(In Newar culture ‘Sagan’ or
boiled and fried egg is presented as well wishing. There is also a legend of
Shakwal who paid every body’s debt and made Nepal debt free. Nepal Sambat was
created to commemorate the appreciable public event.)

Dear Newar friends,

Jwajalapa / Namaste

This is just a food for thought.
A comparative analysis between planned ‘Nepal Banda’ and a thought on ‘Anda
Rajniti’ may be interesting one. It is a dissenting voice. Let us not forget the
health of a society is judged by varieties of opinions it can come forth with.

 

A. Planned Nepal Banda on June 1^st: Conceptually, there must
be a separate nation to safe guard the interests of Newar people. The
unification of Nepal by King Prithvi Narayan Shah needs repudiation. And the
earlier Malla kingdoms must be revived. Bahuns are bad especially for Newars.
The struggle for autonomous Nepal mandal must be violent along the line of
class struggle. The Newar Mukti Morcha must lead it. There will be Nepal Banda
to show the political strength of Newars. The June 1^st is chosen for
its historical importance of deaths of the Shah King and family.

 

B. Sagan (Anda) Rajniti: A program may include:

- giving away free Sagan
(Anda) to every body on the NhuDan (Nepal Sambat New Year),

- greet every
body  with ‘Vintuna / Shuvakamana’,

- mention the
contribution of Shakwal, and

-
request parties NOT to have Nepal Banda and use Students for political reason.

Conceptually, betterment
of Newar people must be sought within the advancement of all Nepalese people.
People of Nepal are not only Newars and Bahuns but of many groups and
subgroups. Any struggle for rights must first start with the peaceful dialogue.
Creation of good will must be a strong component of struggle. The strategy must
be maximizing friends and minimizing enemies. The goal sought must be well
thought out keeping in mind all the consequences. The problem of ethnic
marginalization is a multi-dimensional issue and cannot be simplified as
‘Bahunbad.’ There must be well thought out plan including inviting liberal
Bahuns to the forum. We must define ourself by our own positive contributiuons.

The Nepal Banda will define
Newars negatively by the tragedy in the royal family. It will underline the
unhappiness of Newar people being side lined in politics, language and
cultures. One way to address the problem is by creating autonomous Nepal
Mandal. It also will indicate the possibility of violence towards the goal.
Same time it will incur ill feelings against Newar people in other ethnic
groups. It may, God forbid, lead to injury and loss of life. There also will be
inconvenience and financial losses to people and businesses.

The Anda Rajnity will define
Newars positively with an example of Shakhal, a common man. It will not talk
about unhappiness of Newars. It simply will generate good will for Newars
unconditionally. If one lakh Anda were given out and assuming 5 rupees per
Anda, then the cost will be 5 lakhs of Rupees. The other losses will be
minimal. In the generated goodwill would create environment where amicable
addressing of the problematic issues becomes possible. The strength of Newar
community will be judged not by creating havoc but preventing damages. Other
political parties will not be able to incur loss to Newar communities at their
will. Such stand against Banda will help not only Newar but other communities
also.

Autonomous Nepal Mandal is
envisaged as an ethnic state exclusively for Newar people comprising 12
districts. But Newars are majority only in 2 districts. Are we trying to
resurrect Malla Kingdom? If that is the case then I am a proud Newar and will
fight for it, against Shah, Sen or Kirati Kingdoms. On the other hand, if we
are talking about citizens of a republic then all Nepalese are equal. On the
other hand along with Nepal Mandal also comes all other ethnic autonomous
states. What will be the status of non-Newars in Nepal Mandal? How do you
reconcile with demand of Tamang Rajya, which overlap over 80% with Nepal
mandal? What will happen if ‘Ek Madhesh, Ek Pradesh’ concept literally comes
true and Pahades including Newars become second-class citizens in Madhesh? Even
if there are frictions only between Gurungs and Magar, and Madheshi and Tharus,
will not that lend problems to Nepal Mandal?

What is our main problem? It is
the marginalization our language and culture, and in politics. But the ethnic
division of Nepal will simply disintegrate the nation. Disintegrated Nepal is
not a solution to our problem. Our problem may be addressed by concept of
overlapping cultural and lingual zones, and inclusive politics. We cannot only
harp about ‘Bahunbaad’ and King Prithvi Narayan Shah. Rather we should be
championing the cause of all the marginalized communities in Nepal.

We must be careful with the
Marxist propaganda. We have ‘Newar Mukti Morcha’ along many other Mukti Morchas
patterned after the class struggle model. Freedom, Mukti? Some body needs to
ask, ‘Are we slaves to fight for freedom?’ If not, then why bother? Our Maoists
ex-Minister Hisila Yami gave speech essentially asking Newars to fight for our
rights. But she was in the government then, was not she? To against whom she
was asking us to struggle? Maoists are not interested in the ethnic states.
They are for strong central government, where comrade Chairman runs the show.
However, in their attempt at grabbing power by weakening central government
earlier they created many Mukti Morchas. It is only a ploy to create social
chaos to come to power. They really do not have any solution to our problems.
Their doctrines of economic determinism, class struggle and dictatorship of the
Communist party do not address the issue. In the communist countries, there are
a few micro-minorities doing colorful ethnic dances. But they are far cries from
autonomous Tibet or autonomous Chechnya.

Democracy lets airing our
grievances. But it also works by adjusting to different demands and interests.
Thus, it would not satisfy maximalist demands. However, it can produce
practical solutions. Cutting corners in view of larger interests of whole
nation may be a wise option to ponder.