SECTION TWO BEING NEPAL
3.2 Structural changes and identity based politics
(i) International indigenous discourse and Limbu identity politics
Ethnic politics in the eastern hills can be deemed to be a product of the collision of a static, ethnically biased bureaucracy on the one side and the larger, international discourses on the ‘Rights of the Indigenous’83 during a crucial moment in the political history of Nepal. These
developments have had a serious impact on the framing of grievances, reconstruction of the Limbu identity as well as the re-positioning of an ethnic group in the wider matrix of local politics.
The end of the Maoist insurgency in 2006, the declaration of a democratic republic and the promise of a new Constitution brought fundamental changes in the articulation of ethnic grievances against the state. However, the impact of the Maoist insurgency goes far and beyond just the regime change that Maoists were eventually able to achieve. As one of their mobilization strategies the Maoists had utilized pre-existing ethnic discontent in order to recruit and garner support for their movement (Lecomte-Tiluione, 2004). The Maoists served the cause of the ethnic groups by demanding a secular state, campaigning against Sanskrit education, demanding autonomy for the indigenous peoples and openly articulating the social, political and economic inequalities that were prevalent in the Nepalese society (Fisher, 2009). This brought ethnic grievances and proposals for ethnic federalism directly under the ambit of national debate, a victory for ethnic activists which had never been achieved before.
83 The state-led cultural assimilation projects after the Second World War and de-colonisation of states
encouraged and supported by the UN, specifically the International Labour Organisation (ILO) (Article 2.9 of Convention 107, 1957) gave rise to the Indigenous Peoples Movement in the early 1970s (Cowan et al, 2001). An important achievement of this movement was the revised declaration of the 1989 ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, which recognized their cultural distinctiveness from national communities.
The political transition that began with the end of the Maoist insurgency also represented a historical opportunity to replace Bahunvad with Adivasi- vad in an attempt to rectify the ethnic discrimination meted out by the state. Pradeep Limbu’s (Ilam, 2010) opinion is a clear indication of this. He says, ‘this is a historical moment and we must take advantage of it. The country can either go backwards or forward. We have to do something.’ Echoing this sense of change and dynamism, Upendra Jabegu was hopeful that the new Constitution would eradicate the domination that the Adivasi/Janajati had suffered. He felt that, ‘only one jati has been dominating and we as Adivasi/Janajati feel that only one jati, one language, one culture has been ruling over us. Even though the Constitution says its secular we still find that the Muluki Ain, in effect, promotes only one language, one religion and one culture but we are now hopeful that things will change.’
I met many individuals like Rajendra Jabegu who felt they had experienced the cultural domination of the state which denied ethnic diversity through the promotion of its homogenous Nepali identity. Keshav Raj Chemjong,84 member of the KYC, Vidyarthi Manch (Student’s Forum) recounted a personal incident where he was not allowed to speak in Limbu at a government office which led to an altercation and eventually an apology from the government official. Keshav Raj also felt that partiality on the basis of ‘jati and nose’85 was prevalent in all government offices as well as organisations, albeit in a covert fashion. Another respondent, Passang Limbu86 also reiterated that the language and culture of the Adivasi/Janajatis was being neglected by the state. He felt that the emphasis on just the Nepali language and ethnic partiality especially when in the area of recruitment made him question, ‘are we (Limbus) also not Nepalis?’ He says, ‘there are still talks about declaring this nation as a Hindu rajya, there is still this pressure and we do feel upset about it’.
84 Member of the Kirat Yakthung Chumlung, Student wing and a student at the Panchtar Multicampus.
Interviewed by the author on 7th September, 2010, Phidim, Nepal.
85 The upper caste Chettri and Bahuns are usually associated with features like high cheekbones and a sharp nose
as compared to the Adivasi/Janajati, majority of who belong to the Mongoloid group and therefore have softer features-small eyes, flat noses.
86 Resident of Ilam VDC and teacher at a local primary school. Interviewed by the author on 20th September, 2010,
Almost all of my respondents shared a sense of gradual extinction of Limbu language and culture. Oral transmission of knowledge, culture and history is one of the most prominent features of the Limbu ethnic group. Limbu practices of worship is based on the Mundhum, a collection of spiritual revelations, which is interpreted and revealed by the Mudhumsba and the Fedangba (shamans) who act as the conduits of the various spirits. Religion is linked to language as the Mundhum, which is full of metaphors and a source of the classical form of Limbu language,87 has not been entirely translated into Nepali and thus an endangered
language is an endangered religion. Leela Jabegu88 says that the contemporary period is marked
by a flux wherein there are people who are keen on learning the language and at the same time there are those who are not interested. I asked her whether dhaan-naach 89 was still popular
amongst Limbu men and women, to which she responded, ‘they hold hands and dance but they don’t sing the palam. Rather they sing pop songs, Nepali songs.’ Leela herself had never sung the palam but spoke the Limbu language. She pointed out to me that one important cause of linguistic decline was that most young people were too embarrassed or ashamed to speak the language especially in a multi-ethnic context and against the prevalence of Nepali pop-culture, visible even in remote villages like Yangnam.90 Interaction with other older agriculturists91 in Chok Magu village also reinforced the general opinion that Limbu language and culture was gradually disappearing. One of the respondents in the group said, ‘my children don’t speak the language. What our ancestors wore, nobody wears them today, now only international clothes. Our ancestors used to weave and wear their own clothes but people don’t even recognize the mekhle (traditional female attire), dhan-naach has also disappeared. Children today don’t even know the Limbu names for the parts of the body.’ Thus there was an overwhelming sense of cultural erosion in the eastern hills which was once again indirectly related to the actions and
87 A Mundhum consists of legends, folklores, pre-historic accounts, sermons and moral or philosophical
exhortations in poetic language (Edingo, 2007: 165). For detailed description and accounts of the use of the Mundhum in the lives of the Limbus see Sagant (1996).
88 Resident of Yangnam village, Panchthar, interviewed by the author on 4th September, 2010, Yangnam, Nepal. 89 Literal translation is wheat dance, usually danced during festivals, harvests and even fairs. Men and women
hold hands and dance in a circle to the beat of the chyabrung, a drum used by Limbu men while the women sing the palam, songs describing stories of the harvest, life cycle etc.
90 The influence of Nepali pop culture was also very prominent in Ilam which shares close border with Darjeeling
as well as the terai in the south. While fashionable, ‘western’ clothes, make-up, hair straighteners were readily available for girls, peroxide tinted, Korean hairstyles were very popular amongst boys at the time of fieldwork.
policies of the state which for decades had promoted only one language, one religion and one culture.
In the eastern hills these grievances against the homogenous construction and cultural domination (which also amounted to economic domination) by the state had found articulation through a homeland movement for the reinstatement of the historical kingdom of Limbuwan. Although championed by the Maobadi during the decade long insurgency, the demand for ethnic homelands and autonomous regions had been voiced as early as 1992 by the Karnali Liberation Front which published a booklet on its programmes and objectives on the basis of the historical legend of King Bali’s kingdom.92 Likewise the demand for an independent
Magarant in central Nepal was made in 1993 by the Magarant Liberation Front and in the east the demand for the restoration of the historical kingdom of Limbuwan was led by the Limbuwan Mukti Morcha formed in 1986.
CDs and DVDs promoting ethno-nationalism were freely available throughout east Nepal
In the eastern hills, the traditional opposition to the state focused on the claims to kipat, has been a strong hallmark of the relationship between Limbus and the Nepali state (de Sales, 2000:50). This is evidenced by the anti-Bahun movement in the 1950s and through the
92 Karnali is located in the mid-western development region of Nepal. It is one of the poorest and most remote
regions of Nepal. According to local myth King Bali Hang was a Kirata king with an extensive kingdom from Pokhara to Gorkahpur (Vansittart in Chemjong, 2003: 143).
activities of the Mongol National Organization (MNO) in the early 1990s, which was even successful in winning the regional elections in 1992.93 Despite their earlier streak of success, the MNO has been losing ground steadily, unable to regain their position even in the contemporary era of ethnic politics. This can be attributed to the overall political atmosphere that was not conducive to ethnic politics as well as the generality of their agenda which was to unite all the ‘Mongols’ against the upper caste Hindus (see Hangen, 2010). In stark contrast, today the demands of indigenous/ethnic population have a specific target group and territory which makes it easier to focus claims and activities. This also makes it easier to mobilize ethnic actors in politics with examples from history of the bravado and tenacity of the Limbus against Prithvi Narayan.
Apart from the opening of the political domain to ethnic grievances by the Maoists, the other most important factor in the emergence of ethnic politics in Nepal is the influence of the international indigenous discourse which is firmly entrenched in the Adivasi/Janajati movement. Nepal as one of the poorest countries in the world has had to orient its national politics in accordance with the guidelines set out by its international donors. Even before the second Jan Andolan, international agencies like the United Nations had already made inroads into Nepalese politics. For example the celebration of the UN Year of Indigenous Peoples in 1993 renewed ethnic activism amongst different nascent ethnic organizations. In the same year debate on ethno-politics of language intensified as the government formed a commission to make recommendations about the national language policy (Bhattachan, 1995:128). The presence of international humanitarian agencies has led to greater awareness of ethnic/indigenous rights amongst ethnic elites, which when combined with their potential to disrupt life through strikes and sit-ins, especially in the semi-urban and border areas, has made them formidable political agents.
However, one of the most important developments in the Adivasi/Janajati movement was when Nepal became the first country in South Asia to ratify the ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in 2007 recognizing over fifty groups as ethnic/indigenous. The ILO 169 (as it its popularly known) recognizes the cultural distinctiveness of ethnic/indigenous
93 The MNO was more successful in winning local rather than national elections, particularly in Ilam where in
1992 the MNO candidates won 24 out of 47 VDCs and won the majority of the posts including the chair and vice chairman. In 1997, MNO candidates were however elected in only 19 VDCs (Hangen, 2007: 182) and the number has declined steadily over the past years.
groups and is aimed at promoting full cultural rights for indigenous and tribal people who it said had been progressively marginalised and dispossessed from their sources of livelihood and rendered vulnerable to cultural shock and loss of cultural identity (Xaxa,1999).94 This Convention defines self-identification as indigenous or tribal as a fundamental criterion for determining the groups to which the provisions of this Convention apply with a qualification that this does not entail the rights that may be attached to this term under international law (Bijoy et al, 2010:57). According to this Convention, qualification as an indigenous group entails descent from the original inhabitants of a region prior to the arrival of settlers leading to poverty and political marginality, limited access to services and absence of protection from unwanted development (Cowan et al, 2001:19, emphasis mine). However, in spite of its origins in conditions which were different to those of Nepal and the ideological contestations surrounding its applicability in the post-colonial states of Asia and Africa, Nepal’s ethnic groups and their representative associations have accepted the global indigenous discourse whole-heartedly as it finally provides them with a platform through which they can engage in productive negotiation with the state for the re-distribution of resources.
The impact of this international indigenous discourse on the articulation of ethnic grievances was evident in the speech given by Bhardoj Gurung,95 executive member of NEFIN (Ilam chapter), at the World Indigenous Day celebrations. He reminded everyone present there of the economic discrimination and cultural suppression by the migrant Hindus who not only robbed them of their lands but also their indigenous identity. He insisted that state re- construction had to be all inclusive, by which he meant that only a Gurung had the right to represent a Gurung, the Limbus had to be represented by someone from their community and so forth. This is an argument which emanates from NEFIN, Kathmandu whose General Secretary, Angben Sherpa,96 whilst defending ethnic federalism and agra adhikar (prior rights) says, ‘there are seventy-five districts in Nepal, some districts belong to Tamang, some belong to Rai but who is representing from all these districts? All Brahmins. For example,
94 The full version of the Convention has been attached as Annexe.
95 This speech was given on 24th July, 2010 in a public forum to celebrate World Indigenous Day amidst members
of other ethnic groups who were also dressed in their ethnic attire. The author was a participant observant on this present occasion.
Sindhuphulchok district97 belongs to Tamangs but who is representing them? Pashupati Shumshere Rana. Maybe he is the only Rana living in the district and he has been representing from Sindhupalchok for over fifteen-twenty years. This is not really justifiable’. Thus, without mincing their words the ethnic elites established a direct link between ethnicity and material ends (political, economic) as well as asserting that only ethnic identity could resolve all their problems, even those related to culture. Political instability, inefficient bureaucracy and lack of developmental benefits has led to severe political apathy. On being asked, which party he votes for Maila Limbu (Yangnam, 2010) jokingly replied, ‘whoever gives me the bottle (i.e. alcohol)’. Although said in jest, this captures the residual sentiment and attitude towards the political system and governance which does not ensure health, education, sustenance nor security to its citizens.98 Thus, the idea of Limbuwan, a separate state in a federal organization presents itself as an alternative and maybe an opportunity for some either to reclaim lost land or even just the increased presence of the state.
Contesting the state: Welcome to Limbuwan
2
97 Sindhupalchok district is located in the Central Development Region of Nepal.
98 While the fieldwork was limited to just the eastern hills and the Adivasi/Janajati groups in particular, it is
quite probable that this is a common sentiment felt across the country. As Kanak Mani Dixit (2011) writes, ‘what rankles the people is not so much that yet another constitution-writing deadline has lapsed, but the seemingly never-ending shortages of power, fuel, water, jobs, food and even passport. Source: http://www.ccd.org.np/resources/wcms_100897[1].pdf (Accessed: 22/12/2012).
The 2012 annual survey conducted by Himal Magazine expands on these themes of inefficiency, corruption further. (Source: http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepalitimes/pdf/Nepali_Times_604.pdf).