Don't make a non-issue an issue

Dear Dr. Sambhu Katteljee,

What this Raut fellow is uttering is not a non-issue. A few Madhesi
idiots have been taking the country to ransom for too long a time. For
instance, a few years ago, Rajendra Mahato threatened the government
in Kathmandu to clamp an embargo against the capital at Birganj,
probably learning from the blockade imposed by Rajiv Gandhi's India
against landlocked Nepal for nearly a year and half in 1989-90 that
ended only with regime change in Nepal. The latter itself had been the
result of late King Birendra's refusal to give in to India's proposal
of Bhutanisation of Nepal. When the Madhesi-centric parties were badly
trounced in the last CA2 election, this Mahato fellow again said, it
was the defeat of the Bharatbadis, or the defeat of India in Nepal. He
was clearly hoping that India could be somehow incited into looking at
it similarly too and come to their rescue through more "Mehtas", the
reference being to the a consular official named Mehta at the Indian
Consulate at Birganj who wanted to see the "terai burn" during the
dying days of CA1. For this, he had  invited the leaders of Madhesi
extraction belonging to all parties to a dinner in a Birganj
restaurant. But the Madhesi leaders of two national parties, the NC
and UML, went public about this instigation, while the Madhesi leaders
of the Madhesi parties--Sadbhavana party, Janadihiar Forum, and so
on--just  kept  quiet, clearly an act of betrayal to the nation, or in
other words, anti-national. Following this undiplomatic embarrassment,
the Mehta fellow himself was quietly withdrawn by the South Block. And
come CA2 election, it was the Madhesi leaders of these national
parties who carried the day. The Madhesi politicians of the parties to
which the Mehta's co-conspirators belonged were badly defeated,
clearly underscoring the fact that these politicos who had
opportunistically aligned themselves with the Mehtas, have lost all
faith of the Madhesi people. The most outstanding example of this
phenomenon is the cutting down to size of Mr. Upendra Yadav who having
misled the Madhesi people into anti-Pahadi rallies and won big in the
ensuing CA1 election has since been badly humiliated by the voters in
CA2 election.  In other parts of the world that would have been a
sufficient ground for a party leader like him to retire. But, of
course, this happens to be the case of a Madhesi zamindar in feudal
Nepal.

The fact of the matter is that the Madhesh region in the Terai is one
of the most stratified socially, economically and politically. The
high caste and rich minority has been inflicting its tyranny over the
rest of the people who are historically poor, utterly poor, and
live--half-starved--at the exploitative mercy of these high caste
people from among whom almost all Madhesi leaders are born. For
instance, the Chamars and Mushahars are the two biggest and lowest
caste ethnic groups in Madhesh or the Madhesh region of terai. If one
goes through any research work on terai, one would invariably come
across the untold misery to which these poor and low caste people are
subjugated to--economically, socially and sexually--by their high
caste tormentors. Recently, Mr. Raut headed a Save Madhesh campaign
which, in this very email forum and for that very reason, I suggested
should be renamed, Save Madhesh from the Madhesi Leaders. Given the
present day situation, that should be the fitting objective of any
campaign to be launched for the Madhesi people of terai.

Now to get back to the threat issued by Mr. Raut of Griha Yuddha, we
should be glad that India is no longer ruled by people like Rajiv
Gandhi or Atal Bihari Bajpaye, the latter a highly respected leader in
India but for Nepal, one who decided to give safe haven to our
"People's warriors" like Prachanda and Babu  Ram who having caused the
mindless slaughter of 17,000 innocent Nepalese have in the meantime
emerged like the Nepali version of Rumania's Ceusescu.  Today India is
governed by leaders like Narendra Modi, and China, the superpower in
the making to the north, has entered Nepal in a big way. Therefore,
Mr. Raut, if he wants to live peacefully and honorably as a Nepali
citizen, should desist from such nonsensical utterances which need
"Mehtas" for them to materialize in actuality. After all, as an
educated man he should remind himself that the forefathers of most of
the present day Madhesi people had migrated from what is independent
India today only a couple of generations ago in pursuit of greener
pastures. If Nepal can resettle Indian migrants in terai, how does Mr.
Raut hold that Nepal cannot resettle her own citizens in the terai
region of Nepal.

To conclude, despite this acute diversity the Madhesi community in
Nepal remains a closely-knit and introvert system. While most Madhesi
scholars are familiar about this tragedy of the low caste people in
the terai and are also willing to talk about it in informal groups,
there are few writers who are willing to call a spade a spade more
publicly. But authors like Prof. Ram Narayan Dev do give hope. About
three years ago, he demonstrated his academic courage when he wrote in
a local daily that "most land in the terai are occupied by the people
of higher caste." He had complained that the government simplistically
recognizes "only one category, Madhesi" but "none of  the deprived
groups, the dalits, mushahars, chamars, etc. get to apply. It is the
Jhas, Misras, Thakurs, Singhs, Dev, Karna, Yadavs, Mandals, Shah,
Chaudhari end up grabbing the reserved opportunities. " Such writings
are essential for ensuring social justice in any society including
Madhesh. In Nepal, it also contributes to the furthering  of national
integration that would go on to set the stage for collectively seeking
the improvement of our common destiny under which all the regions and
people of the country enjoy the opportunity for maximum development
based on the strength of their special comparative advantages that all
of them are endowed with.

Bihari Krishna Shrestha