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Strike for the right of Madesh and Madeshi People??
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geda_gudi
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Posted on 02-20-08 9:39
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The Rising Nepal
Madhes Burning: Why are Politicians Unconcerned (2008-2-20)
Yuba Nath Lamsal
Nero
was the emperor of Rome in 64 A.D. He was fond of music and used to
play the violin. One night, a fire suddenly broke out in the heart of
Rome and spread across the entire town. Nero was immediately informed
about the fire and asked to order his army and guards to put out the
blaze and save the life and property of the people.
Nero, however, did nothing. He ran about watching the flame. The fire continued for seven days. When
the entire city was destroyed by the fire, he tried to find a
scapegoat. Finally, he blamed the followers of a small Christian sect
and persecuted them. Thus, the popular saying goes: Nero plays the
violin while Rome is burning.
Partisan gains This is
exactly what is happening to Nepal today. The Terai is burning, but the
politicians are busy calculating their partisan and personal gains from
the chaos and hardship the Madhes problem has incurred. More
importantly, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and top leaders of
the major political parties seem to have turned a deaf ear to this
national crisis.
The indefinite strike has paralysed normal
life in the entire Terai from Kakarbhitta in the east to Mahendranagar
in the west. Its impact is visible in the capital and other parts of
the country. The fuel shortage has been acute. More than half the
vehicles are off the road in the capital. The scarcity of daily
essentials has also started. Unscrupulous businessmen have already
started creating artificial shortages of essential commodities and are
trying to benefit from the crisis.
People are facing hardships
of various sorts. If this situation continues for some more days, the
problem will be catastrophic, towards which attention of all has to be
focused. Unfortunately, some politicians appear to be totally
unconcerned while some are trying to instigate and inflame it.
The
Terai issue did not come all of a sudden. It has its own background and
causes. The Madhesi people have been discriminated for long. The
Madhesi people are of the view that Nepal's nationalism and nation
state have been defined from the perspective of the people from the
hills. This may be true to some extent, but not in totality. It is true
that there has been equal contribution from the people of Madhes in the
process of nation building. It is also true that this contribution was
not recognised and realised in the corridors of power in Singha Durbar.
The
population of the poor and downtrodden people in the Terai is huge.
They constitute the Dalits and others there. They are exploited and
discriminated not so much by the people from the hills but by the
feudal lords, landlords and upper classes who toe the line of the
feudals and reactionaries in Kathmandu. They are exploited and
discriminated by the Madhesis themselves. In the name of the Madhesi
people, some upper class people have taken undue advantage and benefit.
Nepal
has given due share to Madhes. Especially after the establishment of
multi-party democracy in 1990, Madhes has gotten its due share, and in
some cases more than what it is entitled to. After the political change
in 1990, Girija Prasad Koirala was elected as the prime minister.
Although by ethnicity, he is from the hills, he is a representative of
the Terai people as the Madhesi people elected him to parliament from
Morang and Sunsari.
The other democratic prime minister is
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, who was elected to parliament from Parsa.
Manmohan Adhikari, the first democratically elected communist prime
minister, was also elected from Sunsari. Similarly, all the influential
politicians who held important positions in the cabinet as well as
other sectors are from the Terai. Madhav Nepal, K.P. Oli, Bamdev
Gautam, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Bijaya Gacchadar, Bharat Mohan
Adhikari, Mahesh Acharya, Chakra Bastola, Sailaja Acharya, C.P.
Mainali, Bimalendra Nidhi, Mahanta Thakur, Hridesh Tripathi, Ram Baran
Yadav, Sushil Koirala and Lila Koirala represent the Terai.
These
leaders held powerful and important positions during the last
one-and-a-half decade. It was the Terai people who elected them. So if
these leaders have made any mistake it is the mistake of the Terai
people. The Madhesi people cannot say that they were not given due
representation. So far as their origin of their representatives is
concerned, it is not the mistake of the hilly people.
The Terai people should have defeated and rejected them if they were not happy with the role and responsibility
of these leaders. The entire people from the hills should not be blamed
for the mistakes the representatives of the Terai people have made.
As
far as representation is concerned, it is the people from the Himalayan
region that are underrepresented in the political and other sectors
despite this region having huge national resource and territory.
It
has been agreed that Nepal should adopt a federal structure with
provinces having autonomous status in decision making except in foreign
policy, defence, monetary policy and currency. Although the federal
system has its own merits and demerits, this issue has been already
decided. But the form and structure of the federal system has yet to be
revolved. This, too, would be decided after the Constituent Assembly
election.
So far as the demand for one Madhes, one province is
concerned, it is not feasible and justified. If this demand is to be
accepted, Nepal will have three provinces - Himalaya, Mid-Mountain and
Terai provinces. This will not serve the purpose of federalism. The
Himalayan region is the home to the source of our rivers and water. If
the Himalayan region has a monopoly over the rivers and water sources,
what will be the fate of the Terai people in the future? Can the Terai
exist without water? Thus, in determining the federal structure, all
factors have to be taken into account.
One more concern is the
right to self-determination. If federal states are given the right to
self- determination, it should be ensured that there will be no attempt
to secede in the future. Such issues must be ensured in the
constitution.
Now that the interim constitution has already
ensured that the Terai people will have due representation in the
Constituent Assembly on the basis of their population, we must let this
issue be decided by the elected Constituent Assembly. If the CA agrees
for one Madhes province, it should be acceptable to us. But deciding
the federal structure and other vital issues without undergoing a due
process, it will not only be illegitimate but also not acceptable to
the people.
People's empowerment Thus, the Constituent
Assembly should be allowed to be held in April through which all issued
will be settled. This is the only democratic and legitimate process.
The agitation is aimed at disrupting the election, which is tantamount
to blocking the process of empowering the people. In other words, the
Madhes agitation is against the rights and interest of the Madhesi
people themselves.
If the parties are really concerned about
the people of Madhes, they must halt the protest programmes and join
the electoral fray. If not, the people will ultimately rise against the
Nepali 'Neros'.
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