American Chronicle: The Madhesi Movement In Nepal Is Lonely
Right after the king's coup, international support came pouring in for the democracy movement in Nepal. No notable political leader in Delhi, or Jakarta, Washington, London, or Beijing, no leader in Patna or Lucknow, no leader in South Africa has issued a statement of support to the Madhesi Movement in Nepal.
The Madhesi Movement has been demonized. It has been called the work of the royalists. Some Rana army general actually wanted to send in the army into the Terai to put the "unrest" down. The Madhesi Movement has been called the work of the Hindu supremacists in India. Not Vajpayee, not Advani, none of them have issued a statement of support to the Madhesi.
They say Upendra Yadav is a Yadav playing caste politics like in India. Neither Laloo Yadav of Bhiar, nor Mulayam Singh Yadav of Uttar Pradesh have issued statements of support.
A few days back I received a report from a Madhesi human rights activist in Nepalgunj like I received the video from Nepalgunj early in January, the video that many credit for the subsequent wildfire of the Madhesi Movement. The report did not make it sound like there had been a communal riot any more than there was during the last week of December. It was Pahadi on Madhesi violence. There were reports of numerous khukuri wounds.
A day later the local human rights community as a whole issued a report that condemned the communal nature of the MJF protests. Pahadi human rights activists are not neutral, it seems like. Pahadi media reported on the incident. The reports are routinely biased.
Madhesis get called Indians, but Indians are not aware the Madhesis exist. There is no outcry across the border.
It has been amazing for me to watch the Pahadi clutch on the global media. The Nepali representatives of the big global media houses are all Pahadi Bahuns. And they use their megaphones to demonize and ridicule the Madhesi Movement. It is amazing that in this day and age of instant communication the global media houses can so get taken for a ride when the counter viewpoints are only an email or phone call away.
Every democracy movement the Nepali Congress waged in Nepal was on the back of the Madhesi. After 1990 the Terai has been the primary base of the Nepali Congress, the largest party in Nepal. But the Congress leaders have taken the lead on trivializing, demonizing and disrespecting the Madhesi Movement.
The UML is for proportional elections to the constituent assembly, and it would benefit enormously by siding with the Madhesi Movement at this juncture, but the UML has not broken ranks with the parties in power, even when the Maoists and the Congress have actively sidelined the UML. You can't side with the Madhesi Movement. That is a big no no.
People complain of acts of vadalism during the Madhesi Movement. There have been a few, sure. But for the years and decades before the Madhesi Movement, there were no acts of vandalism at all in the name of any Madhesi Movement. Were you listening to the just demands of the Madhesi then?
People talk about loss of property, but they don't talk about the loss of lives.
The April Revolution lasted 19 days and produced 21 martyrs. The Madhesi Movement lasted 21 days and produced 38 martyrs. Those 38 have not yet been declared martyrs by the state.
People talk about the statues of the Pahadi notables that got destroyed in the Terai. They don't talk about the loss of lives.
19 days and 21 martyrs got rid of an entire regime. 21 days and 38 martyrs have not been worth the job of a Home Minister. The Pahadis in power intend to add salt to the Madhesi wounds.
Girija says he does not know who to talk to even if he were to want to talk to. He does not recognize the MJF, or its leader Upendra Yadav.
The Sadbhavana spent a decade badmouthing the Madhesi saying the Madhesi people vote for the oppressors but not for those who will liberate them, namely the Sadbhavana. Today that Sadbhavana has abandoned the Madhesi. The Sadbhavana (Anandi) does not want the Home Minister to resign. 38 deaths of the 21 glory days don't mean much to the Sadbhavana (Anandi) either.
The Pahadi parties in power have managed to mobilize some of their Madhesi henchmen in their sister organizations to try and sabotage the ongoing Madhesi Movement.
The Madhesi Movement reaches out to the great social justice revolutions in human history, it reaches out to the civil rights movement in America, it reaches out to the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Both those movements were terribly lonely when they were being waged. Today the Madhesi Movement in Nepal is lonely. History is repeating itself.
The Madhesi Movement has been appealing to the global media, to the global power centers, to the US Congress, to Patna, to Delhi. The Madhesi Movement has been appealing to the Madhesis in power in Kathmandu, with few results so far.
The Madhesi Movement has the Madhesi people, and little else. And if history is any guide, that is enough. The Madhesi people are sufficient unto themselves.
The Home Minister will resign. A probe commission will be formed.
The Madhesis are going to get a Madhesh state in a federal Nepal.
Half of the constituent assembly is going to be Madhesi. Two thirds of it is going to be Madhesi and Janajati.
The path is uncertain, the doubts remain, they keep mounting, victory is not at all guaranteed. But then if history is any guide, that has been the story of all liberation struggles.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia King had a mutually antagonistic relationship with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), especially its director, J. Edgar Hoover. Under written directives from then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the FBI began tracking King and the SCLC in 1961. Its investigations were largely superficial until 1962, when it learned that one of King's most trusted advisers was New York City lawyer Stanley Levison. The Bureau of Investigation found that Levison had been involved with the Communist Party USA—to which another key King lieutenant, Hunter Pitts O'Dell, was also linked by sworn testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The Bureau placed wiretaps on Levison and King's home and office phones, and bugged King's rooms in hotels as he traveled across the country. The Bureau also informed then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and then-President John F. Kennedy, both of whom unsuccessfully tried to persuade King to dissociate himself from Levison. For his part, King adamantly denied having any connections to Communism, stating in a 1965 Playboy interview[8] that "there are as many Communists in this freedom movement as there are Eskimos in Florida"; to which Hoover responded by calling King "the most notorious liar in the country." The attempt to prove that King was a Communist was in keeping with the feeling of many segregationists that blacks in the South were happy with their lot, but had been stirred up by "communists" and "outside agitators." Lawyer-advisor Stanley D. Levinson did have ties with the Communist Party in various business dealings, but the FBI refused to believe its own intelligence bureau reports that Levinson was no longer associated in that capacity. Movement leaders countered that voter disenfranchisement, lack of education and employment opportunities, discrimination and vigilante violence were the reasons for the strength of the Civil Rights Movement, and that blacks had the intelligence and motivation to organize on their own.
Article Sent To The Kathmandu Post
March 6, 2007
Engineering A Soft Landing To The Madhesi Janajati Movement
by Paramendra Bhagat
There are five broad groups in Nepal: Khas, Madhesi, Janajati, Dalit
and Mahila. Roughly speaking, the Khas, Madhesi and Janajati are 30%
each of the population, and the Dalit are 10%. Women are half in each
category. The fears the hitherto marginalized groups have is the
country might end up with a constituent assembly that will not have a
fair ethnic and gender representation, and so the marginalization will
be perpetuated.
I think by now there is broad agreement in the country on both
democracy and federalism. But there is much to question on the
sincerity of those in power on the details of the promised federalism.
The Khas in power talk in terms of geographic federalism. That makes
the Madhesi and the Janajati suspicious. Some Khas leaders when they
talk of federalism what they really mean is decentralization. That
makes the Madhesi and the Janajati very suspicious.
The final shape of the proposed federalism has to be decided upon by
the duly elected constituent assembly. But before that can happen, the
constituent assembly has to have a fair ethnic and gender composition.
How do we do that without ditching the basic premise of democracy,
which is one person one vote? If we are for democracy and federalism,
we
should produce our respective maps and go to the people, and let the
people decide. The Bahun establishment's refusal to produce maps has
made the Madhesi and the Janajati very suspicious, and rightly so.
The Janajati Movement's key demand is that there should be
proportional elections to the constituent assembly. The entire country
would be one constituency. Each party would go to the voters with
their lists of candidates. Curiously the UML has the same demand, but
it has refused to take a stand for the same. A smart political move on
their part would have been to threaten to walk out of the government
unless this key demand were met. But they have not done that, and that
is reflective of the Khas prejudice in the UML leadership circles.
The Madhesi Movement's two key demands are a direct result of the 21
days of the Maghe Kranti. The Home Minister not resigning has gone
against all grains of democratic logic. In a democracy, when there is
a major train accident, the railway minister resigns. That is so
basic. But the Girija Koirala, Krishna Sitaula duo have defied that
basic democratic gravity, and have shamelessly stayed on. Unless
Sitaula resigns, there will be no constituent assembly elections. If
not for the 38 martyrs of the Madhesi Movement, will Sitaula resign
for the sake of the constituent assembly? That is what it boils down
to. The second demands is the setting up of a commission to
investigate the atrocities committed during those 21 days. That demand
is less hard core than that of a tribunal.
I am firmly for ethnic federalism. As a Madhesi, I want a Madhesh
state from the Rapti river to the Mechi river. I speak in terms of a
Madhesh, a Tharuwan, a Kirat, a Tamang, a Newa, a Tamuwan, a Magarat,
and a Khasan, for a total of eight states. It is my reading of the
ground situation that any political party that does not go into the
Madhesh with the agenda of a Madhesh state is going to get wiped out.
The sentiment is so strong.
The Maghe Kranti produced substantially more martyrs than the April
Revolution. And it got demonized as an act of the royalists and the
Hindu supremacists. The facts did not matter. It did not matter that
the Madhesi Movement has asked for an immediate declaration of a
republic, that it has produced a disproportionate number of Muslim
martyrs, and that there never was a slogan for the monarchy or a Hindu
state anywhere during those 21 glory days.
Sitaula has to resign, and the state terror unleashed upon the Maghe
Kranti has to be investigated. And then all parties have to agree to
hold proportional representation elections to the constituent
assembly, the benchmark demand of the Janajati Movement. If these
three things can happen right away, it is possible the elections can
still be held in June. Otherwise November is going to crop up as a
possibility.
(Paramendra Bhagat is Convenor, Coordination Committee, Nepali
Organizations In New York City and blogs at Madhesi.net)
3 comments:
Bhagat:
your comparison of two movements (april movement and the madheshi movement) is sickening. madheshi movement is great in its own right. the number of deaths doesn't make one movement greater than the other.
if you talk of deaths, some 14000 people died in the maoist movement over a dozen years. but why is that the 19 day movement made gyane kneel down and not the mao's violent movement?
i salute to the great madhesi movement. but it couldn't become greatest and couldn't be remembered by all for all good reasons because of the violence. obviously it was the pahadis who instigated the violence but the madheshis too turned violent (in retaliation you could say). don't you think that the shahi sarkar was more repressive than the present one? it is only because of the restraint of the participants of the april movement that less than two dozen people died. thousands of people could have been dead had the movement been violent. and every single public offices have been turned to ashes.
u comparing that yadav with luther king.... ridiculous
Source: http://www.blog.com.np/united-we-blog/2007/03/26/mprf-hired-professional-killers-in-gaur/
MPRF Hired Professional Killers in Gaur’
26,03,2007
Dr Mathura Shrestha, a prominent human rights activist, visited Gaur a day after the carnage, in which 28 persons died. Dr Shrestha served as Health Minister in the post-1990 interim government. He attended a meeting of MPRF in Delhi and met also Chief of Janatantrik Mukti Morcha, Jaya Krishan Goit, a couple of times. Dr Shrestha out-rightly rejects Prachanda’s view of outlawing MPRF. He suggests that addressing the Madhesi problems and implementing the decisions taken by the SPA plus Maoists, thus far, help restore peace and democracy in this country. Dr Shrestha shares his opinion and recounts eyewitnesses’ count on the Gaur carnage with Puran P Bista and Ghanashyam Ojha of the Kathmandu Post.
Q: How do you recount the gory incident of Gaur after your recent visit?
Dr Mathura Shrestha: Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) had made an announcement through mikes five days ago for holding a public meeting in Gaur at 11 pm on last Wednesday. Madhesi Mukti Morcha (MMM) set up the stage for the carnage after it, too, decided to hold the public meeting on the same ground at the same time on the same day.
The locals feared of something. As a result, president Deo Padayar Gupta of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Rautahat branch, invited the MPRF and MMM cadres to attend the meeting on Wednesday morning at around 8:00 am.
But none of them attended the meeting. At around 10 am, rallies of both the parties began. Some of the participants in the rallies had come from adjoining VDCs. The rallies, organized by both the parties, met near the district court. The participants in the rallies waved, clapped their hands and welcomed each other’s rally, showing an understanding on the holding of Wednesday’s public meeting. The locals took this incident as a good gesture that MPRF would hold its meeting first, and then MMM would do so, on the same ground but at different time. Then, the Maoist rally passed through Gaur, while MPRF’s rally converted into a public meeting at the Rice Mill ground.
The ground is near the district court. First, the MPRF cadres dismantled the MMM stage built for the public meeting. A few MMM cadres present there were beaten up. These MMM cadres left the ground to inform their leaders of the incident. Chairing MPRF’s meeting was Ram Prasad Biswas. No sooner had Biswas taken his chair as a chief guest, than the MMM cadres entered the field and began to disrupt MPRF’s meeting. Then, from the southern and western sides, some people fired shots at MMM cadres. Later, some MPRF cadres fired from within the stage at MMM cadres.
According to eye witnesses, MPRF cadres used socket bombs and small fire arms, besides sharp weapons and cleft bamboo sticks. I think MPRF had hired notorious higher killers.
Q: How can you claim so when you were not present there?
Dr Shrestha: Within two minutes, over a dozen MMM cadres were killed. Then, the MPRF-hired professional killers chased the MMM cadres. Some of the MMM cadres not acquainted with Gaur entered into nearby houses for safety. They were dragged out of these houses and killed. Some of the MMM cadres were chased as far as eight kilometers and killed. Some of the dead bodies were buried in a water canal.
I was told by eyewitnesses that eight of the killers were local Nepalis and 25 others were Indians. The three locals are Balru, Hafij Mukhiya and Binda Hasin Sahani. The eyewitnesses recounted that “the police force could do nothing”. But local police contradicted this statement saying that “they blank-fired to stop the killings”. Some local people even claimed that Upendra Yadav was staying at the house next to Dr Tayab and the superintendent of police escorted him up to Barganiya near Nepal-India border.
What was heinous was that five of the women were raped in public. Two people caught their legs and other MPRF cadres raped them in public. Later their breasts were chopped off and burnt to deface their identity. Gagan Singh, Bhusan Singh, Baban and Guddu Jha were involved in raping and chopping-off-activities. Two local Muslim girls were taken away and their whereabouts are still unknown.
Q: Are these rapists local or Indian criminals?
Dr Shrestha: They should be local people because the local residents knew them well and everyone could pronounce their names clearly. Twelve of the MMM cadres were killed at Hajmonia, some 12 kilometers away from Gaur. They included three women and nine men.
Q: According to your assessment, what was the police force doing at that time?
Dr Shrestha: Police could do nothing when government offices were set on fire by the MPRF cadres some weeks ago. The police force has been unable to wipe the sign boards written Madesh Sarkar in government offices. What can you expect from them?
Secondly, you must understand that King Gynendra conducted municipality polls. All the political parties boycotted the polls except Kamal Thapa’s. And you must have learnt that the highest turn out in the country was at Gaur - almost 72 percent of the voters cast their votes in Gaur municipality polls. And Kamal Thapa’s candidate got 92 percent of the votes polled. Now you can think of the situation there. Recently, all the government offices have been set on fire. By whom?
A girl of late 20s raised a question. She asked me, “Dr Sahab, is political change meant for criminals or the people?” I was shocked to hear such a question from a girl who I think was forced to leave her studies. Then, I asked a few more questions. Her response was: “there is none who supports MPRF at Gaur and I do not know other places. But whatever MPRF wants, it happens here. We can do nothing in the presence of MPRF because of criminalization of politics, culture and religion”.
Until the restoration of democracy 1990, there had been a mafia group operating in Gaur. This mafia used to smuggle hashish, gold and idols, and traffic women. But the restoration of democracy led to an emergence of another mafia group. This group killed the leader of the Panchayat mafia in Janakpur. The locals say that the democratic parties have given this mafia group a political protection. Whenever they are arrested, the parties ask the police force to release them. The NC, UML and other political cadres feed and pay them. During the early 1990s, there had been clashes between these two mafia groups. Today, they have joined their hands and the dacoits across the border have also been working in tandem with these two mafia groups.
So, it looks that these groups have been very active in Gaur and its adjoining districts. The locals say that MPRF is a mere mask. These two mafia groups are active in the name of MPRF. Even human rights activists cannot release any report on these mafia leaders as they threaten to kill them.
Q: How could these mafias be hired by MPRF to the extent of butchering so many MMM cadres?
Dr Shrestha: MPRF hired professional killers. They paid them money. Eight of them were Nepali criminals and over 25 were Indian professional killers. I am talking about only those who fired gunshots. Today, the cost to hire the professional killer groups comes to 15 million rupees.
These killers are used during the elections in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states also. You do not have to campaign if you pay 15 million rupees to these professional killers. You win the elections. I was shocked to hear such stories from a girl who was forced to leave her studies by these local mafias.
I was further told that a girl cannot get married to a man of her or her family’s choice in Gaur. These mafias come and ask the girl to get married to their choice. If she refuses, she is threatened to be taken to a nearby mango tree and raped to be left a prostitute. Such incidents are common in Gaur. These mafias have been very active since King Gyanendra’s regime conducted municipal elections. Now they are being used by MPRF.
These are the tips of the iceberg. In fact Gaur is ruled by criminals and the SPA government, until recently, considered them its allies. Apart from eight Nepalis and 25 Indian professional killers, some MPRF cadres hit with cleft bamboo sticks. Each MMM cadre killed and injured had deep cuts in their heads. You see a cleft bamboo stick is as sharp as khukuri. And you can’t survive if you are hit with a cleft bamboo stick on your head. They used other sharp weapons too. All the hospitalized had head injuries. One MMM cadre, who left the hospital after a doctor advised her to leave, was later caught and hit by a cleft bamboo stick. Now that girl is on her death bed. I was shocked to learn that MPRF hired professional killers to kill unarmed MMM cadres.
Q: Whom do you blame for the carnage?
Dr Shrestha: What I have been advocating for the past several months is that we should not have opposed MPRF-organized protest programs. The main reason that let the Maoists oppose the MPRF organized protest movement is that the SPA gave up its stance on addressing the Madhesi problems. First, the SPA gave up its stance on federalism in the interim constitution. Second, it gave up its stance on proportional representation. Third, it raised the issue of public opinion and later it gave it up. All this disappointed the Madhesis and other ethnic groups in the hill and mountain.
Now we must realize that democracy did generate hope but doubts are undermining our hope for democracy. I see this is the emergence of people’s resentment. It is there in Madhes, hill and mountain. The movement in Madhes was not started by MPRF but by Nepal Sadhbhawana Party (Anandi Devi). MPRF shot into the fame only.
I agree there are politicians in MPRF. I met Upendra Yadav personally and informed him of SPA’s stance on the demands. I advised him to give up the political demands since the SPA government was preparing to address his demands. Secondly, I told him to use peace as a weapon to raise the demands. His response was “we have been put behind bars, now all our cadres are out of our control”, adding that “it will be a peaceful movement.” He had assured me that he would even hold talks with the janjati groups, which he did not do so. Let us not talk of him now. He is not the right kind of politician. He was just a village level leader though he may claim himself a national leader.
Second, the primary concern is that the second revolt (April uprising, even if you call it a people’s movement) brought the eight parties into a single platform. If these leaders of eight parties continue with leg-pulling politics, then the Gaur carnage is the beginning. These leaders take decisions but fail to implement them. What is the reason behind the failure to implement or delay in implementing and blaming one another? This is not the way of playing politics.
Q: But the SPA continues to insist on arms registration before the formation of eight-party government. Isn’t it?
Dr Shrestha: Arms registration is not a big deal, nor is it the problem. The Nepali Congress did raise arms against the establishment, not once but twice. If we add the incident of Okhaldhunga, it raised arms thrice. When the NC reached an agreement with the then government, it did not surrender all the weapons; so did the Marxists after the Jhapa killing. The Marxist and NC did not surrender all the weapons they had in their possession.
So, history clearly tells us that registration of weapons is not the primary concern. The Maoists have agreed to join mainstream politics. Why can’t the SPA be accommodative now? The Gaur carnage is an outcome of Maoist pride and the anarchy let loose in the country. There are several counter-Maoist groups unleashing anarchy. Unless the eight parties come together and build trust among themselves, the country will continue to reel under violence.
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