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Sukhdev Shah And Anti-Madhesi Prejudice

Sukhdev Shah was way ahead of his time in terms of how far he went with his education. But his observation has been that his homevillage looks still the same after half a century.

He was vocal about democracy during the Panchayat era, and he has been vocal about Madhesi rights since democracy in 1990.

He gave so much to the Nepali Congress, but that party did not think him qualified to be the Nepali ambassador to the US back in 1991 or ever after. It took a MJF to make him the offer. He has been qualified this entire time.

I have utmost respect for Sukhdevji. And it is so very unfortunate that a government got toppled and the almost achieved dream of seeing a Madhesi as the Nepali ambassador to the US got dashed.

Image by paramendra via Flickr

Maybe this government will also get toppled in a few months, and an all party government will get formed, and the MJF will come back into power, and perhaps we will see the job done. But right now I am not counting on it.

What most gets me is the strong anti-Madhesi prejudice that the Nepali community in Washington DC expressed upon his nomination.

The prejudice is well and alive. No amount of education or global exposure seems to cure it. If anything, it seems to become stronger.

There is no escaping the struggle. If this generation will not do the work, the next generation will have to. Why pass it on to the next generation?

Image by paramendra via Flickr

For Sukhdev Shah at this stage in life to have to feel the hurt of the prejudice in a locale that has been his home for decades, it is like Ambedkar finally giving up on Hinduism to become a Buddhist. Maybe he should consider becoming an American citizen after all, after having resisted the idea for close to half a century.

The creation of a Madhes state in a federal Nepal is a must for Madhesi liberation.

Most diaspora Madhesis don't admit it, but Sukhdev Shah's experience is also their experience. A lot of them have mastered the art of getting along with Pahadis by either skipping the topic of Madhesi rights, or downright parroting the Pahadi talking points on Madhesi rights issues. I have a name for it. I call it the Mr 1% personality. It is the mindset of those who should be 40% of the room but are only 1% due to ethnic prejudice, and so they figure out a way to survive while being that 1%. That mental slavery exacts a heavy emotional price that many choose to pay. Salvation lies in those Madhesis reaching out to the Madhesi masses in Nepal, because they have the numbers to make a difference.

One word of criticism I would heap Shah's way is that it was Upendra Yadav and the MJF that nominated him, but he immediately started acting like it was the big wig Pahadis like Prachanda, Baburam, maybe even Girija who had authored the idea. We the downtrodden have a hard time accepting Madhesi leadership, and thus contribute to our continued downtrodden status.

Ethnic prejudice is an ideology that has to be defeated. The Madhesis of the world will have to get organized.

• Mission Madhes: Constitution Draft
• Mission Madhes (2)
• Mission Madhes

My quest for ambassadorship Republica Based on the news that filtered through the internet and newspapers, it appeared that the entire Nepali community in Washington was opposed to my nomination. Maybe the silent majority here was positive but none—except one person I can remember, Homraj Acharya, coordinator of Washington-Nepal Group—came out in my support. ....... my wife and I declined to attend the White House State Banquet given by President Reagan in honor of late King Birendra in December of 1982. Afterwards, Dr Bhekh B Thapa—then Ambassador to Washington—started treating me as if I had insulted his father and banned me from embassy functions. ....... the last Panchayat ambassador lobbied hard with the International Monetary Fund that I be fired from my job because of my “political activities”. ....... and have maintained personal contacts with all prominent politicians and leaders .......... I then find it amazing and puzzling why a person of my background would be opposed by this community where I spent most of my adult life and maintained good relations with everyone and all groups. No one had even hinted to me that I was not qualified for the job, that I have not served Nepal’s interests living outside the country and that I was unfit for the job for any specific reason. ....... From the beginning of my nomination, it looked as if the entire Nepali community here had become opposed to my nomination—tooth and nail—citing reasons that were made up, acrimonious and unverified. Otherwise, my nomination and appointment would have been a cause for celebration—that at least one of them had made it to the top and that it would open the way for many others residing outside the country. ....... just one: I am not one of them. ....... This kind of exclusionary politics in Nepal has lasted for many decades and over many generations but Madhesis are now determined to get their fair share of national recognition and claim equal opportunities as citizens.

Perspectives on Maoist debacle

Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Sukhdev Shah: Terai's Fate—Looking Within!
Telegraph Nepal : Nepal's US ambassador designate a US citizen ...
ANTA: Dr. Sukhdev Shah: Downsizing The Monarchy
Making Sense of Nepal's Transition to Republic - Dr. Sukhdev Shah ...

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Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Kiran Sitoula Is A Short, Fat Idiot
ग्रीन कार्ड भनेको भिसा जस्तो हो

ग्रीन कार्ड भनेको भिसा जस्तो हो

• An Opaque Madhesh Think Tank
• Broadband And Madhesi Liberation

ग्रीन कार्ड भनेको भिसा जस्तो हो

उपेन्द्र यादव विदेश मन्त्री भएको बेलामा मधेसी पार्टीहरूले एक भएर अमेरिकाकालागि नेपाली राजदुत भनेर सुकदेव साहको नाम सिफारिस गरे। सुकदेव साहको नाम पहाडीहरूलाई बाँदरको हातमा नरिवल भएको छ। मान्छेलाई disqualified भन्न भएन। सुकदेव साहभन्दा qualified मान्छे नेपालमा छँदै छैन। अनि कोहीलाई के सुर्ता ज्वाईलाई खानैको सुर्ता भने जस्तो सुकदेव साहसँग त ग्रीन कार्ड छ भनेर they have started running up and down the street, बाहुनले च्याउ खाअोस् न स्वाद पाअोस् भने जस्तो।

सुकदेव साहसँग ग्रीन कार्ड छ कि छैन मलाई थाहा छैन। पहिले पनि थाहा थिएन, अहिले पनि थाहा छैन। यदि छ भने मलाई पनि चाहियो। ग्रीन कार्ड नभएको मान्छे अमेरिका अाउन भिसा चाहिन्छ। ग्रीन कार्ड छ भने भिसा चाहिँदैन। त्यो त राम्रो कुरा हो।

मेरो पनि थियो ग्रीन कार्ड। नेपालको क्रान्तिमा full time लाग्दा त्यो ग्रीन कार्ड renew गराउनुपर्ने, बिर्सियो। अब फेरि लिनपर्नेछ। अप्रिल क्रान्ति अगाडि त मेरो नाकमा चश्मा पनि थिएन। मेरो नाकमाथि चश्मा अप्रिल क्रान्तिले राखेको हो।

मधेसीलाई भारतीय भन्ने पहाडीहरूको पुरानो बानी हो। अब मधेसीलाई अमेरीकन पनि भन्दिने? के हो यो? नया फेशन हो?

सुकदेव साहसँग नेपाली नागिरकता छ। बरू त्यो नागरिकतापत्र वहाँले कसरी पाउनुभो, मलाई जिग्यासा लागेको छ। नेपाल भनेको त मधेसीलाई हत्तपत्त नागरिकतापत्र नदिने देश।

कोही मधेसी भारत, अथवा अमेरिका, अथवा बेलायतको राजदुत हुनु त ठुलो कुरो हो। It is called breaking a glass ceiling। नेपालको वाशिँगटनमा रहेको दुतावासमा एउटा पियन पनि मधेसी छैन। अनि ह्वात्त राजदुत नै मधेसी भएदिएपछि त पहाडीहरूलाई अापत पर्यो।

अाज कोही मधेसी अमेरिकामा राजदुत भयो भने भोलि देशको प्रधानमन्त्री होला, पर्सि कोही Commander In Chief बन्ला भन्ने डर लागिहाल्यो पहाडीहरूलाई।

सुकदेव साह qualified मान्छे हो। सुकदेव साह नेपाली नागिरक हो। सुकदेव साह नेपालको विदेश मन्त्रीले पत्याएको मान्छे हो। त्योभन्दा बढी के चाहियो राजदुत बन्न?

पुरे देशको प्यारालाइज कर दो
िगिरजाको कुर्सी से हटा दो, सेरेमोिनयल बना दो
अगर सडक पर िफर से उतडनी पडी तो
चुनावी जंग
िवजयकी सुगन्ध अा रही है
समानता अौर अिधकार पर्याप्त नहीं हैं, हमें तो शक्ित चािहए
माघे क्रान्ित
डटे रहो
शान्ित वार्ता क्या, िवजय घोषणा करो
मधेश जल रही है

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NRNA forms Constitution Suggestion Committee chairmanship of Professor Surya P. Subedi, a distinguished professor of law based in the UK with expertise on international, constitutional and human rights law ...... Kul Chandra Gautam, the former UN assistant secretary-general, Naresh Koirala, NRNA regional coordinator for North America, Professor Alok Bohara, professor of political science at the University of New Mexico USA, Dr Jugal Bhurtel, spokesperson of the NRNA, Dinesh Tripathi, NRNA's legal advisor ........ Goba Katuwal (Australia), Dr. Shyam Upadhyaya (Austria), Basudev Bhattarai (Bahrain), Dr. Mohan Jaiswal (Belarus), Penba Gyalbu Sherpa (Belgium), Naba Raj Gurung (Canada), Er. Sudhir Timilsina (China), Mani Raj Thebe (Cyprus), Dr. Sambhu Prasad Sah (Finland), Ashok Kumar Neupane (France), Dil Bahadur Gurung (Germany), Yem Kumar Gurung (Hong Kong), Surendra Shrestha (Hungary), Anish Shakya (Indonesia), Shiva Raj Gautam (Ireland), Bhuwan Singh Kunwar (Israel), Bhim Bahadur Bam (Italy), Bhaban Bhatta (Japan), Gangaraj Rai (South Korea), Dilli Poudel (Lebanon), Ghan Shyam Poudel (Lesotho), Dipendra Basnet (Luxemburg), Krishna Bdr. Gurung (Macau), Sangkar Bahadur Poudel (Malaysia), Sagar Ghimire (Myanmar), Dr. Govind Rauniyar (Netherlands), Baburaja Maharjan (New Zealand), Hikmat Thapa (Nigeria), Dr. Tara Niraula (America), Dr. Bishal Sitaula (Norway), Dev Narayan Tiwari (Oman), Dr. Bodha Raj Subedi (Poland), Laxmi Prasad Sapkota (Portugal), Kamal Mani Guragain (Qatar), Dr. Mani Raj Pokharel (Russia), Gopal Ghimire (Saudi Arabia), Amar Pradhan Chitrakar (Singapore), Dr. Sudhakar Dawadi (South Africa), Aswin Kumar Shrestha (Slovenia), Ganeshman Talchabhadel (Spain), Sanjay Mudbhary (Switzerland), Ramesh K. Hamal (Thailand), Chandra Pd. Sapkota (UAE), Damer Ghale (UK) and Birendra Kumar Singh (Ukraine).
Koirala tells Boucher democracy is in danger

Maoist stalwarts sit down to devise Madhesh policy NepalNews Concluding that the party's base in the Terai plains is shrinking, the Unified CPN (Maoist) ...... The Maoist leadership is also known to have decided to agree disgruntled party leader Matrika Yadav, not to rebel against the party. Former minister Yadav, who has boycotted successive meetings of the party, has threatened to quit and float a new party.