National unity will come from embracing diversity, rather than by imposing uniformity.
Some politicians call us dogs. But we Janajatis are not dogs, we are as much Nepali as anyone else, and we deserve to be treated as full citizens of this country." With these words , Suresh Ale Magar, the General Secretary of the Nepal Janajati Mahasangh (the Nepal Federation of Nationalities), began his address to the national conference of the Newar association, the Nepal Bhasha Manka Khala, held in Kathmandu in October 1992.
Some politicians dismiss words like these as the rhetoric of a few disgruntled or power-seeking individuals, insisting that there is no "ethnic problem" in Nepal. However, an increasing number of Nepalis recognise the spread in rhetoric like this as a signal of Nepal's growing "ethnic problem", one that will soon require but a single match to set off a conflagration. As Padma Ratna Tuladhar, a Left member of the House of Representatives, argues, "the problems of the Janajatis are one of the most serious problems faced by Nepal at the moment."
Whether it is a new problem that emerged in the wake of democracy or the latest expression of a tension that has been simmering just beneath the surface for a long time, many Nepalis fear that this recent growth in the expression of ethnic interests represents a form of ethnic separatism that could split Nepal apart in a fashion so recently demonstrated in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Man Mohan Adhikari, leader of the Opposition in Parliament, expressed a widely held view in a recent interview when he suggested that "the expression of ethnic and communal interests might weaken us all." He went on to observe, "Of course, it is a democratic right to form associations and parties. But we must realise and understand that we are one nationality despite our ethnic and religious diversity."