Caste discrimination in Nepal: A core problem must end in the new era

Dr. D. P. Rasali
Founder
Nepaldalitinfo International Network
dpr@nepaldalitinfo.20m.com

[A part of this article is also published in Canada Forum for Nepal’s newsletter.]

Sweeping changes that are taking place day by day in the ongoing showdown phase of Lokatantrik Andolan (peoples’ movement) in Nepal are startling to the whole world. What was long been promoted by the state media as an incarnation of Bishnu finally came down falling apart overnight, being reduced to hardly a thing of any significance. When the reinstated Parliament proclaimed last week to erase all signs of royalty from the public life of Nepal, there was not even a whisper of anyone to say a word in opposition. I reckon, BBC News Service will henceforth not even dare rattling the incarnation theory anymore. The ticking time shall tell the ultimate fate of Nepal’s monarchy, but the future of country’s populace is pretty much mapped up for a democratic, secular and egalitarian society.

Watching at the recent scenes of hundreds of thousands of people thronging at streets of Nepal for a nation-wide mass movement against the autocratic King’s regime, the world clearly knew the magnum strength at which the Nepalese people are hell bent for achieving their full sovereign democratic rights. Though the sequence of events in recent weeks that have been broadcast in the media all over the world was uniquely spectacular show, it was not the first time that the people of this tiny nation on the southern lap of Himalayas have demonstrated their strong desire for self determination. It is for more than half a century that the people have been continually fighting for their democratic rights. Somehow, the elements of conspiracy intercepting the democratic movements had always managed to abort the path of the peoples’ mass action for a meaningful democracy, culminating into unreasonably compromising terms. The movements of 1950, 1980 and 1990 all had ended in a series of betrayals to the masses. Contrary to the past instances, the peoples’ movement this time round is moving forward with a wave of real-time changes matching with the aspirations of the people.

Nepal, a South Asian state strangely running with medieval-style state machinery even in the 21st century, has been long overdue for a total transformation for modernization. Many changes taking place swiftly in the past few weeks through some bold actions of the reinstated Parliament with the backing from rebellious revolutionary Maoists are clearly the signs of the country moving on the right track for creating a new era for the people to be able to live without any fear, and progress with time.

Nevertheless, one of the root causes of the whole problem is still under a shadow due to lack of sufficient thrust it deserves. Caste-based discrimination is perhaps the most important core problem that has been the root cause of the Nepalese society’s manifold ills. Caste-based discrimination was the main basis for retention of traditional feudalistic regimes. Shah dynasty thrived throughout the history of 237 years mainly due to its societal position as the mythical warrior Kshatriya caste among four Hindu Varnas. Autocratic Ranas ruled for 104 years until 1950 by way of superseding the powers of Shah dynasty and establishing themselves as ruling class rivals with Shah caste. The systematic discrimination rampant between any other two Hindu castes and within any caste and/or any caste groups was the basis for both these dynasties to “divide and rule” the largely ignorant masses. The history of what came to be known as Nepal has been nothing more than the playing field for these two dynasties, by turn, suppressing the masses as slaves.

Of course, the original caste system is traditionally handed down from the Brahministic Hindu Varna system, in which the people were divided into four Varnas, namely Brahmins, Kshtriya, Baishya and Sudras based on their divisions of work. Even if this system was in place for a good reason of the past, later on, the whole system got much distorted and manipulated by the feudalistic ruling class to the advantage of the ruling class over the masses. But, the system of classifying the people based on their descent by birth is fundamentally wrong, and has no relevance at least to the present-day world, where every individual has to earn her/his societal position and maintain it by own good deeds. In that context, fundamentalist Hindu Nepalese society must abandon their traditional belief of so called “high” and “low” castes, and discard the associated social evils like the practice of untouchability, which is still rampant in the society. The state machinery through the appropriate Charter of Human Rights put in place must even out social inequalities resulting from such traditional caste-based discrimination and associated untouchability practices. This is, however, only a small part of the bigger issue of the manifold problems faced by the people, who are victimized for many centuries by the system of caste-discrimination in Nepal.

The larger part of the core problem is that through the reigns of two dynasties, Shah and Ranas, Nepal as a state had committed a grave crime against humanity, by the promulgation of a civil law called Muluki Ain in 1854 making statuary provisions of caste-based discrimination and untouchability practices. This law was active until 1960s, and even today, there is much ambiguity in the existing law of the land to go against the caste-based discrimination. In Muluki Ain 1854, all castes knowledgeable to the then rulers were scheduled as “high” to “low” in their hierarchical order. The penalty for any civilian criminal was inversely proportional to their hierarchical order in the caste structure. If a Brahmin man (a priestly caste considered highest by the law) raped a lower caste woman, he would be fined in cash or forgiven at the discretion of the judge, but if a so called “untouchable” man had consensual sex with a woman of so called “high” caste, he would be sentenced to a death penalty. These are only the two examples of legal provisions that were in the first Muluki Ain. The impact of cruel and unjustified structure of statutory provisions of this law had been devastating, pushing all people of oppressed castes to a status lower than animals in the society. As a direct result, today, the people of oppressed castes, who make up about 20% of the country’s whole population, are still alienated from the mainstream society. Ironically, this sizeable chunk of population is oppressed in their socio-economic and political status, but is one of the most productive hardworking masses of the people of Nepal. Farm tool making, ornament making, garment making, shoes making, carpentry, music entertainment and folk singing, public utility, construction and sanitation work are some of the domains of the traditional occupations of these oppressed caste people. Yet, they do not earn enough for their food, clothing and shelter due to direct exploitation in their capitals and earnings from their hardwork by so called high caste people in their day to day lives. This has been going on for centuries, and it is still a vivid reality in most rural areas of Nepal. It must end in the new era.

Clearly, the promulgation of Muluki Ain 1854 was a case of state crime of the past with direct implications existing even today, for which Nepal’s Parliament, responsible Government and Head of the State must bow their heads down in shame and apologize to the victimized oppressed masses of people. In order to make the current sweeping changes meaningful to the sizeable chunk of the population being oppressed, it is a must that a proclamation of an explicit apology is made by the state for the state’s past crime committed against them, along with provisions with adequate negotiated compensation for all the sufferings they have gone through in the black history of Nepal, and making them inclusive in the mainstream society.