Nepal: colonial attitude towards Madhesis ?

No last word on Nepal’s Hindi row

Bithi Sarkar | TNN

Kathmandu: Last year’s photograph takes pride of place in Paramananda Jha’s drawing room. It has Jha dressed in dhoti-kurta and a jacket, being sworn in as the Nepalese republic’s first vicepresident. But that momentous occasion captured on camera 13 months ago is a grim reminder of 65-year-old Jha’s predicament today.

The former Supreme Court judge is at the centre of a raging language row. Last week, Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled that Jha had violated the Constitution by taking his oath of office and secrecy in Hindi instead of Nepali. The Court gave him an ultimatum: take a fresh oath in Nepali or resign. On Friday, Jha filed two appeals, seeking a review of the Court decision.

Nepal’s ruling parties have asked Jha to obey the Court’s directive, but he is adamant. “The court verdict reflects Nepal’s colonial attitude towards the Terai people,” he tells STOI. “It is not just an insult to Madhesis (people living in the Terai), but to all indigenous communities whose mother tongue is different from Nepali.”

Jha links the order to Nepal’s very real bias against Hindi, which is perceived as an Indian language. “Every Nepali speaks Hindi; it’s spoken all over Nepal. In spite of that, it is regarded as an Indian language as people forget that Hindi is spoken on both sides of the border.

In the Terai, even people whose mother tongues are Maithili or Bhojpuri or Avadhi lapse into Hindi when they are excited. If Hindi is an Indian language, then so is Nepali; after all, the Indian Constitution recognizes it as an official language of India.”

The vice-president believes base politics is behind the row. “Three years ago, a case was filed against Army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal, (on the charge that he had falsified his year of birth and should have retired before he became army chief). But the general retires next month, and the court has not dared to take up the matter as the ruling parties are backing Katawal. On the other hand, the party that nominated me as vice-president, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, weakened after a split in the party and the attacks against Madhesis increased.”

He also alleges that the apex court judges are biased. “The chief justice (Min Bahadur Rayamajhi) was an old adversary when I was a judge,” he says. “He took this opportunity to settle personal scores. The verdict misinterprets the Constitution.

The Constitution never said the oath has to be taken in Nepali; what it has laid down is the format. Besides the oath, I also signed an official acceptance letter that was written in Nepali. That still remains valid.”

In the past, India had often stepped in to defuse rows between the Nepalese government and parties that espouse the Hindi cause.

But Jha will have none of it. “It is my battle,” he says. “I am capable of fighting it. I don’t need anyone’s support.”

Nepal vice-president under fresh attack

TNN 29 August 2009, 08:51pm IST

KATHMANDU: Within hours of Nepal’s government announcing it would take stringent action against an obscure armed group that had exploded a bomb near beleaguered Vice-President Paramananda Jha’s residence Friday night, attackers tried to set off a second bomb that, however, was detected by police and neutralised before it could cause any damage.

This is the second attack within 24 hours on the vice-president who has been at the heart of a language war that has divided Nepal vertically since last year and is headed for a showdown Sunday.

The violence started with an obscure armed group exploding a bomb near Jha’s residence in the Gaurighat area of the capital Friday night. Though the 65-year-old former judge was unhurt, a woman was injured. The Kirat Janabadi Workers’ Party, an underground organisation that is demanding a Kirat state in eastern Nepal, claimed responsibility for the attack and warned more would follow if Jha refused to take his oath of office and secrecy in Nepali.

An alarmed Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Saturday rushed to Jha’s residence in the morning to condemn the bomb attack and promise stern action against the perpetrators. The prime minister also promised that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

However, hours after the government announcement, police found a second bomb near Jha’s residence.

both the President, Dr Ram Baran Yadav, and the prime minister have been urging Jha to end the row – that began last year when the latter took his oath in Hindi – by being sworn in again in Nepali, so far, he has refused to toe the line. On Friday, he struck back, filing two petitions against the controversial Supreme Court verdict that has slapped the ultimatum on him, calling it biased and unconstitutional.

The three-month-old Nepal government is in its worst dilemma over the language row. On Sunday, it faces the option of either removing Jha and facing the wrath of the Hindi belt or continuing with status quo and angering the anti-Hindi hill community.

Jha however says neither the court nor the government has the power to sack him. According to him, the interim constitution authorises his impeachment only if two-third of Nepal’s 601-member parliament vote for the motion.

The Hindi war triggered a 48-hour general strike Saturday in Nepal’s Hindi belt, the Terai plains along the Indo-Nepal border, in support of the embattled Vice-President. Sunsari, Siraha, Dhanusha and Nawalparasi districts were hard-hit by the bandh spearheaded by the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum party with cadres clashing with police.

Janakpur, a major pilgrim destination in Nepal famed for its Janaki temple, remained tense as protesters pelted police with stones and were baton-charged. More than a dozen people were hurt with police reportedly arrested two demonstrators from hospital.