Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Implications Of The Madhesi Party Unification



In the last election the Madhesi parties did better than they ever had. But they still got less than half of what they should have gotten. If there were 600 seats overall, there were 300 seats in the Terai. The Madhesi parties together got about 80. That is 80 out of 300. There is a long way to go.

Now they are better positioned because the Nepali Congress is in an even worse position today. Post 1990 the thinking in the Terai was you might not like the Nepali Congress but that is the party that will end up in power, so you might as well rally behind. That incumbency has now shifted to the Madhesi parties. It is the Madhesi parties that are in power. It is them that will return to power after elections are held. That rationale will help the Madhesi parties wipe out the Nepali Congress, a party that was damaged but not wiped out the last time around.

Even if the Madhesi parties do not unify, even if they only build an electoral alliance, they are likely to cross 100 seats. My guess is they will approach somewhere between 100 and 150. But if they are unified they will approach 200 seats. They might even cross that 200 mark.

But something interesting has happened in the meantime. Upendra Yadav's alliance has ethnic parties that are in the hills. And so the unified Madhesi party will no longer be a Madhesi party, it will be a national party. That crossover is a big deal. That not only expands the base of the Madhesi politicians into the hills, that also brings about a cultural crossover in the Terai itself. 40% of the people in the Terai are not Madhesi. There are Pahadis - Bahun, Chhetri - and there are Janajatis. Upendra Yadav, in the act, has also proven he deserves to be leading the unified party. Rajendra Mahto has a mass base as well, he has also ventured into the hills. That's a party Vice President right there.

That cultural crossover is a big plus point.

Another advantage of unification is it will force the Madhesi leaders who have come from both Congress and communist backgrounds to get past those ideological baggages, also reflected in leadership styles, to forge something new. One criticism of Upendra Yadav has been his leadership style is dictatorial. Communists might call that discipline. To people of Upendra Yadav's ideological background - a former communist, a former Maoist - people like Mahantha Thakur and JP Gupta come across as chaotic, disorganized, haphazard. You only have to take one look at how the Nepali Congress is and you will see. Half the time you feel like Sher Bahadur Deuba never accepted Sushil Koirala as the party leader. The Congress thrives on that kind of indiscipline. They think that shows there is democracy inside the party.

The exercise of unification will do the Madhesi politicians a lot of good. Right now the attempt should be to also get Upendra Yadav to join the ruling coalition, even as the leader of a separate front.

Unification can not be written off just yet. Even if attempts fail that might still make room for an electoral alliance. Without the electoral alliance the Madhesi parties might struggle to repeat their performance of the past election. Worse, they might end up hurting the cause of federalism.

When you put together a collage of Madhesi leaders you don't see Dalit and female faces. That is ground the Madhesi parties are ceding to the Maoists in the Terai. That is not wise.

TMDP, MPRF Unification: Huge
Madhesi, Janajati parties float 'Federal Democratic Front'
Federal Democratic Front-Nepal formed
seven parties .... The front has decided to form three different task forces to draft a declaration of unification of parties, the statute of the party and its political programme. ..... Parshuram Tamang, chairman of Tamsaling Nepal National Party (TNNP)..... if we remained as we were, we would never gain strength and would always be considered regional parties, we have come together to form a strong party that can work as an alternative to the so-called big parties .... the front would turn into a brand new party within the next three months .... more than 13 forces had forged agreement to join the front but we happened to be only seven today due to some technical errors among the parties. They will join the front very soon,” he said, adding that they have also held several rounds of dialogue with the Ashok Rai-led progressive group of CPN-UML and the Kumar Rai-led group of Nepali Congress.


Nepal’s Maoists, Madhesis form federal alliance



दाहालको प्रस्ताव 'ललिपप’ : मधेसी दल
मोर्चा स्रोतका अनुसार शनिबार कांग्रेसका नेताद्वय कृष्णप्रसाद सिटौला र मिनेन्द्र रिजालले ठाकुरसँग प्रत्यक्ष सम्पर्क गर्न खोजे पनि उनी जनकपुरमा भएकाले सम्भव भएन ।
मधेसी मोर्चाद्वारा स्वागत न विरोध
एक होलान् मधेसी दल ?
शुक्लसहित वृजेशकुमार गुप्ता र जेपी यादवको वार्ता टोलीले मधेसी जनअधिकार फोरम नेपालसँग चार चरण एकीकरणको विषयमा छलफल गरेको छ भने अध्यक्ष ठाकुर र फोरम नेपाल अध्यक्ष उपेन्द्र यादवबीच पनि बाक्लै छलफल भएको छ । 'एकीकरण प्रक्रियाबारे पर्याप्त छलफल भएको छ,' फोरम अध्यक्ष यादवले कान्तिपुरसित भने, 'एक-अर्कालाई बुझ्न र अघि बढ्न यसले सहयोग पुर्‍याएको छ ।' ..... फोरम नेपालबाहेक सबै मधेसी दलहरूसँग वार्ता गर्न बनाइएको भौतिक योजनामन्त्रीसमेत रहेका त्रिपाठीसहित जितेन्द्र सोनार र पुष्पा ठाकुरको टोलीले मधेसी जनअधिकार फोरम (लोकतान्त्रिक) का अध्यक्ष एवं गृहमन्त्री विजयकुमार गच्छदार र वार्ताका लागि उक्त पार्टीले तोकेको उपाध्यक्ष रामेश्वर राय, महासचिव जितेन्द्रनारायण देव, रामजनम चौधरी र मृगेन्द्रकुमार सिंह यादवलगायतसँग छलफल गरेको छ । ..... एकीकरणकै विषयमा अध्यक्ष ठाकुरले गच्छदारसहित मधेसी जनअधिकार फोरम (गणतान्त्रिक) का कार्यवाहक अध्यक्ष एवं सञ्चारमन्त्री राजकिशोर यादव, सद्भावना अध्यक्ष एवं स्वास्थ्यमन्त्री राजेन्द्र महतो र राष्ट्रिय मधेस समाजवादी पार्टीका अध्यक्ष शरतसिंह भण्डारीलगायतसँग छलफल गरिसकेका छन् । दसैं सुरु भइसकेकाले अहिले छलफल रोकिएको छ । दसैंलगत्तै फेरि वार्ता जारी हुनेछ । .... फोरम नेपाल र तमलोपाबीच एकीकरणको सम्भावना सबैभन्दा नजिक पुगेको छ ...... फोरम नेपाल र तमलोपाबीच केन्द्रीय कार्यसमिति, नाम, चुनाव चिह्न, पार्टीको सिद्धान्त र अवधारणाबारे व्यापक छलफल भएको छ । भण्डारी अध्यक्ष रहेको राष्ट्रिय मधेस समाजवादी पार्टी (रामसपा) र फोरम नेपाल एकै मोर्चामा भएकाले रामसपा र तमलोपाबीच पनि एकीकरण सहज देखिन्छ । एकीकरण भए केही समयअघि घोषित 'संघीय लोकतान्त्रिक मोर्चा' मा आबद्ध दलहरू पनि समेटिने सम्भावना छ । मोर्चामा ५ वटा जनजाति पार्टी छन् । ...... तराई मधेसमा पछिल्लो अवस्थामा तमलोपा, फोरम नेपाल, रामसपा र राजेन्द्र महतो अध्यक्ष रहेको सद्भावनाको पकड देखिन्छ । संविधानसभा जारी रहेकै बखत बनेका पार्टीहरू उद्योगमन्त्री अनिल झा अध्यक्ष रहेको संघीय सद्भावना, रामनरेश राय अध्यक्ष रहेको राष्ट्रिय सद्भावना, महेन्द्र राय यादव अध्यक्ष रहेको तमलोपा नेपाल, सञ्चारमन्त्री राजकिशोर यादव अध्यक्ष रहेको फोरम गणतान्त्रिक, सरिता गिरी अध्यक्ष रहेको सद्भावना (आनन्दीदेवी) लगायतका साना दलको जनस्तरमा पकड देखिन्न । ....... फोरम -लोकतान्त्रिक) सँग एकीकरणका लागि त्रिपाठी संयोजकत्वको टोलीले वार्ता गरिरहे पनि ऊसँगको वार्ता भने त्यत्ति नजिक पुगेको छैन । एकीकरण हुँदा कुनै बेला एउटै पार्टीमा रहेका उपेन्द्र यादव र शरतसिंह भण्डारीसँगै हुने भएकाले पनि गच्छदार तत्कालै एकीकरणका लागि तयार देखिन्नन् । ..... तत्कालै गच्छदारको पार्टी बाहेकलाई एकीकृत गराउन सके पनि मधेसमा हैसियत प्राप्त दल बन्ने तमलोपा अध्यक्ष ठाकुरको बुझाइ छ । त्यसो त, यो परिस्थितिमा चुनाव भइहाले मधेसमा धेरै दल भएको हिसाबले मधेसीका कोटामा धेरै सिट हात नपर्ने स्पष्ट नै छ ।
बृहत मधेसी मोर्चामा फुट
फोरम लोकतान्त्रिकको संसदीय दलमा झडप


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