Beautiful People

JUN 24 -

We witnessed instances of undue animosity by Janajatis against Bahuns and Chhetris during the recent demonstrations in Kathmandu and other places in the country. At the same time, the Bahun and Chhetri community seems to have overreacted to the demand for ethnicity-based federal states. The fear that the main ethnic community, identified in the state’s name, may take decisions that are not appealing to other communities is unfounded because no particular ethnic community has a majority in any of the proposed states. The opposition also smacks of a status quoist attitude.

Meanwhile, a sense of dejection does exist among Janajatis and Dalits against the Bahuns and Chhetris as they have been the rulers during the last 240 years of our history. The Tharus and Dalits, along with millions of others like them, want respite from dishonourable treatment and a feeling of ownership and equal treatment from their fellow citizens. In the past, there has been much lip service paid in favour of these exploited communities, but there was no real commitment and implementation of the policies. Slogans and commitment seemed to have come from the Maoist party during their 10-year war against the old exploitative social order and regime. Perhaps the strict stand taken by the Maoist party in the process of drafting the constitution in favour of an ethnicity-based federal system needs to be understood against this background.

The Maoist war was supported, and many times, led by Bahuns and Chhetris with an overwhelming participation of the ethnic communities who had been exploited on the basis of region, caste and nationality, gender and language. They raised the issue of federating the country based on their identity and capacity. They wanted to be governed by themselves by throwing away the age-old exploitative and centralised unitary system of governance, which was in the tight grip of people mostly belonging to the Bahun and Chhetri community. Thus, their desire and aspiration to end the exploitation through the formation of federal states seemed to be justified.

In the midst of this political hullabaloo, my mind is floating back to my days in Dang and Salyan where I grew up. I remember my landowner father scolding and threatening our Tharu tenant with eviction from our land for a petty reason like not bringing the hulled rice in time from the rice mill. The Tharu was also berated for not coming to till our “Jirayat” land on time where the tenant has to work without pay.

Sitting in a corner of the courtyard at my home, many thoughts would pass through my mind. I remember thinking that the Tharu ploughs the land, plants the seeds, irrigates the land and does the weeding, harvesting, winnowing, cleaning, packing the rice and then carries it on his shoulder all the way to our home. I would ask myself why this fellow, who does all the hard work for us, is treated so badly. I used to wish that my father realised that the Tharu was the real master who was feeding us, and without him we would be starving. I had the fear that one day the Tharu would stop working for us and stop providing us the rice if he was not treated with respect. I thought of provoking the Tharu, and at times, I actually did so against my father and the social order that was not in his favour. 

I also remember that a Dalit could not enter our home, could not touch us and was treated with contempt at our door. As Upadhyay Bahuns, we would take a bath and “purify” ourselves if they happened to touch one of us. Shockingly, I noticed that our dog was allowed to touch us and enter our home. My child’s mind would not digest why a person who looked just like me was treated that way. Later, I observed that the communities who were looked down upon by the so-called higher castes were treated in the same way by the richer members of their communities.

When the Maoists were waging their decade-long war, stories were circulating about the excesses being perpetrated by the Tharus in Dang against the Bahun and Chhetri landlords. I would quietly analyse this new behaviour of the Tharus as a small but natural response to the century-long excesses meted out to them. My Bahun relatives would not buy my analysis, and I have a feeling that I have lost the goodwill of many of them. However, I cherish the memories of accompanying my Tharu friends for swimming in the village pond, collecting wild fruits and going to the rice field, catching rats and roasting and eating them together.

All of us have to be sensitive with regard to the issue of caste and ethnicity. The large national parties in particular need to tread a fine line as we hear that the leaders and voters belonging to ethnic minorities are not happy with their mother parties and are mulling over forming regional parties. It could be a positive development if they are able to form national parties and offer competition to the established parties. On the other hand, forming ethnicity-based regional parties may lead to weakening of the national parties which could have a negative impact on the economic, social and political life of the country. The rise of regional parties will contribute to further instability and negatively affect the development agenda.

Thus, we have to be cautious that seeking one’s rights in the name of “righting the wrongs” should not start another cycle of “wronging the rights”. It does not help anyone. We will be repeating the same attitude which we have been opposing. Too much emphasis on federating the country based on community as the only factor may be doing a disservice to the country and the people belonging to all the castes and communities. However, recognising ethnicity based states is respecting the history and pride of the ethnic communities. It will enhance the pride of all of us because the ethnic communities are part of us, and together we all make up a beautiful Nepal.