Democracy For Nepal: United Democratic Madhesi Front

Showing posts with label United Democratic Madhesi Front. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

The Nepali Congress Will Get Wiped Out In The Terai In The Next Election

Image via WikipediaThe Nepali Congress ruled the country after 1990 for the most part and it was so because it stayed strong in the Terai, electorally speaking. The UML had a rather small presence in the Terai. And parties like the Sadbhavana did not make much headway because the thinking was that if you voted for the Congress, you can get work done later, because the party will be in power. That incumbency factor was of a huge advantage to the Congress.

But that is no longer true after the last election. The Congress by now is half the size of the Maoist party. And it shows no signs of getting into power. The incumbency advantage now has shifted to the Madhesi parties.

The Madhesi parties are going to have to forge an electoral alliance. Like the Left Front and the Third Front in India. They are going to have to not contest against each other. If they could do that they would do really well.

That is not to say the Maoists will not compete against them. The Maoists might try and secure a full majority on their own. I don't see it happening, as in I don't see them securing a majority on their own. If they are wise they'd forge a pre-poll alliance with the Madhesi parties to secure power post-poll.

And so you might look at a scenario whereby the Madhesi parties sweep the Madhesh, and the Maoists do well in Tharuwan and the hills and mountains. The Congress fights a losing battle against the Madhesi parties in the Madhesh. And the UML fights a losing battle against the Maoists in the hills.

The Maoists and the Madhesi parties currently stand at about 50% strength. After the next election they might end up with 60% if they make the right pre-poll moves.

The NC and the UML have shown their true colors through their stances on federalism. The truth is they never really accepted the idea of federalism. And the people have to punish them for that.

Republica: SRC report of majority to be accepted: DPM Gachchhadar

He even criticized the CPN-UML and Nepali Congress (NC) for being anti-autonomous states. The members of the UML and NC who submitted the separate reports have done so against the ethics, Gachhadar said. The separate report submitted by the NC and UML follows the panchayat style, he said. He also claimed that NC and UML have presented such report as they are strictly against United Democratic Madhesi Front.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Baburam Bhattarai: Good News

May 29, 2011: Where To From Here?
March 20, 2005: Doing Business With Baburam Bhattarai

The guy is honest. He is smart. He is a communist, but he is not dogmatic. He is socially progressive. A few years back he compared the plight of the Madhesis in Nepal with the blacks in South Africa during the apartheid regime.

For the first time I am feeling like the peace process in Nepal might finally pick up pace. This alliance between the Maoists and the Madhesi parties also makes sense politically on the ground. The Maoists rule the hills and the western Terai, the Madhesi parties hold sway over the rest of the Terai. The Maoists compete with the Congress and the UML in their strongholds, the Madhesi parties compete with the Congress and the UML, but primarily the Congress in their strongholds. This Maoist-Madhesi alliance might prove relevant also after the parliamentary elections after the new constitution. The Congress and the UML are the parties of the 1990 constitution. The Maoists and the Madhesis are the parties of the constituent assembly. The Congress and the UML disliked the idea of a constituent assembly for as long as they possibly could. They both came to the idea of federalism kicking and screaming.

This prime minister and this alliance could see a full four year term after the next parliamentary elections. But first the work on the constitution.

The Madhesi parties' primarily tussle continues to be with the Nepali Congress. It is not with each other.

NepalNews

Bhattarai elected new Prime Minister of Nepal: Bhattarai received 340 votes while Poudel received 235 votes. .... In addition to his party UCPN (Maoist) which has 237 lawmakers in the 595-member Constituent Assembly, United Democratic Madhesi Front with 65 lawmakers and few fringe parties had also supported Bhattarai. ..... Bhattarai was born in a village called Belbas in Khoplang VDC of Gorkha District on May 26, 1954. He was born in a low - middle class peasant family .... He scored the highest marks among total examinees in SLC examination conducted in 1970 and topped the I.Sc board again in Amrit Science Campus, Kathmandu.

SC trashes petition challenging legality of CA tenure extension
Baburam Bhattarai’s profile: Bhattarai was elected from Gurkha-2 in the CA elections held in 2008 with the 80 percent of votes cast in his constituency
Peace, constitution and relief to people are top priorities, Bhattarai says after getting elected as PM
Dahal heaps praise on Bhattarai: "A-one candidate". .... Dahal also said that his party was in favour of consensus to take the peace process and constitution-drafting even as the government is formed on the basis of majority. ..... Speaking in the House before Dahal, Bhattarai said he was not in favour of majority government personally.

Madhesi Front declares support to Bhattarai; UML goes with NC: five UDMF leaders ..... both sides agreed to negotiate to determine the ranks of Maoist combatants going for integration and to reduce the number for integration up to 7000 from the proposed 8000. .... They also agreed to make the public services inclusive and start inclusion of Madhesis in Nepal Army by fixing a certain number.

Republica

Small cabinet to be sworn in Monday: an agreement has been reached to give 11 ministries to the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF). The new cabinet is also likely to get four deputy prime ministers. .... Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar from the MPRF-Democratic, Upendra Yadav from MPRF-Nepal, JP Gupta MPRF-Republican and one from the Maoist party are the strong contenders for the deputy prime minister. .... The Maoist party is likely to send its Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha into the cabinet as the deputy prime minister .... there is a tussle between Upendra Yadav and Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar over who gets to become senior in the cabinet. Yadav may send another party leader into the cabinet if he doesn´t get a position senior to Gachchhadar in the cabinet.

Madhesi alliance to decide its vote Sunday: the Madhesi leaders proposed to the Maoist leadership that a directorate under the Nepal Army should be formed to accommodate 6,000 personnel each from the security agencies, the Maoist combatants and the Madhesi community. That means the directorate will have 18,000 personnel. ..... the alliance has proposed that such a directorate should be mandated to work in the field of development and industry. They have clearly stated in their proposal that such a force will not have any mandate for border security and any combat role. The Maoists, in their proposal made public Thursday, sought to give a general military mandate to such a directorate. ...... Madhesi leaders Jitendra Dev, Laxman Lal Karna and Hrideyesh Tripathi prepared the amended proposal. .... the Madhesi parties have also sought from the Maoist party an agreement on sharing constitutional appointments and other governmental appointments.

Maoists, Madhesis ink four-point deal: no citizen will be deprived of their land ownership, besides agreeing on giving "special" relief for those affected by the Maoist insurgency, Madhes movement and Janjati movement...... "All the court cases against those involved in the Maoist insurgency, Madhes movement, Janjati movement, Tharuhat movement and Dalit and Pichadabarga movements will be dropped and they will be given general amnesty," the second point of the agreement reads. ..... uphold universal fundamental rights, constitutional supremacy, rule of law, press freedom, accountable judiciary, inclusive democracy autonomous states with right to self-determination and competitive politics

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Breakup Of MJF Better For One Unified Madhesi Party

Don't take oath in Nepali: Madhesi parties Republica Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (Democratic), Madhesi People´s Rights Forum, Tarai Madhes Democratic Party, Sadbhawana Party and Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandidevi) participated in the meeting.

Now that the MJF has split into two, there is no one Madhesi party that is much, much bigger than the rest. And it is not like the MPs of the breakaway MJF faction are now working

Image by paramendra via Flickr

against the Madhesi agenda that got them elected in the first place. The Madhesi people have not lost any strength in the parliament. No strength has been lost for the work on the constitution.

Now you have two MJF factions and a TMLP that are all roughly equal in size. And you have two Sadbhavana factions that are relatively small. I feel like these five Madhesi parties are in perfect shape to attempt a unification at some point over the next few months.

Attempts have to be made over the next few months to do that work of unification.

Unification Of Madhesi Parties

At this point it is no longer obvious that if the Madhesi parties were to unify, who the leader will be. That might be a good thing for unification talks.

Madhes parties threaten to disrupt House over oath row Republica

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Upendra Yadav Should Be Leading The MJF Team In The New Government

Image via Wikipedia

Upendra Yadav was unanimously elected the leader of the MJF at the party's convention not long ago.
At that convention Bijay Gachhedar could not even get himself elected central committee member.
It was a mistake to have elected Bijay Gachhedar the parliamentary party leader after the April 2008 election.
Where was Bijay Gachhedar during the Madhesi Kranti of 2007?
Where was Bijay Gachhedar during the Madhesi Kranti of 2008?
If the UML offers to make Bijay Gachhedar the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, that will be the beginning of the end of this UML-led government.
It is not for the UML to decide who will lead the MJF in the government. For that the MJF has formed a four member committee: Upendra Yadav, Jay Prakash Gupta, Sharad Singh Bhandari, Bijay Gachhedar.
Upendra Yadav led the MJF in the last government.
Upendra Yadav will lead the MJF in this government.

It is true that Upendra Yadav failed to correctly read the mood in the country and in the party. But trying to take initiative to form a government in his own leadership was a great move by Upendra Yadav, only the Maoists were not honest with their offer, so the talks went nowhere.

For the UML to try and decide who should get what ministry from the MJF will be like when Rajendra Mahto was in Mahendranagar of Mahakali zone where his Sadbhavana party does not even have a presence, and the Pahadi/Bahun bureaucrats of the Election Commission confiscated his ministerial vehicle saying a minister may not use government property to campaign for his party. That was the Pahadis/Bahuns saying you might be a cabinet minister but you are still only a Madhesi.

There are plenty of Pahadi/Bahun chauvinists in the UML. If they don't measure up, this government is also going to be short-lived.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Time To Rally Around Madhav Nepal

Prachanda was in India for most of the duration of the civil war he ignited, and now he wants you to believe India is an evil country. That is hypocritical.
Prachanda's coalition partners did not walk away from him because India pressured them to. They walked away because of Prachanda's bad behavior.
Only if all his coalition partners would have agreed to the decision to sack Katuwal would that have counted as cabinet decision. There was no longer a cabinet left. There was no cabinet decision to sack Katuwal. There was only a Prachanda decision to sack Katuwal.
Prachanda bypassed the president. Informing on the phone does not count.
Prachanda bypassed the president. Why? Because the president is a Madhesi?
Krishna Sitoula gave crores to the Maoists. That was election money to the Maoists.
The Maoists want to declare 7,000 martyrs. That is not intended to be an act of respect. That is election money for next year. That can not be allowed.
Prachanda never meant for Upendra Yadav to become Prime Minister, although he did make the offer.
Prachanda never meant for Koirala to become Prime Minister again, although he did make the offer.
With those two offers all Prachanda was trying to do was prevent a coalition from building around Madhav Nepal.
The UML-NC-MJF-TMDP-SP government agreeing to the eight point agreement with the United Democratic Madhesi Front is the best deal the MJF can get under the circumstances. A party with 55 out of the 601 MPs can not hope to get the Prime Ministership, especially when the offer was never honestly made by the Maoists.
The Maoists continue to have a one party mentality.
After you have already filed a complaint against the president's move with the Supreme Court, why are you still holding street protests? Wait for the court to give its verdict.
Why obstruct the parliament? Because you don't have a majority? That is a one party state mentality.
The Maoist gameplan has been to declare 7,000 martyrs, and get hundreds of crores of rupees for the party in the process to go get a majority on their own in next year's election. If they have been acting like a one party state when they are but one third of the presence in the parliament, imagine what after they would get a simple majority or, god forbid, a 60% majority? That prospect can not be imagined.
K.P. Oli would be a great Home Minister at this point. The state has to counter all unlawful uses of force by organizations like the YCL. No compromise. Period.
Upendra Yadav should continue being Foreign Minister. Now that his party is an even bigger proportion of the coaltion, he should ask for a few more berths for his party in the cabinet. The MJF must become an active member of the new coalition government. Staying outside is not an option.
The United Democratic Madhesi Front should be given new life through this new coalition government. Stop saying Ek Madhesh, Ek Pradesh. Start saying Ek Terai, Ek Rajya. The word Terai is inclusive of the Madhesis, the Tharus, the Pahadi origin Teraiwasis, everybody.

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