It is not clear whether the word diaspora is appropriate to describe Nepalis living abroad by choice. The expression refers to the dispersion of distinctive people from their original homeland. Confusion over implications of the term, however, remains. The 'people' can refer to a political identity, as in the celebrated declaration of democracy, "We, the People". "Our people," on the other hand, usually refers to chauvinists that differentiate self-described 'us' from other-ascribed 'them' categories.In Nepali, the word 'Pravasi' has long been in use to describe Nepali-speaking priests, peddlers and peasants that gushed out of populous Gandaki and Kali basins towards east and west following the boot-tracks of Gorkhali soldiers. The expansionist war machine stopped working after the humiliation of Sugauli Treaty. The civilian push continued unabated until early 1950s when an upsurge of ethnic consciousness in the Northeastern provinces of the Indian republic turned against all immigrants. Resentment against outsiders intensified after the India-China border conflicts in 1960s when the region was swamped with outside population that invariably comes along with every military build-up anywhere in the world.
In the 1960s, the Burmese xenophobia resulted in the expulsion of a very large number of Nepali-speaking settlers from their adopted land. The early Pravasis of 1940s and 1950s have been instrumental in the construction of an imagined community of ABCD (Assam, Benares, Calcutta and Darjeeling) Gorkhalis. The latter group began the campaign to reclaim its homeland. The idea of exclusive Gorkhali identity was rooted in history of King Prithvi's fears of cultural pollution; it acquired geo-strategic significance as well when the Western Block began to consider it as an additional Cold War bulwark against the allure of communism in poorer countries. Conflation of the early-Pravasi's ABCD nationalism with late-Pravasi patriotism produced the chauvinistic idea of exclusive Nepalipan, which King Mahendra and his successors—ironically mostly with foreign funding—worked tirelessly throughout the Panchayat decades to establish as the official ideology of the authoritarian regime.
Displacement anxieties
Diasporas, it is observed, become even more culturally conservative than families that they leave behind in their original homelands. Several reasons have been offered to explain the phenomenon. Uprooted from ancestral lands, migrants have to maintain a sense of belongingness to sustain their self-worth in alien environments. Then there is the inner guilt of having abandoned one's people, culture and milieu for selfish reasons, which can partially be compensated by harping upon the loyalty to the original identity.
In largely homogenous societies like the US where immigrants are assimilated rather than integrated, the risk of being singled out for maintaining idiosyncratic symbols of identity is extremely low: As long as English is spoken with the right North American intonation, the miniature double-triangle or colorful caps are tolerated in amusement.
The 'Nepali' community in the US displays characteristics of other diasporas even as it strives to uphold customs and conventions of Pravasis of South Asia maintaining backward linkages and longing to go back home at some point of time. Increasingly, the domain of their activism is the cyberspace that provides instant outlet for suppressed emotions of all kinds.
For the PEON professionals that formed the first cohort of Nepali settlers mostly in the East Coast of the US, the New World was a land of opportunity where they built lives of their dreams and tried to integrate into host-land society. Links with home meant goat curries; mo mo with the family; weekend visits to Patel outlets for the supply of cumin seeds, turmeric powder and green chillies; and the occasional trip to the Chinese grocers for tangy Timur that looks, feels and tastes exactly like Sichuan peppers. Since the community was small, it tried to integrate with other Hindu groups from South Asia to keep its identity intact in the aggressively assimilative machinery of the New World.
The second wave brought British Gurkha retirees, hardy Sherpas and ambitious Janjati workers along with fresh PEON professionals looking for better opportunities. For many of them, the 1990s were years of struggle. Just as they had begun to settle, the floodgates opened with Diversity Visa (DV) lottery winners. Newcomers brought in their prejudices, which hardened as they looked for jobs and found that only ones willing to hire South Asian migrants with limited skills were entrepreneurs of the Indian diaspora. Making a living by working for people that one loves to hate must be extremely destabilizing: Once this group becomes net literate, it begins to exhale Internet indignation against India and Indians.
Madheshis are relatively newcomers to the US. During Panchayat decades, few Madheshis had right connections to even get a passport, let alone migrate. Social, political and economic insecurities heightens displacement fears and Madheshis have been unwilling to lie and acquire refugee status abroad even though they probably deserve it more than any other population group from Nepal. Lacking resource and confidence, Madheshis generally do not invest multiple millions to land upon shores of USA through human-traffickers via Mexico and Brazil. The size of Madheshi diaspora in the US is extremely small.
The elite with PEON bonds back home barely tolerate Madheshis and speak to them in patronizing tones. The second wave of careerists has little time for people that are not like them. The DV-winners dream of assimilation in the host country and try to maintain as much distance as possible with people that "look, speak and behave like Indians"! Alienation abroad is merely as extension of exclusion at home for most Madheshis. In desperation, some of them try rather too hard to conform to the idea of textbook Nepali of Mahendra-mala imagination.
Tactical politicking
It can be amusing to find that most Nepalis in the US claim to know more about 'inside politics' of their home country than the host country where they pay their taxes and are entitled to ask for accountability. It may be so because their voice matters to the opinion-makers and decision-takers of Kathmandu—the NRNs of mind—where as they lack material and intellectual resources to influence events on their own turf. An added advantage is that jingoistic Internet portals have made patriotic pontificating so much easier to air.
When President Rambaran Yadav staged a coup—despite conspiratorial connotations of the French expression coup d'état, which means violent or illegal seizure of power, the English word merely means a successful stroke or move—to reinstate dismissed army chief Rukmangad Katuwal, the jingoistic diaspora cheered in admiration. It is extremely profitable, apart from being completely safe, to be overtly anti-Maoist these days, which was not the case when insurgents were waging violent campaigns against the 'corrupt' and 'incompetent' governments of the 1990s.
The Supreme Court staged the second coup soon after when it appropriated the sovereignty of the Constituent Assembly I and paved the way for its self-dismissal. Formation of the non-political government to hold CA II elections turned Madheshis into peripheral actors of the main political show. Once again, the NRNs at home and abroad applauded with gusto.
The 16-point deal, reached between anti-Maoists and the nominal-Maoists, is almost a third coup in six years that has all but restored the status quo ante before Madhesh Uprisings. It is too early to speculate about its impact; coups too can sometimes throw up positive outcomes. However, the NRNs are convinced that India and Indians cannot be credited for conspiring this time round. All coups, regardless of their desirability or otherwise, have to rely upon the backing of the armed forces to succeed.
The NRN-cheerleaders have thrust larger hats upon the heads of frail Sushil Koirala, ailing KP Oli and wailing Pushpa Kamal Dahal than they have been known to be able to carry on their own. Apparently, whosoever scripted the screenplay of the unfolding drama has not clearly thought out its end. Meanwhile, enthusiastic NRNs of body or minds have begun to clap in anticipation. Let the play begin.
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