In an atmosphere of post-Chhath exhaustion, few express interest in discussing politics in this village along the Nepal-India border in central Tarai-Madhesh. However, extreme annoyance at the proposed banda is a matter of immediate concern. For families that observe it, paying obeisance to Chhathi Maiya, where the sun is the beneficent Mother Goddess rather than the Fierce Father, is perhaps the most important festival of the year. [break]
Chhath is often more joyous than Dashain, grander than Diwali, and feistier than Holi, with the added auspiciousness of austere fasts that faithfuls periodically keep to appease various gods, goddesses and holy planets of Hindu pantheon. People travel from afar to join their family members in praying to the Mother Sun that sets and shines upon offerings of her devotees. Festivals over, they have to rush back to their places of residence or work.
The day Chhath ends, the ritual of Sama-Chakeba begins. Married women who had stayed with their in-laws to worship the sun travel to their parent’s place where they join other sisters and friends in singing and dancing for the health, longevity and prosperity of their brothers. Autumn is the season of celebrations in much of Mithila.
If Mohan Baidya and his minions had intentionally wanted to further alienate Madheshis from his brand of Maoism, he couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate time to enforce a banda. Rank insensitivity is a mild term to describe the callousness of Dash Maoists. And ignorance about cultural practices of a significant section of national population is not a credible excuse.
At least in part, colonial hubris is perhaps at work here. Even though politically opposed to Gorkhali imperial order, most doctrinaire Communists are culturally immersed in the assumptions of ‘Nepalipan’ where anything not belonging to the traditions of Bahun-Chhetris of the mid-hills is alien and hence an imposition upon ‘national’ purity of the country. Even during the decade of armed conflict, Maoists refrained from disturbing public life during Dashain. The same respect, however, was seldom given to festivals of Madheshis, Janjatis or Muslims.
Imperialism implies political and economic control over a territory; it becomes colonialism when cultural dominance is an instrument of entrenching the existing order. After a while, the subjugation of one people by another is so natural that the colonized populations begin to accept their inferiority and start to emulate the ways of the dominant group. In political sphere, the establishment and the opposition in a colonial situation is different only in the sameness of their cultural beliefs.
Compared to previous years, politicos made the rounds of Chhath ghats this year in an apologetic manner. Surprisingly, even voters appeared to be in a forgiving mood. The grilling tone of politically aware citizenry seems to have cooled off after being subjected to the shame of living under a government of Panchayat-era bureaucrats
Political undercurrents
The heat of Madhesh Uprisings of 2006 and 2007 has dissipated, but it would perhaps be erroneous to assume that it has completely evaporated. Anti-colonial sentiments are still so strong in the heartland of Mithila that most prominent candidates of mainstream parties admit in private that their victory would be meaningful for Madhesh and the country only if Madheshbadi parties retain their position and presence in national politics.
Mainstream parties have duped Dalits all over again. Janjatis have been given a short shift as usual. Gains made by women in politics have been frittered away with a politico of the stature of Suprabha Ghimire being denied a slot even in the list of names for proportionate representation. Madheshis couldn’t be as easily dismissed because they had succeeded in asserting their presence independent of the so-called national parties.
Behind the veil of indifference bordering on apathy, Madheshi voters have begun to weigh their options and the last leg decisions—made while traveling from one’s home to the polling booth on the day of election—may yet spring a surprise upon complacent tacticians of the Big Three parties.
It is true that Madheshbadi leaders frittered away their credibility by becoming ministers in anti-Madheshi coalitions of Madhav Nepal and Jhalnath Khanal. However, Madheshi ministers were no less or more corrupt than their Pahadi colleagues except for the fact that the later group had more articulate apologists in the media and higher support of instruments of the state in covering up their tracks.
Reports in the Kathmandu press that Madheshbadi parties have lost ground to their parent outfits appear to be slightly exaggerated. Candidates are being judged on their personal merit rather than the antics of their supposedly discredited leaders. To slightly modify an old adage, established leaders have a past but newbies hold promises for future. Madheshbadi parties have been bolder in fielding newcomers in direct contests as well as in the proportionate segments.
The class solidarity in the politics of Nepal has always been a fiction to mask the hegemony of higher castes in the name of Marxism, Leninism, conservatism, liberalism, socialism or any other -ism, which have all been Brahmanism for all practical purposes.
Unlike in hills and mountains where preponderance of Brahmans is accepted as given, resistance to the dominance of higher castes has always been an important element in Tarai-Madhesh. In his late life recollections, BP Koirala recounts how he decided to pit almost a nobody from the crowd at a mass meeting in Mahottari and succeeded in trouncing an established name from a high-caste family in the first general elections of the country.
Let alone NC and UML, even UCPN (Maoist) are playing safe and depending upon caste calculations. When everyone is playing the same card, one cancels out another and a fresh face may have an advantage. Most mediapersons have been so carried away by the resurgence feed of mainstream parties that they have completely ignored the harder work of new aspirants in the fray this time. Together they may collect enough seats in proportional representation category to more than make up for the seats likely to be lost due to negligence and arrogance of few Madheshi leaders.
Unlike in the last Constituent Assembly elections, there is no visible wave for or against any party this year, which means, among other things, that rootedness would matter much more than political rhetoric. Smaller outfits and smarter candidates have an advantage here over their competitors that need a clearance from headquarters before printing a different poster. It may just be an aberration, but publicity materiel of NC in a constituency doesn’t even have the picture of the candidate and relies upon the visages of dead leaders to draw voters.
Reality check
Failure of CA-I has demonstrated unmistakably that the dominant group wouldn’t let a constitution pass that even questions, let alone challenges, its hegemony. That realization seems to have prompted some smart Madheshi politicos to renew their connections with Hajurs, Dajyus and Comrades in Kathmandu. They will probably play important roles in brokering coalitions once election results begin to trickle. In any case, Madheshbadis don’t even aspire and can’t ever hope to form a government on their own. Ambitious youngsters see the advantages of aligning with Bimalendra Nidhis in Madhesh.
However, the biggest dampener of Madheshi spirit is the fear that CA-II elections may not be as free and fair as CA-I polls. The military is out of barracks. Maoists have lost their capacity of countering musclemen. The election machinery doesn’t have to worry about UNMIN watching surreptitiously over their shoulders. And the PEON dominated by Mandale-MaLe combine has perfected the Stalinist art of elections where what really matters is who counts rather than who cast the votes.
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