The Rise of Ethnic Politics in Nepal: Democracy in the Margins by Susan I Hangen

Author:Susan I Hangen [Hangen, Susan I]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, Social Science, Popular Culture, Political Science, World, Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Cultural & Social, Asian, Regional Studies, General
ISBN: 9781135181604
Google: 9LiLAgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 17510587
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2009-12-04T00:00:00+00:00

Personalized politics in a multi-party era: local elections in Maidel

Early one drizzly morning right before the local elections in 1997, Aama called me to come down from my room for the morning meal. In the smoky kitchen, I found Bala Ram Gurung, an MNO supporter from ward five, and Aama in a heated discussion about the elections. As Aama served us brass plates heaped with gundruk (dried, fermented greens), potatoes, rice and ghyu (clarified butter), Bala Ram reported on the political situation in ward five: ‘People are saying that since both Nar Bahadur and Bhim Bahadur are fighting for the village chairman seat, the election is a fight between brothers.’ Aama’s son Nar Bahadur and Bhim Bahadur, who was running for chairman as the Communist Party (UML) candidate, were closely related cousins. Aama, always opinionated, protested in her gravelly voice, ‘Ah, people don’t understand. They’re in different parties! You have to fight for your own principles (siddhnta). This is a fight between two parties. In Panchayat times, five or six people would run for the same position but they’d all be in the same system. There were no parties. Now you have to fight for your own ideas and ideology.’ ‘Right, right,’ Bala Ram agreed, between mouthfuls of rice. Having brought up the topic of MNO ideas, Aama continued, ‘I don’t know why our people have to follow the Communist Party. It’s a Bahun party. Soon they’ll learn. It seems to me that Aryans and Mongols will have to split apart at some point!’ Bala Ram shook his head in agreement with Aama and added, ‘Yes, those people should look at their own faces in the mirror, and understand what their own identity is!’

In their conversation, Aama and Bala Ram referenced the ideals of democracy discourse: people should determine their political affiliation and vote by considering the ideas of that party. Furthermore, they suggested that people from Mongol ethnic groups should support the MNO and its ideas; to do otherwise would be a betrayal of their Mongol identity. Thus they interpreted ethnic political parties as compatible with the democratic ideal of political choice based on ideology, rather than one based on loyalty to individuals. Yet they recognized that many people who did not ‘understand’ would vote for individuals rather than parties.

In many ways, party politics in Maidel intersected with a personalized politics, in which personal connections were the underlying force behind political affiliation. This became particularly clear during the weeks prior to the local elections in 1997. In these village-level elections, parties did not strive to represent a particular set of goals and ideals. Rather, candidates who campaigned in these elections emphasized renewing and building personal connections with their fellow villagers rather than communicating party ideas to them (see Figure 4.1).

In the three weeks prior to the election, Maidel was transformed. Wherever people gathered in the village, they talked of nothing but the election: women and men speculated over who would win, gossiped about who had switched party allegiance, and berated candidates from the opposing parties.

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