Lies and stereotypes
- CrossrOADS
The controversy over group recruitment of Madhesis in the Army needs sound arguments to sort out the knotty issue of ethnic exclusion and privilege. Whether it’s Madhesi recruitment in the Army or system of governance, debate based on facts, reliable, sufficient and relevant evidence, and sound theoretical
and historical arguments would help reach sound conclusion. But a barrage of false arguments and lies to discredit an ethnic group would never prove productive.
A retired general, for example, who writes knowledgeably on other Army issues, recently resorted to anecdotal evidence, clichés and stereotypes. He says that Madhesi recruits he supervised in the Nepal Army when it opened its doors to them told him that they were not used to leaving their homes for long stretches and that they didn’t like the cold climate of the hills and mountains. Individually speaking, both these facts may be true but both these are patently false when applied to the Madhesis as a group. Even if a few recruits told him so, a man of a general’s stature should have offered the raw Madhesi recruits counterexamples of why is it that Madhesi JTAs, teachers, health assistants, other technicians, can work in remote mountains to complete their required periods of posting and why can’t a Madhesi youth do the same? He should also have observed that what applies to Madhesi recruits applies equally to Pahade servicemen. They, too, don’t want to spend time in Jumla or Darchula more than is needed and would rather get posted near towns or convenient (paik pareko) place. Should such Pahades be deemed unfit for service?
A thinking general should have looked for deeper reasons why Madhesis don’t want to join the Army. In many countries, where there are options available for jobs, soldiery may not be the most attractive profession. But where there are no options and jobs are scarce, there are always more applicants than openings. In the former places, where the Army needs to recruit certain number out of a reluctant population, it makes the offering attractive and aggressively recruits to create an environment of trust and good faith between the Army and the alienated target population. This should be true even more so in in Nepal Army given its history of discrimination and prejudice against Madhesis.
Why was the system of separate Magar or Gurung battalions established in the Royal Nepal Army? Why did the British and then later Indian governments establish and maintain its regiments named after regions and ethnicities, such as Assam, Garhwal, Mahar, etc? It surely wasn’t just for divide and rule purposes. The group battalions were created because the rank-and-file recruits come from the peasantry, are generally uneducated and therefore emotionally and culturally (habits, food, socialising, etc.) are closer to their ethnicity and region than the officers who are better educated and professional and so can cope with unfamiliarity more successfully than the soldiers. That’s why, you have these ethnic and regional battalions officered by multi-ethnic officer cadres.
But this general in this matter writes like any ignorant, prejudiced layman. He gives lame reasons: Madhesis have strong bodies and Pahades have strong legs, as though strong upper bodies can’t be turned into strong legs and vice versa in a profession whose survival depends on physical exercise.
And then you have writers who spread lies and falsehood against Madhesis. A well-informed, well-argued debate on any issue leads to clarity of thought and sound judgment. But writers like Jainendra Jeevan (whose caste or ethnicity I don’t know) poison inter-ethnic goodwill and harmony by spreading lies about other ethnicities. For example, in a recent newspaper article, he says that Madhesis are unfit for the Army because certain ethnicities are by nature un-warlike. He offers Bengalis as an example. A reader responded to his piece by saying that he should do his homework on Bengalis and army service, including Subhas Chandra Bose, the history of the Bengal Regiment, and the roster of Bengali officers in the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force past and present, before writing falsehood. One didn’t expect him to read scholarly books, such as Lions of Punjab by the anthropologist Richard Fox, but just google and consult Wikipedia. But no, he just had to prove that Madhesis are culturally and genetically unfit for army work. And again, in a news magazine, he has now given the example of Biharis, saying that there is no regiment for Biharis in the Indian Army and therefore Madhesis also don’t qualify. Again, he just had to google about the history of the Bihar Regiment, whose headquarters is in Danapur near Patna and its performance in battles, including Kargil, which is not in the Gangetic plains.
But why blame only such malicious writers? They may be driven by prejudice, bad faith or ethnic vendetta.
The fact that the editorial boards of newspapers and magazines allow such lies to be published reveals the persistence of deep-seated bad faith against Madhesis in many quarters in Nepal. And this is not just undesirable or objectionable but dangerous. If Jeevan is Madhesi, he doesn’t know his facts. If he is a Pahade, he is deliberately spreading lies about Madhesis. But if he is a Madhesi of Pahade origin, people like him create an environment of ill will and animosity between Pahades and Madhesis in the Tarai, jeopardising interethnic harmony in the mixed settlement there. Such deliberate lies, therefore, should be shunted out of public space. Or, at least, their words against any ethnicities (Pahades, Madhesis or whomever else) must be vetted before allowing them in print. To create ethnic injustice and disharmony has been easy in the past but to achieve the opposite in the future would require constant vigilance and effort.
Posted on: 2012-01-11 09:21
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