Infighting for Identity with Violence ?

B. K. Rana

Email: rana1616@gmail.com

The 1998 Nobel Prize Winner Amartya Kumar Sen, a Harvard

Economics Professor, writes in his book ‘Identity and
Violence: The Illusion of Destiny’ that his ‘first
exposure to murder occurred when I was 11’ - that was in
the year of 1944. In the book he argues that identity has
offered an ample opportunity for violence in the world. He
talks of Hutu and Tutsi of Rwanda also. He writes- ‘For a
bewildered child the violence of identity was
extraordinarily hard to grasp. It is not particularly easy
even for a still bewildered elderly adult’.

He saw certain Kadar Mia - a Muslim laborer knifed by

Hindus. It had happened a few years before the collapse of
British Empire in India and the period of widespread Hindu-
Muslim violence. The poor Kadar’s wife had urged him ‘not
to go into a hostile area of then-undivided Bengal. But he
had to feed his starving family and he paid with his life’.

The victim ‘profusely bleeding suddenly stumbled through

the gate to our garden, asking for help and a little
water.’ – writes the Nobel laureate. Sen's father had
rushed the bleeding Mia to hospital where the victim was
pronounced dead of the sustained injuries. More than 13
thousand Nepalese people also lost their precious lives
during Maoist insurgency that began in the country in 1996.
Many others also lost their lives during the Panchyat
system.

The recent Madheshi peoples’ protest was at most a movement

against the state-denial of their identity or state of
state non-recognition. The movement was reasonable. The
demands are just. The movement has some bases. The Madheshi
people still feel being unjustly treated as second-grade
citizens of the country; most of whom have not obtained
citizenship certificates or identity. The case of
citizenship is another grave issue of Madhesh.

After the promulgation of the Interim Constitution on

January 15, 2007 the ever disgraced and disgruntled
Madheshi people found an outlet to protest against the
state for their fundamental rights – the right to identity.
The sate being backed by radical force on the other hand
apparently ignored what had been cooking inside the minds
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of Madheshi people. Now, the Madheshi movement has fully

demonstrated that they are different than the Maoist
insurgents in the country. The Madheshi people, however
suspended the protests, seem still not prepared to shun
violence. Some of their leaders are reported to have sought
assistance from Delhi Durbar by visiting New Delhi along
with some leaders of ‘monarchial parties’ in the country.
This movement also took at least 29 lives.

The solitarist Nepal, for the sake of its ‘national unity’

which virtually has not been realized by all of the
Nepalese peoples, at best stands for the ‘benefit and
happiness’ of only those in the governance and always
portrays itself monolithic as discussed in Samuel
Huntington's much impressive paper ‘Clash of Civilizations
and the Remaking of the World Order’[1996 ].

Kenji Yoshino, a professor at Yale University, School of

Law and author of ‘Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our
Civil Rights’ while commenting on the Nobel laureate Sen’s
book in discussion writes ‘Its [ identity’s ] weakness lies
in its failure to explain why, at critical junctures, we
disown that knowledge. Is it because human cognition tends
to trade in binaries? Is it because violence creates
identity as much as identity creates violence ? Is it
because human beings fear the choices or solitude a more
cosmopolitan outlook would force them to face?’

The most human-rights or civil rights violated population

collectively identified as Dalits1 [sic] who, altogether
form a massive size, almost ¼ of the total population by
21.79%2 in the country, are conventionally offered
dehumanizing identity for them as Pani Nachalne Shudras,
literally ‘Water Untouchable Shudras’ – which also means –
‘mean by all accounts even water by their hands
unacceptable’. This group of people, also seen as ‘Achhuts’
– untouchables - is suffering injustice throughout the
history in South Asia - particularly both in Nepal and
India.

Whereas the indigenous group of people who, currently are

best known as Aadibasi Janajatis, altogether have 37.38% of
total population, also by convention looked down on as Pani
Chalne Shudras – literally ‘mean by all accounts but water
by their hands acceptable’. But this group of people is
also tagged another unacceptable identity as ‘Tallo Jat’
[sic] – lower caste – a casteist supremacist and hence
suppressive attitude to suppress others and stick to power.
Currently, these two groups of peoples are in peaceful
movement for respectful national identity. The movement
1 ‘Dalit’ itself is dehumanizing word. Some Dalit activists do not accept this
nomenclature. This name is in much currency in India also.
2 National Population Census Report 2001
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targets itself against the state enhanced casteist

oppressive concept, in direct word if I may say, which once
came under the ‘human-rights radar’ of President Jimmy
Carter who had then to raise concerns over the persecutions
committed against those converting themselves into
Christian faith. In the meantime, the bitter truth is that
the peaceful movement for social justice by both Aadibasi
Janajatis and Dalits indeed lacks luster in that
academics/thinker/leaders/activists from these groups
either circle around or scattered among different political
parties apparently for some political benefits. They have
never been able to offer dashing shows in the national
stage.

Now, it is worth taking note here that the indigenous

peoples or Aadibasi Janajatis and Dalits both of whom, also
in a state of state non-recognition and second-graded or
degraded as the Madheshi peoples, are adopting peaceful
measures to expressing their differences which is always
laudable3.

Would not it be possible for the Madheshi people also to

protest peacefully in case the government did not again
address what they are making voices for? There has been lot
more blood-shed in the country. The country needs peace for
now.

February 12, 2007

Boston, USA.

3 www.nepalnews.com
nepalnews.com Feb 11, 07
NFIN to sit for talks with government, continue protest
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2007/feb/feb11/news02.php