On 8 October when Nepal Police arrested Dr. Chandra Kant
Raut aka CK Raut from Gaur, Rauthat district of Province-2, I was having tea in
Janakpurdham with one of my friends from Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of
Nepal. Raut was arrested while coming out of district court Rautahat and within
half an hour social media got coloured with the news of his arrest. Meantime,
I, along with my friend, recalled our memories of 19 September, the day Dr.
Raut had staged mass assembly and opposed the Constitution Day of Nepal.
During that time, it is said that security enforcements of Nepal were searching Dr. Raut to arrest him prior to his slated mass assembly but they could not and Dr. Raut accomplished his programme successfully. The police could have arrested him after he addressed the mass but they did not do so. My friend from the CIB who always thinks for integrity of Nepal shared his pain with me that their ground analyses are being overlooked by Kathmandu.
This article is centralised on how federal government is using/misusing Dr. CK Raut and how Raut’s movement would impact Nepal and its integrity. It will also provide with few recommendations.
There used to be a time when Madheshi leader Gajendra Narayan Singh in 1985 was demanding federalism. Kathmandu used to frame him as an anti-national and the fight for federalism was prolonged to a level. But ultimately after thirty years of struggle, Nepal is now a federal nation. It shows that once the idea gets space in people’s mind it certainly would germinate and grow stronger. In regards to federalism, Dr. Raut has become a card for both Madhesh-centric parties and so-called national parties.
Madhesh-centric parties threaten Kathmandu by saying that if the constitution does not get amended in a meaningful way they would join the path of Dr. Raut. President of Rastriya Janta Party Nepal [RJP-N] Mahanth Thakur has used such statement for many times in his public speeches. Contrary to this, Kathmandu says that it doesn’t want to give rights to Madheshis, otherwise they would break Nepal. In this regard, the way federalism has been manipulated with centralising maximum power in the centre proves their rigidity.
Now, on constitution day, Dr. Raut could not have staged mass assembly if the security agencies of Nepal would have refused to allow it. Now it seems that it was all under the strategy of federal government to create fear among ordinary Nepalis that integrity of Nepal is at a critical juncture and arrested Dr. Raut from Gaur, Rautahat along with his four years old daughter Rewati Raut. This move of government is hiking the craze for Dr. Raut basically in the youth generation. Organisation of Alliance for Independent Madhesh (AIM) is expanding by the day which is an open secret. I wonder whether the intelligence agency of Nepal government is reporting to the government or not!
In September, Nepal government had formed a dialogue committee under leadership of parliamentarian Som Prasad Pandey to talk with Netra Bikram Chand ‘Biplav’, Dr. CK Raut and underground armed group Jay Krishna Goit who all are challenging the government.
CK Raut
More than Biplav and Goit, Dr. Raut is taken as a threat to Nepal and this threat has increased after the failure of Madhesh-centric parties who are supposed to be the moderate political force in Madhesh.
Arresting Dr. Raut and his cadres can never neutralise him. As we know in politics, arresting someone does not mean arresting the “agenda” because if agenda is attractive it grips the mind of ordinary people.
What government needs to do is keep the moderate force in Madhesh alive. This is directly associated with amending the constitution. On the constitution day, RJP-N did not celebrate the day; instead they marked it as ‘Black Day’. Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSF-N) neither marked the constitution day nor deemed it a black day. Especially in Province-2, the provincial government had passed a circular to mark the constitution day but even the Chief Minister Mohammad Lalbabu Raut did not mark the day himself. Few Members of Legislature Assembly [MLA] marked constitution day as ‘black day’. All these incidents show that if the constitution is amended to the satisfaction of marginalised people, the wave of secession demands would automatically stop.
The government must not need to use/misuse Dr. Raut because doing so means assisting his movement directly or indirectly. The newly formed dialogue committee should engage Dr. Raut for broader consensus keeping the national integrity in focus. Hope Kathmandu takes seriously the analysis of its investigative apparatuses and my above-mentioned friend would not get have to get depressed.
Analysis by Randhir Chaudhary
randhir.thrd14@gmail.com
Published on 29 October 2018
During that time, it is said that security enforcements of Nepal were searching Dr. Raut to arrest him prior to his slated mass assembly but they could not and Dr. Raut accomplished his programme successfully. The police could have arrested him after he addressed the mass but they did not do so. My friend from the CIB who always thinks for integrity of Nepal shared his pain with me that their ground analyses are being overlooked by Kathmandu.
This article is centralised on how federal government is using/misusing Dr. CK Raut and how Raut’s movement would impact Nepal and its integrity. It will also provide with few recommendations.
There used to be a time when Madheshi leader Gajendra Narayan Singh in 1985 was demanding federalism. Kathmandu used to frame him as an anti-national and the fight for federalism was prolonged to a level. But ultimately after thirty years of struggle, Nepal is now a federal nation. It shows that once the idea gets space in people’s mind it certainly would germinate and grow stronger. In regards to federalism, Dr. Raut has become a card for both Madhesh-centric parties and so-called national parties.
Madhesh-centric parties threaten Kathmandu by saying that if the constitution does not get amended in a meaningful way they would join the path of Dr. Raut. President of Rastriya Janta Party Nepal [RJP-N] Mahanth Thakur has used such statement for many times in his public speeches. Contrary to this, Kathmandu says that it doesn’t want to give rights to Madheshis, otherwise they would break Nepal. In this regard, the way federalism has been manipulated with centralising maximum power in the centre proves their rigidity.
Now, on constitution day, Dr. Raut could not have staged mass assembly if the security agencies of Nepal would have refused to allow it. Now it seems that it was all under the strategy of federal government to create fear among ordinary Nepalis that integrity of Nepal is at a critical juncture and arrested Dr. Raut from Gaur, Rautahat along with his four years old daughter Rewati Raut. This move of government is hiking the craze for Dr. Raut basically in the youth generation. Organisation of Alliance for Independent Madhesh (AIM) is expanding by the day which is an open secret. I wonder whether the intelligence agency of Nepal government is reporting to the government or not!
In September, Nepal government had formed a dialogue committee under leadership of parliamentarian Som Prasad Pandey to talk with Netra Bikram Chand ‘Biplav’, Dr. CK Raut and underground armed group Jay Krishna Goit who all are challenging the government.
CK Raut
More than Biplav and Goit, Dr. Raut is taken as a threat to Nepal and this threat has increased after the failure of Madhesh-centric parties who are supposed to be the moderate political force in Madhesh.
Arresting Dr. Raut and his cadres can never neutralise him. As we know in politics, arresting someone does not mean arresting the “agenda” because if agenda is attractive it grips the mind of ordinary people.
What government needs to do is keep the moderate force in Madhesh alive. This is directly associated with amending the constitution. On the constitution day, RJP-N did not celebrate the day; instead they marked it as ‘Black Day’. Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSF-N) neither marked the constitution day nor deemed it a black day. Especially in Province-2, the provincial government had passed a circular to mark the constitution day but even the Chief Minister Mohammad Lalbabu Raut did not mark the day himself. Few Members of Legislature Assembly [MLA] marked constitution day as ‘black day’. All these incidents show that if the constitution is amended to the satisfaction of marginalised people, the wave of secession demands would automatically stop.
The government must not need to use/misuse Dr. Raut because doing so means assisting his movement directly or indirectly. The newly formed dialogue committee should engage Dr. Raut for broader consensus keeping the national integrity in focus. Hope Kathmandu takes seriously the analysis of its investigative apparatuses and my above-mentioned friend would not get have to get depressed.
Analysis by Randhir Chaudhary
randhir.thrd14@gmail.com
Published on 29 October 2018
