| ashu |
Posted
on 26-Oct-00 02:37 PM
Mabi wrote:
>My belated congratulations to all those
>involved in the liberation of the Kamaiyas.
Thank you.
>If I remember the history right, Chandra
>Shamsher in 1981 BS, when abolished (=
>amalekh) the "das pratha" had managed lands
>and were inhabited for the ex-das(es), which
>later was called "Amalekhgunj".
This is what most reasonable Nepalis
unreasonably believe.
I say "unreasoanbly believe" because evidence
that our researcher friend Tim Whyte
has collected from Amlekh Gunj shows that
Chandra Sumsher did NOT distribute land to
the freed slaves nor did he rehabilitate them.
Where exactly did those freed Nepali slaves
disappear is a topic for research, awaiting
a historian.
>I believe, then Rana Prime Minister, an
>autocrat, did not had to consider the
>political and social pressures like that of
>today. Yet, he foresaw the problems that
>might have arisen and tackled them in a
>systematic way.
I agree with you that in undemocratic times
CS could get away by making a declaration
that the slaves were free. But, as Tim's research
has shown, CS did NOT "tackle" the problem in any "systematic way".
Now the times are different. Ex-Kamaiyas are
Nepali citizens too. And any democratically
elected Nepali government worth its name
is duty-bound to assist the ex-Kamaiyas
in leading free and dignified life.
If the government can hand out many, many
acres of land in Kailali and Kanchanpur
to Sukumbasis of doubtful origins and
to 'political victims' of all kinds, then
what's stopping the government to hand out
available UNDESIGNATED land to the ex-Kamaiyas?
>In this regard, may be, the Minister Siddha
>Ojha was right in saying that the decision
>was made in the haste disregarding the
>possible consequences.
Minister Ojha, a jamin-daar from the Far Western
Nepal, made an irresponsible statement. By
saying what he said, Ojha was simply placating
his jamin-daar friends.
I mean, think about this:
Once the government made its "freedom for kamaiyas"
declaration, Ojha's ministry had the manpower
and the knowledge to translate the details
of the government's declaration into action.
That Ojha's Ministry failed to do so is Ojha's
own fault and Ojha's incomptency. After failing
to do what he was entrusted to do, Ojha cannot
turn around and hide behind such an irresponsible statement. I hope he gets kicked out from
the Cabinet after Tihar.
By Ojha's stupid logic, maybe democracy itself
came too soon in Nepal!! If only Nepalis had
planned and mapped out all the possible
consequences of democracy in 1990, then perhaps
we would not have been in such a freakin' mess
that we seem to be in . . .
But "planning and mapping out all the possible
consequences" in advance would be like solving
thousands of simultaneous equations with many
unknown variables!!
>However, freedom matters the most, no matter
>what it brings to the life of common people.
I agree with you 100 per cent.
>I am basically a consumer of the Nepalnews.
>com and the impression I got was that the ex-
>kamaiya went through a very difficult times
>and ex-ka-"maiyas" are indulging into
>unwanted and unusual sexual behaviors to
>sustain their lifes.
I think sex always sells in a newspaper!!
As far as I am concerned, adult ex-kamaiyas are
free to indulge in any kind of sexual practices
they want to indulge in. It's NOT the kaam of the
government or of the Nepali media to police/monitor the
sexual behaviours of the ex-kamaiyas or of anyone
else.
That said, I fully share your serious concerns about some ex-Kamaiyas' turning to prostitution to pay for food and
shelter.
>Yet, the total results
>of the liberation are to come and I hope
>they don't turn violent because of the
>existing pshycological trauma of "no-where-
>ness".
Well, the grave danger is that of Maoist
infiltration in ex-Kamaiyas' camps, and,
some say that this is already happening.
Since some of my own Tharu friends from
'95/'96 are now hard-core Maoists, I have
no doubts that they would try to co-opt
as many ex-Kamaiyas as possible.
>Since, the Kamaiyas are simple (in life
>style),uneducated and unskilled cohorts,
>their fate and future basically depend on
>the wants,actions, manipulations and
>tactfulness of their leaders like Dilli et.
>al. and others involved.
Dilli is a leader in the sense that he is an
effective medium/voice for the ex-kamaiyas
to reach the government.
Dilli or anyone else do NOT set the agenda of
what to do next. Uneducated yet intelligent
ex-Kamaiyas such as Raj Deo Chaudhary and others
are fully involved in all the decision-making
process so that they know and can dictate
what's going on.
After all, it's THEIR Andolan.
The rest are just helpers -- helpers offering
political connections that work; helpers
offering to make strategies for success;
helpers offering to deal with the national and
international press; helpers offering to
do fund-raising, and so on and on.
>I wish success to all involved.
Thank you, again,
oohi
ashu
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