Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The conservative assault

The conservative assault

Ringside View

Prashant Jha


The relentless assault at the Maoist-Morcha alliance is astonishing in its breadth and intensity. Given PM Baburam Bhattarai’s popularity, even his most dire opponents hesitate to criticise him for fear of losing their own credibility. Thus, the antagonism has been directed primarily at the four-point agreement, and Madhesi parties.

Sample a few instances.

The People’s Review, a self declared ‘nationalist’ paper, published a short item titled ‘A “Dhoti” in Army HQ?’ With an unmistakable condescending tone, it mentioned that ‘a person clad in either a dhoti or a kurta saluwar, not a daura saluwar’ will become defence minister. Only half in jest, it quotes someone as saying that the NA ‘deserves it’ for abandoning the king. At one’s kindest, the item can be ignored as the residual remains of older exclusivist nationalism.

Move to a more ‘liberal’ magazine, Himal Khabarpatrika (HKP), whose latest cover story is propaganda masquerading as reportage. We are told Madhesis do not want Madhes but instead want a province that is connected with the hills and the Himal. And so, Madhesi parties are betraying their people by pushing for a Madhes state. (Incidentally, there is an agreement on ‘autonomous state’ in the four-point agreement, but not on an ‘autonomous Madhes state’ as has been falsely, but widely, reported.)

Now, that can be someone’s view and it merits a reasoned debate, but to portray it as the overwhelming sentiment in Tarai is taking liberties with truth. The majority in the eastern plains—the dateline of the report—want boundaries on an east-west, and not a north-south, basis. Even NC, the most cautious of parties, has created provinces on an east-west basis in its proposed federal map. This should give people an idea of the popular opinion.

Madhesis suspect that connecting their region with the hills will once again mean domination of pahadis, and see it as a conspiracy to weaken and divide the Tarai. They also feel it will deprive them of being able to build closer links with people who share their way of life and culture. There is, however, flexibility about the number of provinces.

This does not mean that the hills and Tarai will not be able to take advantage of each other’s strengths, as the report tries to project. The rest of the country will use the border with India for trade and travel; people from Tarai will continue to seek opportunities in Kathmandu; industries will use raw material and labour from across the country; there will be flow of agricultural and other commodities; students and patients will use educational

and health facilitates in other provinces; revenue and expenditure will be

shared. With better transport, inter-provincial links based on comparative advantages will become stronger and the process of ‘national integration,’ while giving identities and regions their own space, will deepen.

An editorial in the same issue of Himal Khabarpatrika, and an op-ed piece by lawyer Tika Ram Bhattarai in Kantipur on Tuesday, takes the deceit further, by stoking paranoia about possible disintegration because of the four-point deal. When HKP’s favorite ‘democratic leader’ G P Koirala signed the eight-point agreement which provided for an ‘autonomous Madhes province,’ there was no such reaction of outrage. But when the Maoists and Madhesis sign an agreement on ‘autonomous states,’ it becomes a threat to national integrity.

The ‘autonomy’ business is anyway exaggerated by all sides: There is agreement in the CA on the division of powers between the centre and the states, where the centre remains far more powerful. Neither does the four-point agreement accept ‘ethnic provinces’. Even if the reference to self determination is included in the final constitution, there is an evolving political consensus that it will not include the right to secede. In any case, how many times do Madhesis have to prove that they do not want to split, and their demand for inclusion is in fact a desire to be a part of the state apparatus?

Tika Ram Bhattarai’s argument is riddled with similar contradictions.

He has a problem with making Nepal Army more inclusive; he does not like the fact that the dress of all communities in Nepal, and not just the one his community can relate to, have been declared national dress. But he does not want disintegration. The message is simple—he wants ‘national unity’ exactly on terms set by the older regimes where Madhes was a part of Nepal, but Madhesis were not equal Nepalis allowed to retain their identity.

With rhetorical flourish, he asks, ‘Will we be able to hand over the whole of Nepal that our ancestors gave us to future generations?” Yes, you will be able to do so but only if you accept federalism, inclusion, and reconcile yourself to the fact that people from other communities will become decisive political players. If you want the Tarai, but not those who live there, you can forget it.

Another line of attack has hovered around how this Maoist-Morcha alliance is ‘unnatural’. A deal between NC and Maoists in 2005, after a decade of butchering each other’s cadres, is ‘natural’; an understanding between the ‘UML and Maoists’ after calling each other social fascists and ultra left adventurists is ‘natural’; agreement between NC and UML whose constant squabbles destroyed democracy in the 90s is ‘natural’; an alliance of NC and Madhesi leaders, most of whom deserted NC for its indifference to Madhesi issues, is ‘natural’; but an understanding between the Madhesi Morcha and the Maoists—two forces who, at least, share a similar agenda of state restructuring—is ‘unnatural’?

Others question the ‘opportunism’ of Madhesi parties. In a note to a mailing list, besides doubting the ‘nationalist’ credentials of Madhesi parties and their stance on issues like citizenship, former CIAA director Surya Nath Upadhyay says, “Discipline and decency has never crept in their mind.” And discipline and decency are the hallmark of Upadhyay’s former left parties? Agreed, Madhesi parties are ‘power hungry’. But then what about GPK, whose lust for power led to the downfall of each government that did not include him? What about Madhav Nepal, who begged the king to make him PM? And what about Prachanda, who spent the last two years striving to return to power? What else is politics but struggle for state power? The double standard deployed by the capital’s intelligentsia for people they like and disapprove of is stunning.

At its root, the anger in sections of Kathmandu stems from the fear of deepening democratisation and inability to refigure their conception of

nationalism. Given the logic of demography, power will continue to shift towards the plains, and among those who were marginalised earlier. ‘Saviours of democracy’ should understand this simple fact of democratic politics. The trouble is Nepal’s ‘democrats’ fear the Nepali people, and popular aspirations, the most. As a Madhesi friend said, “This reaction only shows the success of regional politics. For the first time, the others are jealous, irritated and scared. Let them once feel what we have gone through all our lives.”

source:

http://www.ekantipur.com/2011/09/14/oped/the-conservative-assault/340758.html


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

माओवादीले जस लिने कांग्रेस-एमालेको डर

शान्ति प्रकृयामा भट्टराईको गति किन घट्यो ?

'माओवादीले जस लिने कांग्रेस-एमालेको डर'

२७ भदौ, काठमाडौं । आफ्नै पार्टीको चर्को बिरोधका बाबजुद प्रधानमन्त्री हुनासाथ डा. बाबुराम भट्टराईले शान्ति प्रकृया सक्न तिब्ररुपमा काम अघि बढाएपनि पछिल्लो एक साता त्यसमा खासै गति देखिएको छैन् ।

माओवादी हतियार भण्डारण गरिएको कन्टेनरको चावी सरकारलाई बुझाएर त्यसको प्रारम्भ गरेका प्रधानमन्त्रीले तत्कालै लडाकूको बर्गिकरण थाल्ने बताएको भएपनि अहिलेसम्म वर्गिकरण अगाडी बढ्न सकेको छैन् । बरु प्रधानमन्त्री भट्टराई शान्ति प्रकृयालाई छाडेर शासकीय सुधारका काममा पो केन्द्रीत भएका हुन कि जस्तो देखिन थालेको छ ।

तर, माओवादीले भने आफ्नो पार्टी कुनै पनि सर्तमा शान्ति प्रक्रियालाई पूरा गर्न लागेपनि कांग्रेस र एमालेले पूर्व सहमतिबाट पछि हट्दै नयाँ नयाँ सर्त राख्न थालेपछि शान्ति र संविधान निर्माण प्रक्रिया प्रभावित भएको बताउँछ । दुई दलले लडाकू बर्गिकरणमा समेत अबरोध गरेका छन भने शान्ति प्रकृया नसकिएसम्म संबिधान बनाउन नपाइने भन्दै अडान लिइरहेका छन् ।

यसअघि जेठ १४ मा संविधानसभाको म्याद थप्दा नेपाली कांग्रेस ६ हजार लडाकू समायोजन गर्न सहमत भएको थियो । उसको एउटैमात्र सर्त थियो-’कन्टेनरको चावी सरकारलाई बुझाउनुपर्छ ।’ झलनाथ खनाल प्रधानमन्त्रीमा रहँदा एमालेले ७ देखि ८ हजारसम्म लडाकू समायोजन गर्न सकिने, लडाकूका लागि मापदण्ड फेर्ने, ५ देखि ७ लाख रुपैयाँ पुनस्थापना प्याकेज दिने लगायतमा सहमति जनाएको थियो । तर, भट्टराई प्रधानमन्त्री हुनासाथ कांग्रेस र एमाले दुवैले चार हजारभन्दा लडाकू समायोजन हुन नसक्ने, पुनस्थापना हुन चाहानेलाई ३ लाख रुपैयाँ दिने र तत्कालै हतियार बुझाउनुपर्ने सर्त राखे । पहिले महानिर्देशनालयको प्रस्तावलाई स्वागत गरेको कांग्रेस अहिले त्यसलाई मान्न नसकिने बताइरहेको छ ।

‘अहिले माओवादी र प्रधानमन्त्री भट्टराई शान्ति र संविधान निर्माणमा प्रतिवद्ध देदिएका छन्’ राजनीतिक विश्लेषक श्याम श्रेष्ठले भन्नुभयो-’तर, कांग्रेस र एमाले पूर्व सहमतिहरुबाट समेत पछाडी हटेका छन् । कतै उनीहरु शान्ति प्रक्रिया पूरा गर्न नचाहेको हो कि भन्ने आशंका उठेको छ ।’ बाबुराम भट्टराईको नेतृत्वमा शान्ति प्रक्रिया पूरा गरी संविधान निर्माण गरे माओवादीले जस पाउँछ भन्ने कांग्रेस र एमालेको डर छ । ‘अहिले कांग्रेस र एमालेमा माओवादीले शान्ति र संविधान निर्माण पूरा गरेर जस लिने भयो भन्ने डर देखिएको छ’ श्रेष्ठले भन्नुभयो-’सबै विषयमा लिचिलो भएर आउँदा पनि टाँगै मुनी छिराउनु खोज्नु भनेको शान्न्ित प्रक्रिया भाड्न खोज्नु हो ।’

माओवादीले पनि कांग्रेस र एमालेले शान्ति प्रक्रिया पूरा गर्न नचाहेको हो कि भन्ने आशंका व्यक्त गरेको छ । ‘अहिले हामीले शान्ति र संविधान निर्माण पूरा गर्न प्रतिवद्ध भएर आएका छौं’ माओवादी नेता जनार्दन शर्मा प्रभाकरले भन्नुभयो-’तर, विगतमा भएका सहमतिलाई समेत उल्टाएर कांग्रेस र एमालेले शान्ति प्रक्रिया पूरा गर्न नचाहेको देखिएको छ ।’ शान्ति प्रक्रिया सहमतिबाट मात्र अगाडि बढाउनु पर्ने वाध्यकारी प्रावधान रहेको भन्दै उहाँले कांग्रेस र एमाले सहमतिमा आउनु पर्ने बताउनु भयो ।

झलनाथ खनाल प्रधानमन्त्री हुँदा अनौपचारिक सहमति भएका बिषयमा शान्ति प्रक्रिया पूरा भएपछि मात्र संविधान निर्माण गर्ने कांग्रेसको अडानका कारण माओवादी थप सशंकित भएको छ । आफ्ना लडाकू र हतियार राज्यलाई बुझाएपछि कांग्रेस र एमालेले संविधान निर्माणमा कर्नरमा पर्ने वा संविधान नै नबनाउने हो कि भन्ने उसको आशंका छ । तर राजनीतिक विश्लेषक श्रेष्ठ भने यसले माओवादी मात्र नभई कांग्रेस र एमालेलाई नै विनासको वाटोमा लैजाने देख्नु हुन्छ । ‘माओवादीलाई सफल हुन नदिने नाममा मुलुकलाई नै असफल पार्ने प्रयास भइरहेको छ’ उहाँले भन्नुभयो-’यसले कांग्रेस र एमालेलाई नै विनासको वाटोमा लैजान्छ । जनताले वुझिएरहेका छन् शान्ति र संविधानमा कहाँबाट अबरोध भइरहेको छ भनेर ।’

कांग्रेस नेता एवं विशेष समितिका सदस्य रामशरण महत भने यसलाई अस्वीकार गर्नुहुन्छ । माओवादीको आन्तरिक कारण शान्ति प्रक्रिया अघि बढ्न नसकेको भन्दै उहाँले भन्नुभयो-’यो माओवादीको शब्दजाल हो । विगतमा भएका सहमतिअनुसार शान्ति प्रक्रिया अगाडि बढाउन माओवादी तयार भए सबै कुरामा सहमति हुन्छ ।’ माओवादीले आफ्ना लडाकू र हतियार राखेर नै संविधान जारी गर्न खोजेको उहाँको आरोप छ ।


source:

http://www.onlinekhabar.com/2011/09/13/87452.html


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