Tackling Ethnic Issues In Nepal
Paramendra Bhagat
August 1, 2002

I suggest a three-pronged strategy:

• Admit that the problem exists, and that there is a continuum from the past that supports the current inequities.

  Nuru Lama's article in the Nepali times begins thus: "Ten years ago, I was at the Foreign Ministry to request a change on my passport. Restless and beaten by the heat, I waited in queue for the concerned officer to show up. “He should be here any minute,” said the guard. He finally appeared, a diminutive bahun with a gaunt, cross face.

  "A few minutes later, a man carrying a motorcycle helmet came through the door and went straight in. When I alerted helmet-man of the existence of a queue, the officer stared at me and barked, “Ta bhote, bhadta janne hunchas?” I have no appetite for racial insults, and ten years ago I was a feisty teenager. Even so, I quietly submitted to the officer’s authority since I needed to get my work done. "

  People who have stories like this one should come up with them, wether or not they have been at the receiving end. You need to show that you know some of how it feels to be a Teraiwasi or a Himali or a SeTaMaGuRaLi in Nepal. Ethnicist epithets against the Teraiwasis - "madisey," "dhoti" - are the staple of Kathmanduites. Admit. Admit if you have or are in a habit of uttering those epithets. Words matter. Attitudes matter. Those are what prejudices are made out of. Those utterances are the tip of the iceberg. The iceberg is the institutional bias against the same groups.

  I was disappointed with some of Nuru Lama's conclusions: "The Ranas and the chettris in the Royal Nepal Army, Newars and Marwaris in businesses, Sherpas in mountaineering, Gurungs in missionary armies are some other well-known cases." There is a naive appeal to the heart, as in let's all just get along, everything will be alright. Towards the end, he is almost defending the "bahuns." Defending from whom? From those who have been marginalized for centuries?

  I am a fervent believer in non-violent ways, but not a stickler for shava shanti. Let the debates rage. People need to talk and do so fearlessly. Observations have to be made. Ideas thrashed.

   

• That there are definite legal/legislative initiatives that have to be taken.

  We need a federal form of governance. We need to stop calling Nepal a Hindu nation, because Nepal is a state, not a nation, it is many nations, and not all Nepalese citizens are Hindus, thank god, me among them: I coverted to Buddhism because it has all the plus that Hinduism has, none of the minuses, plus some more pluses of its own, and I needed to make a definite statement against the Hindu caste system.

  We need parliamentary constituencies that are of equal population. One person, one vote. A greater institutional respect for the many languages. I prefer a tri-lingual policy. Please see those outlined in another article: A Vision For Nepal.

  Most important, the SeTaMaGuRaLi need to come en masse to align electorally with the Sadbhavana. Yeah, become Sadbhavana voters. People like Nuru, a Sherpa, and me, a Teraiwasi, need to see we are political allies. It is not possible for a Janajati to agitate against injustices against them and still buy into the anti-Terai prejudices of many hillsfolks.

   

• The much arduous task of social transformation.

  We SEBSers have an advantage here. We know each other personally. We are from varied backgrounds. That helps. That spirit has to be spread widely. That way tendencies to demonize unknown people(s) are thwarted. We need to socially continue to interact across the various ethnic backgrounds.