I see Socio-ethnic dimension in the Maoists movement -Dr. Gilles BOQUERAT, Senior Researcher, France

I am a regular visitor of this Himalayan Kingdom. Beginning 1980, I should have come here a couple of times.

This time, I came here on the 8th of October and leaving on the 21st.

During my stay here, I have met a few of Nepal's noted scholars who have briefed me about the prevailing political situation of this country in the background of the Maoists insurgency.

I am a French national. I am, by the way, a senior researcher attached with the Center for International Research and Studies based in Paris. I have my doctoral degree in History, which I received from the Sorbonne University. My specialization is in the History of International Relations with special emphasis on South Asian Affairs. In the process, I have been in India for several times to study the Indian politics.

This time, I am here in Nepal to study the very impact on your country's politics due to the Maoists insurgency.

The Institute wherein I am at the moment engaged is a huge one having several projects including the study of Militia and the armed groups in South Asia and I am a part of that very project. This is what has brought me here this time.

It is a one-year project.

Well regarding my own assessment of the Maoists insurgency in this country, let me tell you that in such a short time, I will not be able to assess the whole gamut of the Maoists insurgency including the very reasons that caused this insurgency to surface into the open. However, I see socio-ethnic dimension in the insurgency. If it is so would be very interesting to study in details.

In effect, I would wish to learn more from the Nepali scholars about the very "sociology of the Maoists movement". I would prefer to know in depth about the linkages, if any, in between the various castes, ethnic groups and their prevailing conditions in the society and the insurgency. I am told that the majority of the Maoists cadre belong from ethnic community those who have been neglected by the establishment. It is a hard job and time consuming as well. But then yet I am collecting the relevant data and the statistics.

I have been told that Brahmins and the other higher-up classes of the nepali society have denied the rights what was their due to the ethnic communities as a result of that the people from Magar, Kirat and rai, Dalit communities have joined the mainstream Maoists insurgency.

Nevertheless, what is puzzling to me is that the entire insurgency is under the command of the Brahmins. How this miracle has happened is a separate matter to be researched.

The Maoists movement, it appears to me, should have been guided by securing a self-identity for one's ethnic groups. It should have been a case of own "identity formation". The crux of the matter is that the Maoists leaders understood the issues and the problems of the neglected communities and thus tried to exploit from this government weaknesses.

I might be wrong in my perception, nevertheless, the State must t6hionk on these lines.

Time does not allow me to go out to the countryside but I had a strong desire to see for myself the rural areas wherein the Maoists, I am told, reign supreme.

Cutting it short, I wish, the insurgency and the establishment come to terms and restore Nepal's former glory as a peace full nation. I wish all the best for this country.

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