhibiting itself. If the 60 lakh Madhesis who have been denied the same do not get their citizeship papers then Nepal will see another movement larger than the April Revolution.


Madhesis Unite: A Two Point Program To The Constituent Assembly
(sent to NepalNews.com)

Prithvi Narayan Shah colonized the lands of the Madhesis and every ruler since then, autocratic or democratic, has only maintained that status quo. There is little hope from those in leadership positions in the large parties today. These are people who are more likely to express solidarity to the Nepali speaking Bhutanis and Indians than to the Madhesis of Nepal.

The constituent assembly elections offer hope for the Madhesis to become part of the Nepali identity for the first time ever, but that can not be taken for granted. Rights are earned, they are snatched, they are taken. Rights are seldom offered as gifts. The April Revolution itself is a great example to that basic tenet.

The Madhesis all over Nepal and spread across the globe are going to have to organize around a common minimum program, to be achieved through negotiation with the eight parties, and failing so, through massive street agitations reminiscent of the April Revolution itself.

There are Madhesis in all eight parties, although not in large enough numbers or in top leadership positions that might reflect the Madhesi composition of the national population. I would argue the Madhesi-Pahadi dynamic is the number one social justice issue in Nepal. There is anti-Madhesi prejudice within the women's rights movement, within the Dalit rights movement, and within the Janajati rights movement. There is anti-Madhesi prejudice in the media.

We have to form a Madhesi Caucus in the interim parliament. All Madhesis regardless of party affiliation would join this caucus. And we have to form a Madhesi Mahasangh. This would be the umbrella organization for all Madhesi organizations and NGOs in the country. And the Association of Nepali Teraian in America, ANTA, has to rename itself to ANT, and launch branches in all countries where there are Madhesis.

Together we have to bang heads and come up with a simple common minimum program that all Madhesis can get behind for the purposes of the constituent assembly. The eight parties had and still have many differences, but they got together to push the king aside. We have many differences among us, but we have to get together to attain total equality for the Madhesis in Nepal.

I am alarmed that the big parties in Nepal have been playing foul on the citizenship paper question. I am alarmed that they are about to hijack the whole constituent assembly process to maintain the staus quo. The 1990s were a sham decade for Madhesi rights. There is no going back.

We have to make sure we do not allow our energies to be dissipated into dead end causes. Violence is a dead end cause and out of question. A separate country for the Madhesis is another dead end. We live in an era of regionalization and globalization where countries are getting ready to form economic unions.

But I do propose nonviolent militancy. We have to get offended and agitated by the stark racism the Madhesis have had to experience in Nepal for generations. That has to come to a total end. We are not putting up with it anymore. Enough is enough.

Forming a Madhesi Caucus in the parliament is key. Should the party leaders get in the way, the Madhesis in all political parties should be ready to walk out of their parties and take their mass bases with them to launch a new political party from scratch. That threat has to be maintained. And it has to be carried out if necessary.

I propose we get around a two point program.

The first is citizenship papers for the six million Madhesis who have been denied the same. You are eligible for the papers when you are 16 years of age. So in the year 2006, the year 1990 can be an okay cutoff year. Any year before that as a cutoff year is unacceptable. It is for the state to find out who those six million Madhesis are and organize teams that go into all the villages to distribute the papers. This is to be a one time thing and has to be done. And it has to be made easy. All villages and towns should have eight party governments and all people who get recommended by at least three members of such local governments should get the papers. There should not be any provision to punish those three should something go wrong. Nepal is not America, and India is not Mexico. Indians are not dying to come to Nepal. The thrust is the other way round. Face it.

The second is to have the country demarcated into constituencies of near equal population for the constituent assembly, and have all members to the constituent assembly directly elected. On this there can be no compromise. Only if we can have this arrangement will we force all parties and all party leaders to cater to the political needs of the Madhesis, be it federalism or language rights, or strong local governments, or fair budget allocations.

There is talk of not holding direct elections and instead having something called proportional representation where people vote for a party, and that party gets a number of seats proportional to how many votes it earned, and the party decides who gets those seats. That will make the parliamentarians subservient to the Pahadi Bahun party bosses. The Madhesis will not get a fair number of seats, as can be seen in all the government appointments by this government since April.

There is also talk of retaining the 205 constituencies demarcated by the 1990 constitution. That is hogwash, and has to be opposed with all might.

If we can secure these two things - citizenship papers for the six million Madhesis, and have the country demarcated into constituencies of near equal population for the constituent assembly, and have all members to the constituent assembly directly elected - then I believe we can have the rest based on the foundation of these two, the rest being federalism, and language rights, strong local governments, and fair budget allocations.

My message to Madhesis worldwide is, organize, organize, organize.

(Paramendra Bhagat is the founding president of Hamro Nepal, the world's first digital democracy organization, and Chairperson of the Nepali Convention 2007, to be organized in New York City in May. He blogs at http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com and can be reached at paramendra@yahoo.com)

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