Democracy For Nepal

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Contents 2005

Thursday, May 21, 2009

MJF: Upendra Yadav Is The Leader

And he should lead the party in the new coalition government. Why is someone else the parliamentary party leader?

In The News

House to elect new PM on Saturday; PM Dahal's parliament address deferred till Friday NepalNews
Allies intensify parleys to decide new govt's composition
MJF decides to join govt

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Nepali Diaspora: Rethink Time?

America has a special place in the world, and so it does among the Nepali diaspora. The ANA convention that takes place every July 4 weekend, this year in San Francisco, is an event thousands of Nepalis from all across North America make a point to make a pilgrimage to. It is landmark social event. Many look forward to it for good reason. I don't think I will make it, I will likely stay put in New York City, but the oncoming event has made me think again about some of the issues I have thought about before. Why should Nepalis in the diaspora get organized? To what end? How? How much progress have we made? Without expressing disrespect towards those who did the early work, how can we ask the tough questions and level the tough criticisms that will help take our diaspora organizations to new heights?

(1) Homesickness/Bonding

I think the number one reason we talk so much about Nepal in the diaspora is homesickness. It is self interest. Bonding has to happen. The identity has to be claimed and nurtured while the dollar chasing goes on.

(2) Cream Of The Crop

Even those who are not super duper educated are entrepreneurial to have left Nepal. It takes much initiative. Much is asked of those to whom much is given. The diaspora seeks to give back. I think the best giving back would be if the diaspora could invest big time in Nepal. I hope the leaders in Nepal create such an environment. I am for both the service and the profit motive.

(3) Immigrant Rights

Immigrant rights are far behind where globalization has already taken us. We try and get organized to make our modest contributions to the cause of immigrant rights.

(4) Networking

We can help each other out. We can share expertise and experiences. We can pool resources. Although it gets me that not enough of us have gone for hard core entrepreneurial pursuits. It helps our careers here in the diaspora when we network among ourselves.

These are some of the reasons why we need organizations like the ANA. But I have to be honest about something as a Madhesi. To be a Madhesi in the Nepali diaspora is like being a Madhesi in the Nepal Army, or the Nepal Police or in the state bureaucracy in Nepal. You represent a community that is anywhere between 35-45% of Nepal, but is less than 1% of the Nepalis in America. I think it is more like 0.1%. I have felt much more at home giving my time to digital activism for the Madhesi Movement back in Nepal than I have mingling with the Nepalis in America, especially when you routinely encounter the prejudice, the chauvinism, the attitudes, the whole nine yards.

Good thing in Nepal we have a constituent assembly for the first time in history, and we are working to reinvent the Nepali identity because, so far, the Nepali identity has never been inclusive of me and people like me. Maybe the new Nepali identity we will create will.

But then it is that same dissatisfaction that also helps me see the stark fact that the Pahadis on the global stage are powerless like the Madhesis on the national stage in Nepal. Maybe we can empathize with each other. Maybe we can seek and find common cause.

Democracy, Transparency, And The Nepali Diaspora
Alliance Sets The Tone For Diaspora Organizations
White Paper: A Major Diaspora Milestone
A Nepali Diaspora Milestone
Ram Sah: Concern Over State Excesses, And Diaspora Politics
Ram Sah, Ratan Jha, Lalit Jha, Pramod Kantha: Madhesi Diaspora, Pahadi Diaspora
Dalit Diaspora Calls For 20 Percent Reservation
Those In Nepal Should Take The Lead On Logistical Help From Diaspora
Diaspora Dynamics
Diaspora Logistical Help To The Movement
The Nepali Diaspora Contradiction: Would You Like Some Tea?

Some of the deficiencies of our organizations are that:

They seem to have no desire to go mass based. There is too much living room politics going on.
Too much elitism. No major membership drives. Elected officers end up from the same small group of people who all know each other. It is like a game of musical chairs.
Not enough transparency and democracy within the organizations.
Not enough use of Web 2.0.
Our sights are too low. There is seldom talk of immigrant rights.
No reach out to create a larger South Asian, Asian solidarity. Too much inward looking.
Not enough constructive, respectful engagement with our counterparts back home. You can't help people you look down upon.
The few umbrella organizations are in name only. Most organizations act autonomous. Not enough talk, not enough coordination.
I absolutely don't see the Beer Gorkhali thing on immigrant rights. We almost never bring that up as a topic.

I think progress on all these fronts would start with injecting democracy and transparency in the way we operate our organizations. And then we will have to lift our vision to seek equality for us in the diaspora. We will have to forge alliances. We will have to claim the Blac identity, Black Latino Asian Coalition.

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Is A Consensus Government Possible?

VP Jha For Consensus Govt NepalNews

I know it is desirable, but is it possible? Or is it even desirable?

Prachanda broke the consensus environment by taking a unilateral decision to sack the army chief. And instead of repenting, instead of saying sorry I messed up, he is running up and down the street to say he was right after all.

Maybe the army chief should be sacked. That's not the point. But he totally ignored his coalition partners and went ahead and declared that he has decided to sack the army chief.

Unless he admits to that mistake, how is consensus possible?

22 of the 24 parties in parliament have rallied behind Madhav Nepal. Now it it too late to form a 24 party government. Now the Maoists have to show they are capable of sitting in the opposition.

Monday, May 18, 2009

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Rascasinos.com ist kein Online-Glücksspiel-Site. Vielmehr ist eine Drehscheibe, ein Verzeichnis. Für Ihren Desktop benötigen Sie Norton AntiVirus, für Ihre Online-Glücksspiele können, benötigen Sie ein Agent wie Rascasinos.com. Es ist ein Verzeichnis: "Geprüfter Online-Casinos, Gaming-Software, Videos und Bücher, Casino-Glücksspiel und Spiele Informationen."

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Time To Rally Around Madhav Nepal

Prachanda was in India for most of the duration of the civil war he ignited, and now he wants you to believe India is an evil country. That is hypocritical.
Prachanda's coalition partners did not walk away from him because India pressured them to. They walked away because of Prachanda's bad behavior.
Only if all his coalition partners would have agreed to the decision to sack Katuwal would that have counted as cabinet decision. There was no longer a cabinet left. There was no cabinet decision to sack Katuwal. There was only a Prachanda decision to sack Katuwal.
Prachanda bypassed the president. Informing on the phone does not count.
Prachanda bypassed the president. Why? Because the president is a Madhesi?
Krishna Sitoula gave crores to the Maoists. That was election money to the Maoists.
The Maoists want to declare 7,000 martyrs. That is not intended to be an act of respect. That is election money for next year. That can not be allowed.
Prachanda never meant for Upendra Yadav to become Prime Minister, although he did make the offer.
Prachanda never meant for Koirala to become Prime Minister again, although he did make the offer.
With those two offers all Prachanda was trying to do was prevent a coalition from building around Madhav Nepal.
The UML-NC-MJF-TMDP-SP government agreeing to the eight point agreement with the United Democratic Madhesi Front is the best deal the MJF can get under the circumstances. A party with 55 out of the 601 MPs can not hope to get the Prime Ministership, especially when the offer was never honestly made by the Maoists.
The Maoists continue to have a one party mentality.
After you have already filed a complaint against the president's move with the Supreme Court, why are you still holding street protests? Wait for the court to give its verdict.
Why obstruct the parliament? Because you don't have a majority? That is a one party state mentality.
The Maoist gameplan has been to declare 7,000 martyrs, and get hundreds of crores of rupees for the party in the process to go get a majority on their own in next year's election. If they have been acting like a one party state when they are but one third of the presence in the parliament, imagine what after they would get a simple majority or, god forbid, a 60% majority? That prospect can not be imagined.
K.P. Oli would be a great Home Minister at this point. The state has to counter all unlawful uses of force by organizations like the YCL. No compromise. Period.
Upendra Yadav should continue being Foreign Minister. Now that his party is an even bigger proportion of the coaltion, he should ask for a few more berths for his party in the cabinet. The MJF must become an active member of the new coalition government. Staying outside is not an option.
The United Democratic Madhesi Front should be given new life through this new coalition government. Stop saying Ek Madhesh, Ek Pradesh. Start saying Ek Terai, Ek Rajya. The word Terai is inclusive of the Madhesis, the Tharus, the Pahadi origin Teraiwasis, everybody.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Prachanda's Offer To Yadav, Then To Koirala

Image via Wikipedia

MJF: That Other Winner Of The April 2008 Election

I don't blame him, he is being shrewd. He made the offer first to Upendra Yadav, today he has gone on to make the same offer to Koirala. Become PM, we Maoists will support you. He was feeling like all the non-Maoist forces were ganging up on him. This is his attempt to get out of that ditch. He has a sharp strategic mind, sure does.

Koirala asks Dahal to cooperate in govt formation efforts NepalNews Dahal, who is vehemently opposed to UML leadership for the next government, suggested Koirala to take initiatives for a national government. "He [Koirala] played important role in signing the 12-point agreement. We asked him to take initiative for new consensus in the same spirit," Dahal told reporters after the meeting held at Koirala's Maharajgunj residence. Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai, who was present at the meeting, said his party was ready to be part of the new government if it's formed on the basis of national consensus. "But no consensus can evolve by projecting a person or a party [as the leader of new government]," he said, indicating that the Maoist party is not ready to support UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal as the Prime Minister.

MJF lawmakers engage in fist fighting
Khanal calls for 'unity govt' as UML scrambles to secure majority
House stalemate continues
Oli seeks support from Maoists for government formation
MJF stakes claim on govt leadership

An all party government under Prachanda's leadership is not unimaginable, or an all party government under Madhav Nepal's leadership for that matter, or under Upendra Yadav's leadership for that matter, or under Koirala's leadership all over again.

As the leader of the largest party, Prachanda can rightfully claim he deserves it. Formation of a new national consensus government might be less problematic than agreeing on how to govern in the aftermath.

I say form an all party steering committee. For all the major decisions hold full fledged debates and discussions in the parliament. Seek consensus in cabinet decisions.

A national consensus all party government might be the best option. As to who leads is a secondary question.

The Maoists are not too keen on another communist. The TMDP and the SP are not too keen on the Upendra Yadav name. It is the psychology of the powerless.

MJF: That Other Winner Of The April 2008 Election

Image via Wikipedia

There were two primary victors to the April 2008 election. One, the Maoists. Two, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum. The Maoists ruled for a year. Now it is the MJF's turn.

MJF stakes claim on govt leadership NepalNews

The TMDP and the SP have to now join the MJF bandwagon.

In the early 1990s, Girija Koirala chose to bring down his own party's clear majority government, and split his Nepali Congress party, and decided to take the country to premature midterm elections and went on to sow the seeds of a civil war rather than step down and let a Madhesi Mahendra Narayan Nidhi become Prime Minister.

Both Prachanda and Girija are Bahun, but I get the impression Prachanda is less prejudiced against Madhesis than Girija. Both Bahun also happen to be Teraiwasi. Girija is from Biratnagar, and Prachanda is from Chitwan.

A MJF-TMDP-SP coalition with outside support from the Maoists: that is all it will take to form a government at this juncture. It is called parliamentary arithmetic.

I also want Katuwal to vacate the scene at the earliest. I also want the eight Brigadier Generals retired as soon as possible. Recruiting 3,000 fresh soldiers into the Nepal Army was the peace time Dhoramba. That was a move designed to scuttle the peace process.

The Nepali Congress and the UML were the two biggest losers of the April 2008 election. It would make no sense for them to come into power at this juncture.

I was hoping the Maoist-UML-MJF-SP government would last its full term. But it did not quite work out that way. But I am still for political stability. I am for a directly elected president. We can't have a new government every year.

And if the Maoists play a constructive role in the constitution writing process, there is no reason why they should not do well for the election scheduled for next year.

They have proven they can be a party in power. Now let them prove for a year they can also be a party in the paliament, but not in power.

The Maoists are more enlightened than the Nepali Congress and the UML on federalism. A MJF-TMDP-SP-Maoist alliance will be most needed when it is time to make the final decisions on federalism. This government formation is dress rehearsal.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

News X Interview With Madhav Nepal

Image via Wikipedia

I Am Confident Of Becoming The Next Prime Minister Of Nepal - Madhav Nepal on NewsX

* Madhav Lashes Out At Maoists, Says They Have Lost The Confidence Of The People Of Nepal

Veteran Nepali leader and the undisputed leader of the Communist party for 15 years, Madhav Kumar Nepal has lashed out at the Maoists claiming that they have lost the confidence of the people of Nepal. Speaking exclusively to Indian channel News X reporter Piyush Pushpak in Kathmandu, Madhav Nepal claimed that he may soon be the Prime Minister of Nepal, “I am fully confident of forming the government. We have the support of Nepali Congress and we are hopeful that we will also get the support from the Madheshi front who have 83 seats in the Parliament will also support us. We think that other parties will also come around. So we will have a comfortable majority". Madhav Nepal said that he is meeting with leaders of other parties to convince them to join the next government. If Madhav Nepal succeeds then he will be the first Nepali Prime Minister of Indian origin. However, the support of the Madheshis, broadly speaking the Hindi speaking people of Indian origin will be crucial for him.

On being asked about his views on the Maoists’ allegations that India is meddling in the internal affairs of Nepal, Madhav Nepal said, " I don't have any information if anything may have gone behind the curtains. I feel blaming others, rather than realising their own mistake has landed the Maoists in this position." Madhav Nepal said if you respect the law and the Constitution and work with the cooperation of other parties, then you should let someone else take charge. " There are many complications here. Maoists' actions and behaviour has made the people question whether the Maoists are serious about democracy. The broader part of the population of Nepal feels their intentions are mala fide. If the Maoists are honest, they should try and win the confidence of the people... Since they have not done that, tension has developed between the Maoists, the Prime Minister and the President. This contradiction has developed to such an extent that the Prime Minister had to resign. Due to bad handling of these issues, today the Maoists have become isolated, they are alone but they are charging everybody else."

On The Video tape controversy featuring Prachanda

"The casette episode has increased suspicions about the Maoists intentions. This needs to be discussed seriously in an open and transparent manner."

On the Decision to sack the Army Chief - was it within the perview of the constitution or was it politically motivated?

"I think that the grounds that they have raised are not proper." The Maoists had raised three issues. Our party clearly believes that one of the three points raised by them is not justified. We oppose it. Unlike the Maoists we believe that the new recruitment (done by the sacked Army Chief) is proper and is not against the understanding. On the second issue of " the extention of the eight Generals, we believe that the case was sub-judice. If a case is subjudice, you cannot demand explanation from the concerned people. On the third issue related to the football tournament I think it is not a major issue. In sum, I feel the ground was neither valid nor justified. So I feel the expulsion of the Army Chief does not hold ground."

However, Madhav Nepal said that he would not be happy to form a government minus the maoists, " We don't want Maoists to go out of the equation. Its better that they become part of the government.This is an interim period and in this period we should work together."

On the Maoist Threat to disrupt the activities of the Parliament.

"Nobody asked them to resign. They decided unilaterally. They have gone against the spirit of the constitution so it is they who have created the problem. If their resignation is genuine its their moral responsibilty they should back out and give the space to others. "

"If they can garner the required support they should try and form the government. Otherwise on moral grounds, on all logical grounds they should not disrupt the Parliament" "

About INX News Pvt. Ltd.

INX News Pvt. Ltd, is wholly owned by Indi Media Company Pvt. Ltd. , a venture co-founded by Vinay Chhajlani, an entrepreneur with interests in IT, new media and regional media, and Jehangir S. Pocha, a senior editor with years of global experience in media and business, and the former Editor of Businessworld magazine. Vinay Chhajlani is also the CEO of NaiDunia Media Pvt Ltd and founder of Webdunia.com

‘NewsX’ wordmark is the trademark of INX News Private Ltd.

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Madhav Nepal Would Be A Great Choice

Madhav Nepal Needs To Make A Move (2007)
Prachanda, Madhav, Devendra (2006)
Madhav Nepal (2006)
Madhav Nepal Out In Open (2006)
Interim President: Madhav Nepal (2006)
Phone Talk With Madhav Nepal, Hridayesh Tripathy (2005)
Maoist, Moriarty, Madhav, Manmohan: Get Behind The 3 Point Program (2005)
Madhav Nepal, Commander Of The Movement (2005)
Email From Madhav Kumar Nepal (2005)

In The News

Koirala throws his weight behind Nepal NepalNews
MK Nepal meets Dahal to rally support for UML-led govt
New govt not likely before Sunday: Baidya
China dismisses news report on interference in Nepal
VP hopes early end to political deadlock
Gurung carries out Katawal’s duty

"I came across your blog while conducting an online search for blogs on issues related to Nepal. I thought you and the readers of your blog might be interested in a transcript of last night’s exclusive interview of Madhav Nepal on the NewsX channel on his hopes and belief on becoming the next Prime Minister of Nepal."

Pages

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Monday, May 18, 2009

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Friday, May 15, 2009

Wednesday, May 13, 2009