Showing posts with label Madhesi Movement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Madhesi Movement. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

शहीद नहीं चाहिए



तीसरी मधेसी क्रान्तिकी तैयारी हो रही है। राजा ज्ञानेन्द्रके तानाशाहीके विरुद्ध एक ही लोकतान्त्रिक क्रान्ति पर्याप्त रही, लेकिन मधेसीयोको अपना अधिकार पानेके लिए एक नहीं, दो नहीं, तीन तीन क्रान्ति करने पड़ रहे हैं। मधेसीयोको जिस विभेदका सामना करना पड़ रहा है वो कितनी जटिल है इसीसे मालुम हो जाता है। बहुत जटिल है मुद्दा। 

अबकी क्रान्ति अन्तिम होनी चाहिए। इस बारकी क्रान्तिमें कोइ शहीद नहीं चाहिए। 
  1. सीके राउतको अविलम्ब और निशर्त रिहा करो। 
  2. मधेश प्रदेशकी स्वयत्तताकी गारण्टी दो। २२ जिल्ला हमारा है। उसमें एक या दो प्रदेश होंगे। लेकिन २२ मेंसे कोइ भी जिल्ला किसी पहाड़ी राज्यको नहीं दिया जा सकता। 
  3. आत्म निर्णयके अधिकार सहितकी संघीयताकी गारण्टी दो। राज्यकी संसद बहुमतके आधार पर जनमत संग्रह करा सकती है। उस जनमत संग्रहमें बहुमतके आधार पर नए देशका घोषणा किया जा सकता है। 
लेकिन क्रान्तिके दौरान अगर एक भी शहीद हुए तो एक चौथी माँग थपी जाएगी: गृह मंत्रीका राजीनामा। क्यों कि शहीद बहुत दे चुके हम। अब और एक भी शहीद देनेकी ख्वाइश नहीं है। अगर दशसे ज्यादा शहीद होते हैं तो फिर बात बढ़ जाएगी। तब तो ये क्रान्ति प्रधान मंत्रीके राजीनामाके बगैर नहीं थमनेवाली। 


मधेसी क्रान्ति (३)

मधेसी क्रान्ति (१) ले देशमा संघीयतालाई स्थापित गर्यो। मधेसी क्रान्ति (२) ले मधेश प्रदेशको स्वायत्तता स्थापित गर्यो। वामदेव र सुशीलले सीके राउतलाई हिरासतमा लिएर मधेसी क्रान्ति (३) को बीउ रोपेका हुन। त्यस क्रान्तिको गृहकार्य जोड़तोड़कासाथ हुँदैछ।

क्रान्ति अहिंसात्मक हुन्छ। (१) सीके राउतको अविलम्ब र निशर्त रिहाई (२) मधेशको स्वयत्तताको गारण्टी र (३) जनमत संग्रहका आधारमा राज्य देशबाट अलग हुन पाउने प्रावधान सहितको संविधान। मधेश बन्द गर्ने र यी तीन माँग पुरा नभएसम्म बन्द राख्ने लक्ष्य लिएर आन्दोलन शुरू गर्नुपर्ने हुन्छ।


Sunday, October 11, 2009

Mission Madhes


For the past few weeks, I have given a little bit of time to a new organization Mission Madhes. The idea is to reach out on a membership drive, initiate a discussion, and formally launch the organization when the time is right. For understandable reasons, I have received a lot of queries as to where the organization stands in relationship with ANTA.

Mission Madhes
ANTA
A global organization with members also in Nepal.
A diaspora organization based in the US.
Not yet formally launched. Has 22 members and growing.
Been around four plus years and has about 100 members.
Will hold elections for the Officer positions over email so as to maximize electoral participation by members.
Is not known to hold elections. Holds them in Atlanta at the convention of a little known organization that hardly any Madhesi attends.
Transparent.
Opaque.
Free membership.
Membership fee $20.
Uses the mainstream word Madhesi.
Uses the artificially concocted term Teraian.
Is not affiliated with any one political party in Nepal.
The leadership is known to favor one particular party.
Has officially stated will work in close cooperation with ANTA and other Madhesi organizations.
Has no official position on Mission Madhes.
Primarily focused on building a global Madhesi network to enhance interaction.
Focused on using the brand name in Pahadi settings where Madhesis are likely to be less than 1%.

The bottom line is this. There are more than 3,000 Madhesis in America. ANTA grew to about 100 and went stale. There is an urgent need to organize more Madhesis in America and to use internet technology to form direct contact points with the Madhesis in Nepal.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

Upendra Yadav Should Be Leading The MJF Team In The New Government

Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, NepalImage via Wikipedia


  • Upendra Yadav was unanimously elected the leader of the MJF at the party's convention not long ago.
  • At that convention Bijay Gachhedar could not even get himself elected central committee member.
  • It was a mistake to have elected Bijay Gachhedar the parliamentary party leader after the April 2008 election.
  • Where was Bijay Gachhedar during the Madhesi Kranti of 2007?
  • Where was Bijay Gachhedar during the Madhesi Kranti of 2008?
  • If the UML offers to make Bijay Gachhedar the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, that will be the beginning of the end of this UML-led government.
  • It is not for the UML to decide who will lead the MJF in the government. For that the MJF has formed a four member committee: Upendra Yadav, Jay Prakash Gupta, Sharad Singh Bhandari, Bijay Gachhedar.
  • Upendra Yadav led the MJF in the last government.
  • Upendra Yadav will lead the MJF in this government.
It is true that Upendra Yadav failed to correctly read the mood in the country and in the party. But trying to take initiative to form a government in his own leadership was a great move by Upendra Yadav, only the Maoists were not honest with their offer, so the talks went nowhere.

For the UML to try and decide who should get what ministry from the MJF will be like when Rajendra Mahto was in Mahendranagar of Mahakali zone where his Sadbhavana party does not even have a presence, and the Pahadi/Bahun bureaucrats of the Election Commission confiscated his ministerial vehicle saying a minister may not use government property to campaign for his party. That was the Pahadis/Bahuns saying you might be a cabinet minister but you are still only a Madhesi.

There are plenty of Pahadi/Bahun chauvinists in the UML. If they don't measure up, this government is also going to be short-lived.

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Nepali Diaspora: Rethink Time?


America has a special place in the world, and so it does among the Nepali diaspora. The ANA convention that takes place every July 4 weekend, this year in San Francisco, is an event thousands of Nepalis from all across North America make a point to make a pilgrimage to. It is landmark social event. Many look forward to it for good reason. I don't think I will make it, I will likely stay put in New York City, but the oncoming event has made me think again about some of the issues I have thought about before. Why should Nepalis in the diaspora get organized? To what end? How? How much progress have we made? Without expressing disrespect towards those who did the early work, how can we ask the tough questions and level the tough criticisms that will help take our diaspora organizations to new heights?

(1) Homesickness/Bonding

I think the number one reason we talk so much about Nepal in the diaspora is homesickness. It is self interest. Bonding has to happen. The identity has to be claimed and nurtured while the dollar chasing goes on.

(2) Cream Of The Crop

Even those who are not super duper educated are entrepreneurial to have left Nepal. It takes much initiative. Much is asked of those to whom much is given. The diaspora seeks to give back. I think the best giving back would be if the diaspora could invest big time in Nepal. I hope the leaders in Nepal create such an environment. I am for both the service and the profit motive.

(3) Immigrant Rights

Immigrant rights are far behind where globalization has already taken us. We try and get organized to make our modest contributions to the cause of immigrant rights.

(4) Networking

We can help each other out. We can share expertise and experiences. We can pool resources. Although it gets me that not enough of us have gone for hard core entrepreneurial pursuits. It helps our careers here in the diaspora when we network among ourselves.

These are some of the reasons why we need organizations like the ANA. But I have to be honest about something as a Madhesi. To be a Madhesi in the Nepali diaspora is like being a Madhesi in the Nepal Army, or the Nepal Police or in the state bureaucracy in Nepal. You represent a community that is anywhere between 35-45% of Nepal, but is less than 1% of the Nepalis in America. I think it is more like 0.1%. I have felt much more at home giving my time to digital activism for the Madhesi Movement back in Nepal than I have mingling with the Nepalis in America, especially when you routinely encounter the prejudice, the chauvinism, the attitudes, the whole nine yards.

Good thing in Nepal we have a constituent assembly for the first time in history, and we are working to reinvent the Nepali identity because, so far, the Nepali identity has never been inclusive of me and people like me. Maybe the new Nepali identity we will create will.

But then it is that same dissatisfaction that also helps me see the stark fact that the Pahadis on the global stage are powerless like the Madhesis on the national stage in Nepal. Maybe we can empathize with each other. Maybe we can seek and find common cause.

Democracy, Transparency, And The Nepali Diaspora
Alliance Sets The Tone For Diaspora Organizations
White Paper: A Major Diaspora Milestone
A Nepali Diaspora Milestone
Ram Sah: Concern Over State Excesses, And Diaspora Politics
Ram Sah, Ratan Jha, Lalit Jha, Pramod Kantha: Madhesi Diaspora, Pahadi Diaspora
Dalit Diaspora Calls For 20 Percent Reservation
Those In Nepal Should Take The Lead On Logistical Help From Diaspora
Diaspora Dynamics
Diaspora Logistical Help To The Movement
The Nepali Diaspora Contradiction: Would You Like Some Tea?

Some of the deficiencies of our organizations are that:
  • They seem to have no desire to go mass based. There is too much living room politics going on.
  • Too much elitism. No major membership drives. Elected officers end up from the same small group of people who all know each other. It is like a game of musical chairs.
  • Not enough transparency and democracy within the organizations.
  • Not enough use of Web 2.0.
  • Our sights are too low. There is seldom talk of immigrant rights.
  • No reach out to create a larger South Asian, Asian solidarity. Too much inward looking.
  • Not enough constructive, respectful engagement with our counterparts back home. You can't help people you look down upon.
  • The few umbrella organizations are in name only. Most organizations act autonomous. Not enough talk, not enough coordination.
  • I absolutely don't see the Beer Gorkhali thing on immigrant rights. We almost never bring that up as a topic.
I think progress on all these fronts would start with injecting democracy and transparency in the way we operate our organizations. And then we will have to lift our vision to seek equality for us in the diaspora. We will have to forge alliances. We will have to claim the Blac identity, Black Latino Asian Coalition.

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