Forcing federation

The shutdown called by Joint Action Committee of Newa Autonomous State (JACNAS) in Kathmandu and surrounding districts on Monday came as a nagging reminder that the days of banda are back again. Though the Tarai districts and eastern hills have been bearing the brunt of general strikes forced by irate groups for long, banda returned to the capital city with a vengeance—today’s banda was observed or forced (depending upon how you see it) at an unprecedented scale. In some parts of Kathmandu, even press vehicles were not spared.



Among others, JACNAS has demanded an autonomous state comprising 12 districts, including the three in Kathmandu Valley and annulment of Kathmandu Valley Urban Development Bill. Nepali people have elected the Constituent Assembly, whose major responsibility is to write the new constitution and to federalize the unitary state. The CA has already formed a committee and it has begun a study on the possible modalities of state restructuring. Federalization is a sensitive issue and we have divergent views with regards to how many federal states Nepal should have—an equally important issue is how many federal states will be viable economically and socially? Different communities may have different aspirations but eventually it is up to the CA, the highest representative body of the Nepali people, to come up with the modality of federations—its boundaries, rights and responsibilities and limitations.



If all the diverse communities that we have within our national boundaries don’t trust the CA and come up with their own demands and call general strikes to force others to accept it, we may not see federalization happen at all. We all know that the different communities have competing demands and interests. Take for instance, the case of proposed Newa Autonomous State. JACNAS has demanded that 12 districts including the Kathmandu valley and the surrounding districts should be a part of the Newa Autonomous State. But the Tamasaling State Council (TSC) has already demanded that the districts surrounding the Kathmandu valley and with dominant Tamang population should be a part of the Tamasaling State. Interestingly, Maoists are in the leadership of both JACNAS and TSC, which only shows the complexity of federalizing this country. JACNAS comprises of nine various Newar organizations, some of which are sister organizations of major political parties or their affiliates. For instance, Newa Rastriya Mukti Morcha is a sister wing of Maoist party and Nepal Lokatantrik Newa Sangh is affiliated to UML. Many local leaders and cadres of the NC are also active in JACNAS.



We urge the major political parties and all ethnic communities to entrust the CA to come up with the right modality of federal Nepal and also caution them about the danger of stoking the fire of ethnic chauvinism.

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