Upendra Yadav Was In Town

Nepal Weekly: Front Cover Story On Madhesi
Photos: Upendra Yadav

Upendra Yadav was in town.

ANTA had been working for weeks to get him the visa. I am not a member of ANTA. I have my own organization. I collaborate where political collaboration looks possible. ANTA has social and cultural components to it. It tries to mesh with the larger Nepali diaspora structure. I find that structure sorely lacking in terms of empowerment of Nepalis at the global level. So I stay away and stay focused. My organization Hamro Nepal is strictly political and it has the efficiency of a digital democracy organization.

Hamro Nepal

I called up Upendra Yadav in Kathmandu. He was in town for the visa. It looked like it might not happen. He said he was being told by the embassy the request has been sent to the State Department and that is where it was stuck. I don't have contacts in the State Department, but I have a friend who does. He found out the real deal was the Home Ministry in Nepal had written to the embassy asking that no visa be granted to Yadav. Within days Yadav got th visa. He was to first show in New York, and then fly over to Los Angeles for the ANA Convention. Now because of the visa delay, the plan had to be reversed. LA came first. The earlier ticket had to be canceled. At the last minute only a business class ticket could be secured. That doubled the cost.

From Tuesday, July 3, to Friday morning, I was with Upendra Yadav the entire time. We both slept on Binod Shah's living room floor.

The evening before I met him, I read this online: Nepal Weekly: Front Cover Story On Madhesi. He was staying with fellow Janakpuriya Binod Shah in Yonkers, north of the city. You have to take a bus from the last stop on the 4 line. This front page article in Nepal is curious. It was published more than two months after the reported meeting took place. It was published to coincide with Upendra Yadav's visit to the US. It was published after the Pahadi establishment in Kathmandu was no longer able to block his visa.

The article totally demonizes Yadav.

For Yadav's Forum to be able to communicate with the leadership of the top armed Madhesi groups is no different from the seven parties talking to the Maoists long before a formal alliance between them was formed. Yadav arranged to meet all of them before his scheduled talks with Ram Chandra Poudel. He wanted to see if common ground could be found. He wanted to explore ways to possibly mainstream these armed outfits. Upendra Yadav of all people is best positioned to mainstream the armed Madhesi groups. But for that the people in power have to respect him and his party, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum. Yadav and his party are where the seven parties were with the Maoists. They could mainstream the Maoists but the path would be political. It would take time. It would have to be respectful.

The Pahadi media in Kathmandu has never published anything from me. It is because they know me too well. The anti-Madhesi prejudice is strong. That prejudice has been fully expressed in this article in Nepal weekly.

It is entirely possible that some who participated in that meeting expressed secessionist tendencies. They are no different from Pahadis who tell Madhesis your only option to stay inside Nepal is to accept your second class status.

Upendra Yadav is an educated man. He has a MSc. in Mathematics, and a law degree. He went to Europe in the mid-80s to represent Nepal on an International Students' Union invitation. I interacted with the IUS when I was student body president at Berea College. In the mid-90s he went to South Africa to participate in the World Conference on Racism.

Day one I took him to see all the top tourist destinations in the city: Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, World Trade Center, Brooklyn Bridge, Chinatown, Union Square, Little India, Grand Central, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Central Park.

The second day I interviewed him on video for hours. All that will go online. In the evening we went to watch the July 4 fireworks in downtown Yonkers.

Thursday he had meetings. I went to see my sister. In the evening was an interaction program at Yak in Jackson Heights. Madhesis I had never seen before showed up. Many Pahadis were there. It was an amazing talk he gave. I have the entire program on video that will go online.

The Pahadi media tries to make him look like he were the Nepali Prabhakaran. His talk demolished that image. He presented himself to be someone leading a peaceful struggle for Madhesi equality inside Nepal. He won over both Madhesis and Pahadis.

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Later back in Yonkers I told him that just like the Pahadis in Nepal try to paint him as a royalist, a Hindu supremacist, a violent person, Pahadis in the US will tell you I am a journalist, I am a writer. What I am is a political activist, it is just that my style is cutting edge, I use the internet to the fullest. No Nepali in the US worked full time for the April Revolution, noone for the Madhesi Kranti. No Pahadi in the city is friends with the chair of the ruling party in the state. No Pahadi knows Dean. No Pahadi is one of the most active Obama volunteers in the city, the capital city of the world. That I think Nepal will be a federal republic within a few years. And then Nepal will have to engage in an economic revolution for the next three decades. I launched a technology company two months back to that end. I am not someone who stayed behind for the good life. I am someone who thinks of Nepal actively on a daily basis. Nepal needs me to be in New York City. We are Madhesi in Nepal. We are Madhesi also in the US. First World Third World beech ko khaldo purne internet le ho.

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For some reason I stayed awake that entire night. I slept during the day. He was in air while I slept, on his way back to Nepal.

Upendra Yadav is committed to the idea of all of Terai being one state in a federal Nepal, so am I.

Proposed Constitution
Photos: Upendra Yadav

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१ सय १२ चुनाव चिह्न ६२ दल संविधानसभा निर्वाचनमा भाग लिनका लागि दर्ता भएका छन् .... १५ वटा अन्तरिम व्यवस्थापिकामा सांसद भएका र ४७ वटा १० हजार मतदाताको हस्ताक्षर संकलन गरी दर्ता भएका छन् । संसद्मा भएका १५ मध्ये कांग्रेस, एमाले, राप्रपा, सद्भावनाका मात्र चिह्न रूख, सूर्य, हलो र हात छन्
राजाको भोजमा उपस्थिति न्यून
मधेसका मुद्दा लिएर राजधानी सामाजिक सवालमा समावेशीकरण, लैंगिक तथा जातीय भेदभावको अन्त्य, सामाजिक कुरीतिविरुद्ध जनचेतना अभिवृद्धि, बालश्रम, बाल विवाह र दाइजो प्रथाको अन्त्य, व्यावहारिक, वैज्ञानिक र निःशुल्क शिक्षा, विविधताको पहिचान, बसाइँ सराइको अन्त, दण्डहीनताको अन्त, महिला अधिकार र मधेसको दिगो विकास प्रमुख सवालका रू पमा उठेका छन् । राजनीतिकमा वैज्ञानिक जनगणनाको आधारमा निर्वाचन क्षेत्र निर्धारण, संघीय राज्य संरचना, गणतन्त्र, राज्यको प्रत्येक अंगमा समानुपातिक प्रतिनिधित्व, संविधानसभामा सबै साना समूहहरूको प्रतिनिधित्व, आरक्षण, समानुपातिक निर्वाचन प्रणाली, महिलालाई ३३ देखि ५० प्रतिशत आरक्षण र जातिको आधारमा प्रतिनिधित्व प्रमुख सवाल छन् । आर्थिकमा किसानमुखी दिगो विकास नीति, बजटमा पहुँच र जनसंख्याको आधारमा बजेट विनियोजन, मधेसबाट उठाइएका राजस्व मधेसमै लगानी, अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय तथा राष्ट्रिय गैरसरकारी संस्था तथा अर्थसम्बन्धी संघसंस्थामा समानुपातिक प्रतिनिधित्व, रोजगारी, भूमिहीनलाई भूमि वितरण, परम्परागत पेसा तथा सीपको विकास, राजस्वको दुरुपयोग तथा भ्रष्टाचारको अन्त्य र बाढी र मरुभूमिकरणको नियन्त्रण प्रमुख सवाल रहेका छन् । सांस्कृतिकमा भाषा र पारम्पारिक वेशभूषाको पहिचान, मधेसी रीतिरिवाज तथा परम्परालाई मान्यता, पौराणिक तथा पुरातात्त्विक पर्यटकीय क्षेत्रको प्रवर्द्धन, उत्सव तथा पर्वहरूको राष्ट्रिय मान्यता, धरोहर र स्मारकहरूको संरक्षण, सांस्कृतिक विविधतालाई सम्मान, विभिन्न धर्मको संरक्षण, स्थानीय भाषा, कला र संस्कृतिको संरक्षणका लागि अनुसन्धान केन्द्रको स्थापना र मधेसी महिला तथा जीवन शैलीको उजागर प्रमुख सवालका रूपमा उठाइएका छन् ।
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संविधानसभा ः बाँकी जटिल चुनौती कानुन आएकाले अब निर्वाचन आयोगको गाडी कुदाउन बाटो खुलेको छ । .... माओवादीबाट फुटेर जन्मेका र पछि विविध उद्देश्यसहित देखा परेका तराईका सशस्त्र समूहहरूको बाङ्गो इरादाबारे विभिन्न क्ष्ाेत्रबाट आवाज उठाइँदा पनि मूलधारका दलहरुको गम्भीर ध्यान गएन । उनीहरूले त्यसलाई तराईवासीका परम्परागत पीडाको अभिव्यक्तिका रूपमा मात्र लिए । यी सशस्त्र समूहबाट देश टुक्र्याउने सम्मका खतरनाक अभिव्यक्ति आउन थाले । त्यसैले हामी चैत र वैशाखभरि राष्ट्रिय जागरण र एकताको व्यापक अभियान लिएर तराइमा ओर्लौं भनी मैले एमाले स्थायी समितिको बैठकमा पटकपटक जोडदार आग्रह गरेँ । तर हाम्रा नेताको राष्ट्रिय चेतना, स्वाभिमान र सतर्कता सुतेको देखेर म साह्रै मर्माहत भएँ । ........ विदेशीको आडमा राष्ट्र फुटाउने उनीहरूको दुराकांक्ष्ाा अहिले पटनामा प्रष्ट रूपले उदाङ्गयिो । त्यहाँ सिङ्गो नेपाल र राष्ट्रिय अखण्डताका प्रतिनिधि भएर विघटनकारीको दुःस्वप्नमा तेजाव खन्याइदिने देशभक्त रामराजाप्रसाद सिंहलाई राष्ट्रले अभिनन्दन गर्नुपर्छ । ....... आदिवासी जनजाति महासंघका माग र आठ दलका सोचको भिन्नता समाधान हुन नसकेमा निर्वाचन सामु ठूलै बाधा तेर्सिन सक्नेछ ।

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Thapa warns against integrating Maoist combatants into NA
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