I had a rather long conversation with Lalit Jha last night. We talked at length about his trip to Nepal. He described the militarization in the country, the fear and apathy among the people, the remittance economy, the wealth and squalor in Kathmandu, and the NRN conference where Paras was the chief guest and officials talked like the absolute monarchy is here to stay.
One thing that came up was as to why the ANTA has not been expanding faster. Three major thoughts came up:
- Madhesis in the US still have the cobweb of mental slavery around them. To join ANTA is akin to coming out of the closet.
- The central leadership are overwhelmingly high caste. That has turned a lot of people off. Last names of the central leaders are: Jha, Singh, Mandal, Kantha, Dutta, Deo, and Jha.
- The ANTA so far has remained neutral on the democracy movement in Nepal. That has to change, because if it does not, I myself am going to distance myself from the organization.
I think these issues have to be tackled. The first step has to be to reorganize the central leadership along a 30-70 formula, as in not more than 30% should be high caste. Then the ANTA has to commit itself to the democratic cause. And a massive membership drive has to be carried about. Then we can tackle (1).
2 comments:
For the issue of Madhesh/Terai you can visite;
www.madheshvani.com
www.marg.org.np
www.madheshee.blogspot.com
Discrimination ……………… how far? How long?
Nepal is a multi lingual and multi cultural country. Geographically, it is divided in to three major regions the Himalayas, the Mountains and the flat region called Terai. Terai is also called Madhesh. Madhesh is fertile and provides sufficient favorable conditions to live.Therefore about 50% population of Nepal live in this area. This is a fact that Madheshis are living in this region for the generations. In fact they are living here far before the time when Nepal was united as a single nation. It means they are also the native Nepali people. After the unification of the many small countries of Himalayas, Mountains and Madhesh regions Madhesh was always used and exploited for the benefit of the very few people or the rulers. The state never realized that this region is also a part of Nepal. People at this region have been treated as second grade citizen and many are yet to get the citizenship. About four million people are stateless. The rulers always tried to pick some of the Madheshi leaders and use them to exploit their own people. This is a bitter fact that Madhesh never got any chance to represent their true leaders in the government or any other area who would directly or indirectly benefit the Madhesh and Madheshi people. The long time conspiracy and discrimination against Madheshi are still going on and none of the Government has shown genuine interest in these issues rather they have tried to ignore it. What state believes is they need Madhesh but not the Madheshi people. They need vote but not the Madheshi candidates. They need grains but not the Madheshi farmers. The Madhesh provides more than 80% of the total revenue but investment is still far less than what mountain and Himalayas receive.
The discrimination is still on .How far and how long?……………..
· It is very unfortunate to mention that out of one thousand employees in the palace there is not even a single Madheshi working there. Answer?
· Why does government always seek to share the lands only in the country?
· Why not the property of the people no matter whether there is land or any other properties? Answer?
· What is the position of Madheshis in the national security systems?
· How about beaurocracy and diplomats, political appointments? Answer?
· How many Madheshi leaders get chance to represent in the central committees of the national political parties?
· Why is there only one secretary out of 37 in the country?
· Why is there only one chief district officer out of 75 in the country?
And more yet to come. Please wait……..
Why MADHESHVANI?
· Because the most of the Nepali media are also biased about Madhesh issues.
· Media coverage is so less that most of international communities are ignorant of Madhesh.
· Human right and such groups are absorbed in their own.
· To warn the political parties about this discrimination.
· To warn all the concern authorities about this issue.
· To help make Nepal a peaceful and prosperous country where no any kind of discrimination take place.
More? In this websites…
www.madheshvani.com
www.marg.org.np
www.madheshee.blogspot.com
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