– Gopal Thakur
During a struggle of six and a half decades, the Gorkha Empire is said to have turned into a Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The brand of the state is declared civilian worldwide. But the constitution of the Republic has broadly been ousted by the general populace, especially in Madhesh. The Third Madhesh Movement culminated into martyrdom of more than four dozens of Madheshees but without any political concession in the state.
It’s obvious, the Gorkha ruling elites look highly victorious and the general Madheshee populace is facing shame. But the movement has established some bare facts. The Madheshee nationality has been established worldwide and it ruins the concept of a nation state of Nepal. Therefore, the third Madhesh Movement has clearly verified that Nepal is a State of Nations and each nation in the state has its fundamental rights to implement its right to national self-determination. Secondly, it has clarified that the so-called democratic rulers of Nepal are the only Gorkha ruling elites whose only motto is to suppress all non-Gorkha nationalities including Madhesh and Madheshees. The last achievement of the third Madhesh Movement is exposition of the pseudo-critic character of the leadership of the United Democratic Madheshee Front.
It’s now crystal clear that the ongoing Madhesh movement has come to an end only to pave way for Prime Minister K. P. Oli’s state visit to India as well as for the 13th General Convention of the Nepali Congress whose Late President and then Prime Minister Sushil Koirala took lives of dozens of Madheshees during first phase of the movement. So, it is not necessary to say that the only uncompromised forceful movement against the royalist RPP Nepal, fundamentalist Congress and so-called Communist Gorkha ruling elites can smash the root-cause of the national suppression in the Republic. But it is more than necessary to conceptualize the movement of national liberation in Nepal.
Unless the state turns into a nation through concept of inter-dependence of the nations once defeated by the Gorkha feudal rulers, the ruling character remains a colonial one. If a single national identity in a multi-national state symbolizes integrity, sovereignty and independence; it’s an assimilatory rule of a colonial empire. We are facing the same regressive fundamentalist character of the state even in the so-called Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.
Therefore the autonomy of Legislation, Execution and Judiciary in the bourgeoisie democracy is also superseded by military in the feudal colonial rule and we get continuity of this character in the Republic. So, it’s the neo-feudalism in Nepal. Some time ago, Supreme Court verdict regarding promulgation of the constitution with complete federal structure infuriated the rulers because the judge was non-Gorkha. Recently the Division Commanders’ meeting the Nepalese Army has also challenged all three autonomous state organs saying that Nepal will face ethnic conflicts if demands of Madheshees are fulfilled.
But neither the Supreme Court convicted any of the ruling elite Gorkhas for contempt of court nor any of the state organs has opened mouth to such sarcastic military remarks against the civilian democratic rule. It verifies Comrade Mao’s quotation: The political state comes out of the barrel of the guns. Therefore, the umbrella of democracy, socialism or communism that disguises the Gorkha ruling elites has already been torn into pieces by such sarcastic remarks of the Gorkha military in the name of Nepalese Army. It is so because the feudal imperial rule only is founded on the basis of military oppression.
The Nepalese Army has gone further challenging court verdict to release Dr. C. K. Raut in absence of evidence to favour charge of treason against state. The division commanders are quoted as saying if armless M. K. Gandhi was arrested by British colonial rule and Yasser Arafat was taken into custody by Israel, it is a mistake not to punish Dr. Raut and others on ground of their speeches and writings.
The Nepalese Army’s remarks have made clear that it is not army of the people of Nepal but only the Gorkha Feudal Colonial Army. It is so because the Gorkha ruling elites have only changed its name from Royal Army to Nepalese Army without its democratic transformation with inclusion of all nationalities on the basis of complete proportional representation. But it is only possible if the right to self-determination is constitutionalized with federal structure on the basis of national identity.
But the Gorkha ruling elites only want to prolong Shah Royalist concept of state even in the 21st century. No matter Prithvi Narayan Shah and his successors expanded his petty Gorkha Kingdom in time and again in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was certainly a military expansion of a colonial rule, a similar effort to establish British colonial rule in India by the East India Company in the same time. Nepal valley was the most prosperous among those petty states. So, he migrated in the valley with his capital and disguised himself as King of Nepal. In this way the Gorkha Empire turned into modern Nepal but the concept of its feudal rule was ultimately based on a kind of apartheid military rule.
The most exploited subjects were Madhesh and Madheshees though a number of nationalities were wiped out their national identities in the Empire. No matter, we ousted Rana Family Autocracy and Shah Monarchy but could not have transformed character of state. Therefore, its facial character is federal democratic republic but the feudal structuralism remains the same to handle the state. That is why it’s neither feudal nor capitalist rather it’s a neo-feudalist.
Apartheid is recognized worldwide from African continent. It was discrimination on the basis of colours between Whites and Blacks. But the character it acquired there is the same in Nepal. The blatant and brutal Gorkhalis are social and moral and so they are the model of state authority. But their base is mono-ethnic Gorkhali-controlled military set up. So, it is a military apartheid in Nepal. It is so because so-called Great King Prithvi Narayan has initially directed his successors not to include any non-Gorkha cadet in the military. What can be the evidence of colonialism except these if the concept is completely being materialized till date in the so-called democratic republic? But it cannot be ruined unless Madheshees stage a well equipped rebellion.
At the same time, the broker mentality of the leadership that can only bargain for enjoying limited authority cannot break the ice. Therefore, it’s time to rethink and reshuffle leadership of the Madhesh movement in such a way that the incoming rebellion wipe out all sorts of national discrimination including military apartheid in Nepal. Let’s wage the war in slow but steady pace without any compromise.
Birta, Rautahat
March 11, 2016
