Politics of Lumbini- Part two

(Political Symptoms of a Social Disease)
Rule of Law
If as Mao opined that religion is the ‘opium’ of the mass, than politics knows best how to serve it.  The onrush of Prachanda, the Maoist Chairman as the National Directive Committee for Lumbini Development was sanctioned by PM Bhattarai. The gesture was a favor extended within a flawed system, manipulated by individual politicians, because the existing system lacks an acceptable rule of law.

Wolves in Lambs’ Clothing

The psychopathic absurdity of trying to convince General -Secretary Ban Ki-moon of the importance of his Nepal visit connected to Buddha, Lumbini and peace , undermining the constitutional secular state is equivalent to sweeping the Buddhists under the red carpet.

Dahal’s involvement with Lumbini is synonymous to a wolf in lamb’s clothing and. further escalates the rift between the Hindu-Buddhist divide with its under-current discord. However, the circumstances that would drag Ban Ki-moon into undesirable political/social polemics should not be misconstrued for ill intent purposes.

Lumbini Development National Directive Committee headed by Pushpin Kamala Dahal is questionable.

Rule of Thumb

The Government cannot run Lumbini as a one-caste, multi-party syndicate operation, if Lumbini is to be developed as a pilgrimage destination, ignoring Buddhist aspirations.
Pashupati and Janakpur are all considered national heritage sites represented and managed by their stake holders unlike Lumbini.

In regard to Lumbini, all representatives were non-Buddhists. After the protest peace rally by Buddhist Dharma Sarokar Samonayan Samrakchan Nepal on Nov, Dahal set up a proxy Sarokar committee and proclaimed that all had been settled with the Buddhist concerns. However, the benefit of the protest saw the Maoist hand-picked inclusion of four Newars and one Sherpa, as a façade to gain credibility with the prestigious UN. None of the Himalayan Buddhists, Tamangs, Gurungs, Magars, Tharus and Ambedkar Buddhists is represented. The rule of law still remains discriminatory.

All development budgets channeled through the Ministry of Culture for religious/cultural purposes are deplorably unfair.

For example, one temple under Pashupati Bikash Kosh is sanctioned a budget of Rs 50 million, while it has set aside Rs 2 million for 7000 gompas ( monasteries). The Muslims were allocated Rs 8 million for the annual hajj pilgrimage following latest records.

Two hundred and fifty years of Hindu state has neglected, pillaged and encroached upon Buddhist heritage sites of national importance.

Lumbini could foresee the same fate under caste Brahmins, as Charumati stupa in Chahabil was tampered upon during the Panchayat era. This Buddhist heritage site diminished from 11, 444.4 sq. ft to 254.32 sq. ft - one example of the many such state impingements.

Tamang Buddhists have been tried and fined for consuming beef in the village of Chisopani, and in Godamchaur VDC-8, Lalitpur .recently. How does a Secular State meet out justice to other religious practices without falling into the trap of a Hindu casteist state? And yet, there are Brahmin-owned, meat-processing companies selling packaged beef in modern Nepal. Is this discriminatory development to be considered sacrilegious or professional leveraging?

Ethnic Buddhist lamas and nuns are extorted under the false charges of Free Tibet by manipulating one China policy against Tibetans, impelling all Buddhists from the freedom of fear.

The rule of law in a secular democratic country as it stands today is questionable.

Why Pushpa Kamal Dahal and his Coterie of Brahmins are Unfit to Represent the Buddhists in Lumbini Development National Directive Committee.

Firstly, Pushpa Kamal Dahal is an atheist, Maoist Brahmin. He has pointed out repeatedly that power must be captured “through the barrel of the gun”. This is a violation of the Buddhist principle of ahimsa (non violence).

Dahal’s criminal track record must be tried in the International Court of Justice. He has given credibility to violence at the expense of more than 15,000, mostly indigenous brothers and sisters, who have sacrificed their lives for social justice, misleading them to Maoist ideology.

Recently, he has been facing corruption charges of mishandling party funds for personal benefits by his own party comrades.

In 2008, while he was the PM, he was personally involved in trying to rid the traditional bhatta (priest of South Indian origin) to install his own kin in the sanctity of Pashupati.

He is not ethnically a Buddhist or an evangelical Buddhist nor has he contributed intellectually to Buddhism and Buddhist rights.

What makes Dahal a better candidate than Acharya Karma Siango, a party member to represent the Buddhists?  Are there no Buddhists of better caliber to represent their own Buddhist sangha; to protect and develop their national heritage e.g. Lumbini? Why does Pashupati Bikash Kosh not follow the same rule by distributing membership to Muslims, Buddhists and Christians alike, as they have done in Lumbini Development National Directive Committee?
Lumbini
Lumbini must be represented by the Buddhists, as the human logic is that, he who follows keeps his culture alive. The Vatican is represented, protected and developed by the Christians, while Mecca and Medina is solely cared for by the Muslims. Pashupati and Janakpur are sanctified by the Hindus alone and other religious cultures are denied entrance.  What right does the Government have to auction Lumbini to swindlers?

Therefore, the nature of Lumbini Development National Directive Committee is of suspect in content and intent and thus misleading. There is much to forsake for the Buddhists in the socio/ geo-political implication in the guise of economic development for national heritage of Lumbini.

For the Buddhists, it is sufficient that Lumbini retains its peaceful demeanor as a pilgrimage site rather than a touristic site; thereby honoring the sanctity of Buddha’s birth place, expressing Buddhist cultural values.

Buddha is symbolic of Buddhist cultures in Nepal. Is it possible for the stakeholders of Buddhism to benefit from Lumbini without their representation and voice?
United Nation as a Co-partner with Lumbini Development National Directive Committee.

The UN cannot remain a blind spectator to Buddhist concerns in Nepal. The UN would best serve as a watchdog to monitor and intercept dangerous moves by the major political parties against civilian rights.

From a humanitarian aspect, internally, the UN must refrain from getting mangled in the semantics of Lumbini, Buddha or Buddhists. The caste Brahmins from all major political parties are bent on misconstruing the relevance of Lumbini for their social/political bargaining power. Externally, the UN’s peace keeping role would be well used in cautioning Lumbini’s development away from being enmeshed in Chinese/ Indian geopolitics.

Lumbini will always attract Buddhist pilgrims for its profound spirit related to the Buddha. Stonehenge attracts 800,000 visitors a year, connecting the modern man to the prehistoric era, generating an average of £6m a year, while costing taxpayers just under £2.4m to run without much ado. Therefore, let Lumbini not lose the spirit of Buddha consciousness.

Dahal and all the members of Lumbini Development National Directive, who are also CA members, would be well advised  to gain the trust with the ethnic Buddhists, by seriously engaging in drafting the constitution  and guiding  Nepal towards  a secular, federal and proportionately represented State. To cut short through Lumbini to overpower the Buddhists in clandestine deals is misleading a highly humanitarian organization like the UN. What is the purpose of honoring the Buddha while threatening ethnic Buddhist rights?

Buddha who attained nirvana cannot be saved by us humans. What is essential for the UN is rather to save Lumbini from the greed of nefarious representatives beguiling the ethnic Buddhists.

It would be morally correct for Dahal to step down as the President of Lumbini Development National Directive and replace him with a high thinking Buddhist lama. The committee must consist of socially inclusive ethnic Buddhists representation as is the norm in Buddhist sanghas.

The high office of General Ban Ki-moon’s UN role must be used to bring social justice in a secular Nepal, a prerequisite for peace.

The Buddhists are not against General Secretary Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Lumbini to fulfill his mother’s dream. The Buddhist concern is to bring to the immediate attention of the General Secretary the nightmare consequences that the Buddhists are continually facing in the land of Buddha.

Political Symptoms of a Social Disease

Ignoring Buddhism eponymously from the Buddha is like striking off Manu from the Hindu social conduct. Nepal takes pride in the international recognition of having cradled Buddha and yet blatantly ignores the rights and dignity of those cultures and communities associated with Buddhism.

The irony is that as Lumbini becomes more economically viable, for reasons beyond economics, the Buddhist reality in symbiotic Nepal is becoming cataclysmically circumscribed in a secular state.

By: Shakun Sherchand