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 Strike for the right of Madesh and Madeshi People??
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Posted on 02-20-08 9:39 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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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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