Politics of state restructuring

Notwithstanding the rejection of Madhesi parties’ demand of rendering the whole of Terai into one Madhes province by the Maoists, the two very much want to federalize the nation along the ethno-lingual lines and to grant agradhikar (special right to rule and preferential right over the natural resources of the territory) to a few ‘marginalized and/or excluded’ communities, out of many- a notion unacceptable to majority of parties and populace. Although Madhesi parties- except one out of many- do not see eye to eye with the Maoists, the strange bedfellows recently reached a secret understanding to abort the birth of a ‘State Restructuring Commission (SRC)’ so that the pending proposal to create 14 states mostly along ethnic lines, could be finalized directly by the Constitutional Committee (CC) of the Constituent Assembly (CA). The reason , cited for public consumption, is that the SRC does not have enough time as the constitution has to be promulgated before May 28.

When the said proposal was adopted through voting- as consensus could not be reached- by the thematic committee (State Restructuring Committee) of the House, it was believed that SRC will rectify the anomalies of the proposal before CC and CA will take final decision on the matter. The provision of SRC- supposed to comprise of experts- was therefore enshrined in the present (Interim) Constitution to ensure that prudence, not populism and that national interests, not parochial or partisan considerations would be the guiding principles of restructuring the state. In the absence of expert opinions, partisan discussions, now continuing on the matter, have failed to make any headway in the CC. Even ‘free, frank and informal discussions’ under the aegis of an informal subcommittee within the CC chaired by the Maoist Supremo himself and attended by representatives of other parties, did not work. It seems the nation has moved one step closer to a disastrous future as, in all likelihood, the following situation will emerge, should the proposal finally pass as tabled.

Depending on the scale of insecurity and discrimination, both real and perceived, hill people living in Madhes heartlands will migrate to safer areas which will also be a non-ethnic state (probably like Chitwan), the way they moved in the aftermath of Madhes uprising some four years back. While small scale migrations of the past lasted only for some times, the upcoming one, which will be massive, will continue till their uprooting in Madhes is not complete. Those who can afford to will even shift to Kathmandu, as despite being an ethnic state in itself, the metropolis may provide them safety- both material and psychological. But this will also escalate the friction between ruling Newars- who are opposed to any influx of other communities into the Valley as evident from their lobbying against the construction of outer ring road- and the ever swelling communities of non-Newars, in the capital state. Similar exodus of several communities will occur from provinces in eastern hills, another hot-spot of ultra-ethnic activism.

Neither the displacements will be limited to one area nor will the conflicts be confined to one community in particular and another; the menace will be an all-encompassing and multi-faceted one. Respective states will see clashes between Khas, the single largest ethnic group that constitutes 38 percent of the population (including Dalits), yet who will not have a state of their own anywhere in the country, and some ten smaller communities who will enjoy both statehood and agradhikar. Similarly, there will be clashes between other non-ruling communities that together form majority and the ruling minority (as the population pattern across the country is like a mosaic of ethnic mix, making it impossible to have majority of one ethnic group in any given area).

Resentment toward ethno-lingual federalization, particularly among the Khas community, is therefore not without reasons. The so-called identity politics, instigated by some parties for the sake of vote, has already taken a nasty and dangerous turn; therefore, if they love the country they had better try alternative ways and modes of federalization.

Madhesis and Tharus, both claiming to be bhumiputra (offspring of the soil) of Terai may clash and counter clash there. ‘Janajatis’ and Khas may form alliance in Madhes against the ruling Madhesis while all three may unite against the ruling Koch in Jhapa or against ruling Tharus in Tharuhat and so on and so forth.

Disputes will surface also among different off-shoots of the same ethnicity. Power politics, that has tempted and taught even national leaders who have long fought for great causes and who still belong to the same party, to play all sort of dirty games to crush one-another to become or remain himself the prime minister, won’t spare the countless community leaders of various fragmented groups, each aspiring to become chief minister him/herself. Even for minimal personal and political gains they will fight; and what better tool to fight than to provoke ethnic sentiments against one’s rival! For example, among the Madhesis, leaders of other groups may use the fear among their communities of the domination of Yadavs, the biggest and the most powerful community in Madhesi politics; intra-ethnic animosities of similar nature will prop up within almost all communities. Consequently, there will be demands to create more and more states to enable each of all 103 groups/sub-groups listed as ‘indigenous/tribal communities’ to exercise their own agradhikar.

In fact, creation of ethno-centric states will be the final act of a long rehearsed play that started with the hasty ratification of the ILO Convention169 in 2007 regarding the rights of indigenous and tribal communities (Nepal is the first out of just two countries in the whole of Asia-Pacific region that has ratified the convention so far, the only other nation is Fiji). First, cleverly misusing the provisions of self-identification, indigenous and tribal communities- two different anthropological groups- were deliberately identified as one while enacting the national legislation to implement the Convention.

Thereafter, 59 ethnicities and castes (later extended to 103 under the pressure of different small groups)- that comprise some of the most privileged, prosperous, educated, urbanized and elite communities as well- were enlisted into the combined category of indigenous/tribal people excepting only the Khas upper castes (Chhetri, Bahun and Dasnamis). As such, the latter are no longer recognized as indigenous people of this country although they happen to be much older inhabitant than many groups included in the list. If the legislation is anything to go by, even a naturalized citizen belonging to any of the 103 groups automatically becomes ‘indigenous’ as soon as s/he is so naturalized while a bona fide citizen will forever remain non-indigenous just because s/he is a Khas Chhetri or Bahun. The latter’s exclusion from the list of indigenous/tribal people was in fact a well planned prelude to exclude them from statehood as well.

Resentment toward ethno-lingual federalization, particularly among the Khas community, is therefore not without reasons. The so-called identity politics, instigated by some parties for the sake of vote, has already taken a nasty and dangerous turn; therefore, if they love the country they had better try alternative ways and modes of federalization. Although that may make some powerful and vocal ethno-lingual lobbies including the secessionists, unhappy, without the popular support which they do not enjoy anyhow, they won’t pose a threat; and everything will settle gradually once the political transition is over. Anyway, thanks to the Maoist-Madhesi-ethno-lingual nexus, conflict is inevitable; the choice is just between a smaller and bigger one.

jeevan1952@hotmail.com