E-Kantipur

The year seems to be closing on a good note. Despite all the mess with which it began, the four- and seven-point agreements have highlighted the positive momentum that the political parties at their best are capable of. While all this is well and good, ethnocentrism and chauvinism remain Nepal’s formidable foes.

More than one op-ed in the print media has shown that the country has a long way to go from its unexamined past and tangled present. Moreover, politicised ethnocentrism and chauvinism, if not challenged constantly, may impede the present progress and poison the well of goodwill and hope in the future.

Let’s begin with the premise that in the ancient regime all ethnic groups had ingrained prejudices against each other based on caste and ethnicity. Some of these became egregious because the state structures fostered them. The reasons may have been religious, historical, political or social. While the prejudice systematically cultivated by the state structure proved to be lethal, the reactive ethnic animosity that the state’s others developed may not have been as lethal because of their lack of access to state power. Nonetheless, the fact remains that inevitable ethnic difference bred prejudices in communities, depending on their level and idea of their own power and social and cultural status.  This prejudice began in the family, clan, caste, and ethnicity and widened in an expanding circle. One favored one’s own children first, then one’s siblings, one’s clan members, in-laws and then fellow caste folks, then fellow language speakers and so on.  There were always exceptions, of course; but exceptions prove the rule.

The aftermath of Second Jana Andolan of 2006 has challenged the prejudices born of agrarian lifestyle and ethnocentric political and cultural structure that became so entrenched in Nepal. But the two op-eds published a few months apart, one by a Madhesi intellectual-politician and another by a Bahun lawyer, represent the larger ethnocentric and chauvinist underbelly of future Nepal.

The Madhesi, offering occasional astute analyses of Nepali politics from a Madhesi perspective, argued that only two Madhesi columnists (PrashantJha and CK Lal) never criticised Madhesi politicians while the rest were fence-sitters, writing to please the Pahade powers-be in hopes of rewards. With admirer like this, where should Jha and Lal go looking for enemies?

And then more recently, a constitutional expert analysed the present bleak political scenario in which the Constituent Assembly has been illegally extended more than once and the State Structuring Commission will endorse diabolical ethnic federalism. He complained that the top politicians of the three top parties—all Bahun and Chetris—are not looking after the interests of “their” own people, ie, hill high-caste Hindus. (Top Bahadur Rayamajhi’s recent vow to begin wearing daura suruwaltopi-and even a khukuri and sword must have heartened him.)

Basically, the Madhesi columinist wanted his fellow “Madhesi” intellectuals to endorse everything Madhesi politicians did, and the Bahun-Khas columnist called on all the Bahun-Chetri politicians to band together to defend the privileges of fellow hill high castes. 

At first glance, there’s nothing wrong with this wish or proposal. That’s what has happened in Nepal in the past two centuries.  The Bahun-Chetri-Thakuri took hold of the state and defended their interest by mobilising the sanctity and infallibility of the state. And the Madhesis, deprived of state power, nonetheless deployed their caste and gender hierarchies to defend their family, clan, and caste interests.  And Khas chauvinists and Madhesi nationalists both now want their fellow ethnics to stick together and join Madhesi samaj or Khas Samaj, and take up sword or pen. Basically, they were asking FW de Klerk to turn into PW Botha and Nelson Mandela into Idi Amin.

It is, however, true that the historically marginalised have the moral legitimacy to band together to oppose discrimination and achieve equality.  And those who have instituted prejudices into the state structure against the other in order to earn the wages of privileged ethnicity need their discriminatory privileges stripped so that in both cases justice may prevail.

But Nepal is a country of minorities and so those who were dominant yesterday or are even today may not remain so in the future under full democracy and after the equitable restructuring of the state. Nonetheless, Bahun-Chetris occupy disproportionately the top echelons of the state at present. While the bureaucracy and the security forces may be slow to catch up, what should the Bahun-Chetri political leaders do?  Join Khas Samaj and become Khas activists? What should Madhesi intellectuals do despite the fact that they were discriminated and humiliated at one point or another in their journey through their professions? Turn a blind eye to the follies of the backward social customs of Madhes? Become cheerleaders of many of the fractious, power-hungry, self-servingMadhesi leaders and their caste ambitions? This is the question writers, intellectuals and politicians of all hues need to ask themselves.

In my view, just the opposite should occur. In no particular order, I suggest the following as new year resolutions:

1.    Pahades should buy dhoti-kurta-gamcha and wear them on Madhesi festivals.  Likewise, Madhesis should buy daura suruwaltopi and wear them on Dasain and other Pahade festivals.

2.    Try to master a language not your own (English does not count). It is no

bravery to pass the Public Service Commission in your mother tongue and show yourself

off as a genius.

3.    Don’t brag about your own caste or ethnicity with your own ethnics or with anybody else for that matter.

4.    Neither badmouth other ethnicities nor let others among your own ethnics (grandmothers and grandfathers are exempt here) badmouth other ethnics by calling names. If somebody uses such terms as “dhoti” or “satuwa” or “kodo,” “pahade monkey” or “pahadiabhoot,” tell them in their face, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?  Don’t act like a pig; we are trying to be civilised here.

5.    Never miss a chance to criticise your own ethnicity for its myriad shortcomings

and flaws.

6.    Never miss a chance to admire other ethnicities for their myriad virtues.

7.    Always try to learn about the complex ways in which your own ethnic group has benefitted from the unjust state system in the past or will unjustly benefit from the new dispensation in the future.

8.    Resist marriage into your own caste or ethnicity.  Cultivate a habit of finding men and women of other ethnicities so compelling that you may someday elope with them if your parents and family object.

At any rate, never ever support the wrongdoings and prejudices of your own ethnicity.  Happy New Year!

Post Your Comment

Please note that all the fields marked * are mandatory.
* Full Name
* Address
* Email Address
* Comment
* Captcha	Get another CAPTCHA code
Note:	Comments containing abusive words or slander shall not be published.