New Delh, Even after the "resignation" of Mr. Girija Prasad Koirala as the Prime Minister of Nepal a few days ago, signifying the "coronation" of Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda as the next Prime Minister, and the first Prime Minister of Republican Nepal, Mr Koirala continues to hold the office of not only the Prime Minister but also of the head of the State.

As of today, July 3, 2008 morning, it is not clear whom Mr. Koirala will hand over the resignation letter and when will Mr .Prachanda take over from him, after a President of the Republic is elected.

The constitutional processes are being thwarted by the adamant attitude of the three Tarai-based parties who do not allow the meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) being held, disrupting the House proceedings by getting into the podium and shouting slogans, much like the Parliament of India where opposition parties disrupt proceedings often for a few days in a row, in support of their stands on particular issues.

But then, a fundamental issue that arises is who after all are the Madheshis and why do they want the demand of "Ek Madhesh, Ek Pradesh" being accepted by the CA before the House proceeds with its agenda.

For seeking answers to these questions, one has to go back about three hundred years in history. We all are aware that the Mughal Empire started disintegrating after 1706 when Aurangzeb died and it was grabbing of territories by the strong which had become the order of the day. The English, who had been in India as traders since the previous nearly 100 years, began empire-building by defeating Nawab Sirajuddaulah of Bengal (which included parts of today's Bihar and Orissa too) in the battle of Palashi (often misspelt as Plassey) in 1757 through treachery by his minister Mir Zafar and others.

Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Rajput chieftain ruling at a place called Gorkha ,north of Gorakhpur, had harboured dream of conquering Nepal ( The Kacthmandu Valley of about 2000 square miles was Nepal ,not the country whose map we see these days. This map was drawn only in 1816). He accomplished this task of September 13 (September 26 according to some) in 1769 on Indrajatra day when the Nepal Valley used to celebrate this thanks-giving ceremony to the Rain God by being drunk with "rakshi" the local alcoholic brew, by almost walking into the Valley and quickly obtaining the blessing of the:"Kumari", the child goddess on whose behalf the monarchs of Nepal used to rule. A degree of treachery by the ministers of the Malla King Jayaprakash also helped Prithvi Narayan, just as Mir Jafar had helped Robert Clive.

Prithvi Narayan, was both ruthless and politically adroit, and expanded his influence to the east and the west as also to the south. He died only six years later in 1975.His worthless elder son loved pleasure and died soon. The second son Bahadur Shah and the Prime Ministers such as Bhimsen Thapa expanded the kingdom towards the south too In this push towards the south, the Shah dynasty occupied areas in north Bihar and had soon come into conflict with the expanding British In two wars, the Gorkhas were defeated and had to sign a Treaty called the Sugauli Treaty which demarcated the boundary of the Kingdom which now is known as Nepal..

The areas in north Bihar and northern (Today's) Uttar Pradesh, areas had come under Grokha expansion which had people speaking languages such as Maithili, Bhojpuri, Avadhi and even Bengali (eastern extreme) who became citizens of Nepal without knowing either the Nepali language or its peculiar customs and social mores (even though they were and are Hindus).These people became known s the Madheshis (inhabitants of Madhya Desh, the land between the mountains and the plains).

These Madheshis had been treated more or less as second class citizens by the "Pahadi" Nepalis for the last 230 years or more and one should have lived in Nepal after 1950 to appreciate the type of humiliation these Madheshis were subjected to. Admissions to Government services were severely restricted and it was more or less non-existent in police and the military.

After the victory of about 80 members to the 575-member Constituent Assembly (26 more members are to be nominated by the Prime Minister to take the number of 601)In the elections held on April 10, the Madheshis have acquired muscles and the worm has turned.. They now want not only an autonomous Madhesh (but sovereignty resting with Kathmandu as before) but have also raised two more slogans. One is "Ek Madhesh, Ek Pradesh" which means a unbroken territory along the entire southern border of Nepal and "block entry" into the Nepal Army, which they have been denied for the last 230 years or more.

All these demands are untenable on the ground that the "Ek Pradesh" will mean a sort of a buffer State between Nepal and India. No Nepali would like to be "Madhesh locked' like they are "India –locked" today. (Nepal is a land locked country).

As for their block entry into the Army. one will quote an incident of 1990.When in June 1990,Mr.Krishna Prasad Bhattarai (Kishunji), then interim Prime Minister of a democratic Nepal, had come to New Delhi.He had addressed a Press conference at the Press Information Bureau, attended by this reporter. When a correspondent had asked why the Nepalese Government never recruited Madhesis in the Army, he had reposted with "Aap Kyon Nahin Karte" (Why don't you do the same?).



Which implied that while the Government of India did recruit Nepalis (called Gorkhas) in the Indian Army, they never recruited Madheshis from Nepal. Why then was Nepal being asked to recruit them was his question .The implication was that the Madheshis, like the Bengalis of India, were a non-martial race not capable of putting up with the rough and tumble of an army life.

History apart, today these are the burning questions in Nepal and it is anybody's guess when solutions for these demands will be found and when Mr. Prachand will take over from Mr. Girija Prasad Koirala provided the Constituent Assembly elects a President of the Republic of Nepal who will accept the resignation of Mr. Koirala, submitted to no one in particular about two weeks ago.

Source - NPA

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