The leaders and intellectuals from various ethnic and indigenous background have declared they would soon register a new party to unite the cause of their people under a political banner. After a two days convention in the capital, the participants issued a collective press release with 11 points declaration which says they would launch a strong movement if the parties do not ensure constitution through a Constituent Assembly.
“We will not accept constitution delivered by a non-representative body.”, said Raj Kumar Lekhi of Nepal Federation of Ethnic and Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN). Most participants in the convention agreed that the parties must either revive the CA or go for the next elections. The leaders challenged those who argue that people’s mandate on federalism has changed in the last four years to contest elections in November and prove themselves.
The press statement issued after the program says existing political system has internally colonised the ethnic people for the last two hundred and fourty years and promoted identity of the dominant caste group as a national identity. So the movement is aimed at diversifying Nepali identity by securing space for all kinds of identities in the future federal states. The leaders have appealed to ethnic and indigenous leaders in other parties to come together to form a political force and fight against what they call ‘upper caste’ hegemony.
However, some leaders at the convention expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision to open a new party and said it would not help the cause of the Janajatis. “By creating our own party, we are disengaging with the big parties and this will not help our cause.”, said CPN-UML leader Prithvi Subba Gurung. Although Gurung is among many Janajati leaders who are currently being questioned for going against party’s interests, he says he will fight for his space within the party. “ It is through our efforts that the leadership has been forced to officially recognise identity as the basis for federalism which shows we still have a voice they cannot ignore.”, he told Nepali Times.