Alliance Of Steel

The democrats have no alternative to forming an alliance of steel with the Maoists. And there is also a three month window. Three month is enough time to herald democracy into the country. What could such an alliance look like?

The Maoists have taken two major steps. One, they have made an ideological shift away from classic Maoism, not in a way of surrender, but by recognizing communist theory is supposed to be alive like science, not stagnant like religious dogma. Two, they have made the brilliant military move of a unilateral ceasefire. I could add a third: almost three months back they came with the concrete suggestion that the seven party form a committee to hold concrete dialogue with the Maoists. If there is a better way to hold dialogue with the Maoists for us, I don't know.

We democrats have to acknowledge, appreciate and reciprocate.

The democrats have come up with this idea that the Maoists go one step further and disarm. That is different from the Monarchists saying surrender. We democrats have every right to make such a request. But then the Maoists also have every right to not accept it and still be able to do business with us. If we were in power, we could legitimately ask them to disarm because, well, we already have found a political meeting point: Constituent Assembly. But we are not in power, and we are not in a position to offer the Maoists political or military protection if they were to disarm. So the Maoists have every right to reject our proposal.

So what are our options?

The Maoists already have moved from the goal of a communist republic to that of a democratic republic, and they already have moved from "power flows through the barrel of a gun" to a peaceful transformation of the state. What that means is, if a democratic republic were to materialize, they would disarm even if noone were to ask them to. That is what they are saying. We will not have to convince them to disarm if we can offer them a democratic republic. They will disarm based on their firm internal theoretical analysis. That is the good news. Step 3 has already been agreed on .

We need to work creatively and proactively on steps 1 and 2.

We can still ask the Maoists to disarm, but if they were to reject the proposal as unrealistic, we have to accept that rejection with respect. Then we can say this.

Maintain your ceasefire. The RNA can not legitimately attack you while you are maintaining your ceasefire. They would be violating some serious international laws if they do. Again, this is not a position we are suggesting to them. This is a position they have already moved on to with their own initiative. That applies to your 12,000 or however many armed cadres you have. Freeze them. For now.

As for the rest of your cadres, be they 50,000 or 150,000, mobilize them for massive peaceful, nationwide protest programs. Because you are still an armed political party, we can not legitimately participate in your programs. But we will extend moral support. And we will also organize massive peaceful, nationwide protest programs. And we will do them in all the villages, all the towns. You extend moral support to us. And you make sure our workers do not feel any threat from your workers.

We have moved beyond a Constituent Assembly as our common minimum program. Now our common minimum program is a Democratic Republic.

Once the movement succeeds, and we get hundreds of thousands of people out in the streets for weeks, we are going to declare an interim government. You Maoists are not going to be part of it, although we expect you to extend external support. Governments who were going to walk out on the king during his speech at the UN are going to recognize our government as the legitimate government. Once we have claimed and consolidated power, we are going to hold unconditional peace talks with you. At the end of that process, you completely disarm. Once you disarm, you are going to be invited into the government.

But even to reach this point, we need more than the slogan of a democratic republic. We need a 10-point program. A stickler there could be the land-to-the-tiller land reform program proposed by Dr. Bhattarai that I agree with 110%. I think the UML will come around to the idea. But we also need the Congress to come around to it. It is not possible that BP Koirala was a socialist but was against genuine land reform. But, having said that, if the Nepali Congress were to disagree, not in the person of one Girija Koirala, but through a decision by the central committee after a throrough debate, then we are going to have to accept that stand as their democratic right, and in the best interests of the alliance of steel, we are going to have to postpone the land reform business from step 1 to step 3. I need the Maoists to really understand this part. After the country has a new constitution, and elections are held, and the Maoists emerge as the majority party, or the Maoists and the UML emerge as the majority coalition, the land-to-the-tiller land reform can be implemented with the Nepali Congress still maintaining its disagreeing stance.

So, barring a land-to-the-tiller land reform, what could a 10-point platform look like? I have a suggestion.

1. Democratic republic.
   
2. Federalism.
   
3. Abolition of all sexist laws.
   
4. All parliamentary constituencies demarcated on near equal population.
5. Land reform.
   
6. Universal and free access to primary health care and secondary education. Major expansion of micro credit.
   
7. All individuals on state payroll to post their family property statements online on an annual basis.
   
8. No fund-raising by parties in the private sector. Instead each gets an annual allowance from the state in size directly proportional to the number of votes it earned in the last national election.
   
9. Progressive income taxation. No direct taxes for people in the bottom 40% income brackets.
   
10. Tri-lingual education policy with equal status to Nepali and Hindi.
    

Only with a clear program like this one can we hope to see people out in the streets in the hundreds of thousands. 1, 7 and 8 are key.

And both the Maoists and the seven parties will have to extend full support to the 10 point program. And then the movement really takes off.

The interim government, once formed, has to set up a Truth And Reconciliation Commission to investigate and jail the monarchist crooks. It also looks into nationalizing the illegally amassed properties.

Once the country gets the eight party interim government, it heads into a Constituent Assembly.

That is it.

Nepal’s Terai People In Deplorable Conditions: Mahto

Nepal’s Terai People In Deplorable Conditions
By Rajendra Mahto
Asia Tribune

Nepal, situated in the lap of the world’s highest peak, the Mount Everest, is generally known as the land of the Gorkhas, inhabitants of the mountains. But more than half of Nepal’s population is of ‘Hindi speaking Terai people known as Madheshis’ and they have their deep roots and blood relations across the borders with the people of India. About two hundred and twenty five years ago, the land of Madhesh and different kingdoms were merged with Nepal in the name of unification but Madheshi people have not been integrated into the mainstream in Nepal. They are the inhabitants of the Terai region right from the days of the Mithila king Janak, Lichhvi kings, Karnataka clan kings and Bhagwan Gautam Buddha. The Terai region is ‘Madhya Desh’ between Nepal and India and hence it became ‘Madhesh’ and its inhabitants Madheshis. The ancestors of the present day ruling clans in Nepal – Shah Dynasty kings, Bahun (hilly Pandits), Chhetri (Kshatriya) and Newar had migrated to Nepal from Rajasthan, Kumaon, Kanauj, Gharwal and Karnataka. But since the governance of the kingdom which emerged after geo-graphical unification of Nepal went into the hands of the rulers from the said clans, they declared themselves as the real Nepalis. Side by side, these Madheshis began to be called, without even a wink of the eyelid, as – ‘Moglania’, ‘Desi’, ‘Videshi’ and ‘Indians’ which is continuing even today. This is the reason why Madheshis politically, economically, socially, culturally and linguistically discriminated against in the past and now. Consider this fact. Between 1970 and 1980, when the 1100 Km long East West national highway was built through the deep forests of Madhesh, about 25 lakh hill people were rehabilitated on either side of the highway but not even one inch of land was allotted to any landless Madheshi. The present day Nepal is divided into 75 districts administratively. 55 of these 55 districts are close to Tibet and have low population density because of the hilly terrain. The remaining 22 districts in southern Nepal share their border with West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttranchal. Density of population is very high. In act, Terai belt accounts for almost 60 per cent of Nepal’s population. Their language is Hindi though Maithili, Bhojpuri and Avdhi are spoken. Northern Nepalis address them derogatorily as ‘Madheshis’. During the partyless Panchayat regime in 1965, Hindi was abolished as medium of instructions; a very less developed Gorkha language of the ruling clans was given constitutional status by naming it as ‘Nepali’ and was declared as national language of Nepal. Hindi was banished in Rashtriya Panchayat, the so called Nepal Parliament. After peoples’ uprising and restoration of democracy in the 1990, the government in Kathmandu recognised Terai districts as a ‘special cultural entity’ (Madheshi culture). But the ban on Hindi has not been lifted, till date. In the fifties, Parliament gave equal status to Nepali and Hindi. Late Gajendra Narain Singh, founder-president, Nepal Sadhbhavna Party, and other party law makers insisted in Parliament (1959) on speaking in Hindi. They also wanted to attend Parliament attired in Dhoti Kurta and insisted on an end to discrimination against the Madhishis. After a great struggle, the Speaker informally allowed them to speak in Hindi; but no record is maintained of a statement or speech made in Hindi in Parliament. Before 1990s, during the autocrat Panchayat regime, one or two seats from all districts, big or small, were reserved in Rashtriya Panchayat in an arbitrary manner; Only Independents could represent these seats. The terrified people did not protest. The situation did not change much after the ‘uprising’ too. The ‘Constitution Suggestion Commission’ followed the ‘old’ yardsticks for in delimitation. It did not go by population as the base for delimitation of constituencies. Result was the hill constituencies with hardly six to eight thousand voters elect one representative to Parliament, while 70-80 thousand voters elect one law maker each in the Terai region, which is divided into 87 constituencies. No surprise therefore in a 205-member Pratinidhi Sabha (lower house of parliament), there are only 41 Madheshi representatives. Madheshis face great discrimination in all spheres. There is an undeclared ban on their recruitment to Royal Nepal Army. Madheshis are in microscopic number in Nepal police. The presentation of the citizenship certificates has been made so stringent that in the absence of the citizenship certificate no one can either take birth or die legally as at the time of registration of birth, father’s citizenship certificate is demanded. Similarly, for a death certificate, the citizenship certificate is required. Citizenship certificate is demanded as a pre-requisite to admission in schools and colleges, buying and selling of property, license for setting up industrial units and entry into government jobs which is never granted to the Madheshis denied citizenship certificate. So, it should not come as a surprise to know that more than 40 lakh Madheshi Nepali citizens are deprived of citizenship. It is the biggest tragedy of the community. The narrow minded hill leaders who dominate Government and main political parties are engaged in the unscrupulous campaign of declaring these Madheshis as Indians. Funnily, even without citizenship, these 40 lakh plus have been voting in all elections. That is they are able to elect a government but cannot emerge out of their pitiable plight. Terai region is the rice bowl of Nepal. A drought in Madhesh leads to hunger in the country’, says a popular Nepali adage. About 83 per cent of Nepali revenue comes from Terai. Yet, Madhesh gets only about 20 per cent of government spending in the Budget – mostly by way of salaries for government employees. The Madheshis are convinced that so long as they do not get a respectful place in Nepal, a feeling of regard and respect will never come for them, for India, and for Indians. This could be possible only when Hindi is granted national language status in Nepal Constitution, when ‘Dhoti Kurta’ put on by more than one crore Madheshis is accepted as national dress and when 40 lakh Nepali citizens plus who are without citizenship certificates (majority are Madheshi) are granted citizenship. The Madheshis believe that the ‘Constituent Assembly’ be elected to formulate a new Constitution so that the discrimination against more than half of country’s ‘Hindi speaking population’ is removed and all Nepalis are integrated into the national mainstream. For the past 13-years, Nepal Sadhbhavna Party is engaged in the struggle for proportional representation in state affairs for more than half of the country’s population of. Nepali Congress, Nepal Communist Party (UML) and other major political parties are now conscious of Madheshi concerns; they are raising their voices from time to time. Some success has come Madheshi way; a long road needs to be traversed still. Nepal is today passing through the difficult phase of reforms in political, economic, social, cultural and language spheres. If the problems of one crore Madheshis are not highlighted right at this point of time, it is almost certain they will get nothing in the next phase of change. Admittedly, multi-party democratic system in Nepal is in jeopardy strain ever since King Gyanendra dismissed an elected Prime Minister and took over the reins of the country. Already an unsuccessful attempt was made to project the autocrat royalty as an alternative to democracy. All democratic and Madheshi forces should, therefore, join hands and unitedly carry forward the democratic movement while raising the problems of the Madheshis side by side so that their aspirations and concerns are never pushed to the back burner and are not even mentioned as was the case at the time of drafting the present constitution a decade back. Democracy can prosper when there is no discrimination of any kind and the gains of democracy are not limited to a particular group or a special community. This is what the Madheshis are clamouring for, to live as Nepalis with their head held high.