Racism?

English: Indian actor Salman Khan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have been following the #GoHomeIndianMedia Twitter trend. So far I have seen only one video clip that was called offensive, for the sole reason that the reporter called Thamel "Mini India." I responded here.

लोग कह रहे हैं चीन से तो नहीं आए मीडिया वाले। जैसे कि वो कोइ अच्छी बात है। अरे चीन मीडिया न आने के कारण हैं: (१) चीन में प्रेस फ्रीडम नहीं है (२) चीन के लिए अगर तिब्बत दुर है तो नेपाल तो बहुत दुर हुवा न (३) नेपाल को मदत करने सबसे पहले भारत पहुँचा, चीन नहीं।

It is possible some Indian journalists asked some questions that might have come across as insensitive. But, like I said, I have seen only one video clip, and that did not pass the test.

It is the job of the journalists to ask the wh questions: who, why, how, where, when, what.

But I have seen a ton of evidence of blatant racism. A guttural hatred of Indians defines the chief ideology of the power elite in Kathmandu. Indians have a hard time facing that fact. Just go to this Facebook page and see for yourself.

One example. There were online rumors that Salman Khan had donated crores of rupees and a few helicopters to Nepal. Salman did the right thing: he put out a statement saying that rumor is not true.

A whole bunch of Nepalis have been jumping up and down the street on that one. Who does Salman think he is? वो अपने आप को क्या समझता है? People have been calling him names. And he is a movie star. So if people can talk hate upon Salman Khan, don't try to justify their talking hatred upon some young Indian TV journalists.

The word Madhesi does not exist in Delhi. Or in Patna, or Lucknow, or Kolkata. मोदी से ले के जितने आते हैं पशुपति के दर्शन कर के चले जाते हैं। सबको लगता है अपनी ही बिरादरी के हैं। भारत तो १९४७ में आजाद हो गया लेकिन मधेस अभी भी गुलाम है। इस बात पर दिल्ली में कोइ हमदर्दी नहीं। चलो सोशल मीडिया के जरिए वो hatred तो सबके सामने आ रही है।

पहले था Go Home Indian Media, अब वही लोग Go Home Indians, Go Home Indian Army पर उतर आए हैं।

Twitter ने सबको एक एक मेगाफोन दे दिया है। लोग तो बोलेंगे ही। तरह तरह के विचार आएंगे। लेकिन ये गाड़ी free speech के पटरी से उतर के hate speech तक पहुँच गयी है। जो hatred नेपाल के मधेसी रोज भुगतते हैं वो आज सलमान को भी भुगतना पर रहा है।

यमन के दौरान युरोप के कइ देशों ने मोदी को धन्यवाद बोला ---- नेपाल वाले कब बोलेंगे? काठमांडु वालों को चाहिए कि Twitter पर #NepalthanksModi #ThankYouModi को ट्रेंडिंग करो।

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The Earthquake And Federalism

सदभावना पार्टी ले रामेछाप मा वितरण गर्न लगेको चामल CDO ले गैर कानुनी रुपले जफत गर्ने ----- तर प्रचण्डले भने बेरोकटोक सिंधु मा चामल वितरण गर्न पाउने? यस्तो राष्ट्रिय विपदको अवस्था मा पनि पर्वते कर्मचारी हरुको racism ले ब्रेक नलिने देखियो।

An Appeal for Decentralization: Nepal’s Earthquake Politics

nothing can really prepare a nation for a disaster of this magnitude. ...... The earthquake gives a whole new meaning to what state restructuring will entail. ...... Nepal has been struggling with what Heather Hindman has termed “long-term provisionality” due to the lack of national political progress and regular turn-over of governments. There have not been local elections since 1997, leaving villages and towns at the mercy of the whims of appointed bureaucrats and, for a time between 2008 and 2012, their local political leaders through “All Party Mechanisms.” Development and resource allocation from the center to the local level has been inconsistent and citizens have few means of accountability. ........ The government plays a minimal role in many people’s lives. Consistent shortages of electricity, water, and fuel have forced communities and families to be creative in building their private infrastructure just to get on with daily life. Many of the Kathmandu valley’s new wells come from communities boring for much needed water and a number of villages have learned if they want a road, they must build it. ....... The largest oversight in the government’s disaster preparedness is the lack of robust, empowered local governance. ....... Nepal’s constituent assembly government needs to stand true to the promises of the 2006 People’s Movement. The underpinning logic for federalism was to devolve power from the center, Kathmandu, and relegate it to the provinces in order to create more regional autonomy. The ongoing debates over the federal state structure and nomenclature have focused on ethnicity and identity-based rights. These issues are central to addressing the many histories of marginalization and healing the wounds of a decade of civil war. However, these disputes obscure the fact that

there is little political will among Nepal’s politicians to decentralize power

. All of the parties are stuck in the centralized, top-down mode of governing .....

Imagine if robust local and regional governance had existed when this earthquake hit? Then the relief efforts would not be mimicking the ad hoc approach the central government has taken to governing and state restructuring over the last seven years.

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