Bahudal Byabastha” Interpreted

The villagers of a rural district in of East Nepal have their own interpretations of what the multi party system of government (bahudal byabastha) is and is not.

After the April proclamation which announced the multi-party system, hundreds of thousands celebrated on urban streets. In rural Nepal, far from the political centre of Kathmandu, the celebration was more subdued, and the impact of freedom, and all its implications, more slowly digested.

Says one elderly woman, "I don't know, they say that there is a change. I don't see it, I don't know that there is any new bahudal byabastha."

However, even though many in the rural hinterland do not see political changes as affecting their lives, they are clearly aware that something has happened. Almost every villager has heard of bahudal.

BAHUDAL EQUALS FREEDOM

One common association with bahudal byabastha is that of freedom: of speech, action and political belief. Says one man, tentatively, two months after the proclamation, "I am just a farmer, I am a small man. I have no concern with politics. They say we have a new system. All I know is that for those who are able to speak, there is no longer fear of being arrested."

For others, freedom of speech is a more direct and tangible right. A shop-owner speculates, "…we used to have to say good about bad things, bad about good things, especially regarding money. Those who stole we called good, those who were honest we called bad. Now we can speak freely."

The freedom to act according to one's conscience is also associated with bahudal. A district officer complained that before bahudal, he was obliged to do what the powerful politicians asked him to do. "Now," he says, "I can do whatever. I want. I don't have to take orders from anyone…the people are my boss."

Many, however, have their own interpretation of this freedom. A primary school teacher tells of how his students came to class recently and demanded a half-day. When he and other teachers tried to explain that the new system had nothing to do with school hours, the students retorted, "Bahudal is here, don't you know anything?!"

This sense of freedom, both of speech and action, has also led to a feeling of uncontrolled ability. In other words, chaos. The Chief District Officer of the area compares the advent of bahudal to the release of a dog which has been tied up for 30 years. "People don't know their limits; of course they're going to go wild if you let them go all at once. There is no control any more."

BAHUDAL EQUALS DISORDER

Many villagers see only this negative aspect of freedom. They see bahudal manifested in violence and vandalism, of freedom out of control, chaos, confusion and danger. Says one 70-year-old woman, "Bahudal means hitting people, killing people, I guess." Her husband adds, "It's like a return of Saai Saal, when people ransacked our farms, killed our goats, and took away what they liked."

Bahudal might be applied to any situation which is not clearly defined, as when villagers call a fight between two men "bahudal", or a young man with unusual clothing, or a shop owner who charges high rates.

Another aspect of this undefined freedom is the lack of rules and precedents available to police and legal officers. One officer comments, "Everything is uncertain. Now the people must decide everything by themselves. I must sit back and encourage them to take decisions…that is my job." Twenty minutes later, however, he seemed less certain. "Now there is no direction or communication with the government. I have to decide everything by myself. I just have to use my common sense." There is a clear break from the past, without a solid base for the future. He is left with only his "common sense".

REVERSAL

More than just freedom, however, bahudal implies a reversal: of power, of status, and of wealth. Says one carpenter, "The government has eaten hundreds of thousands of rupees…where has all the foreign aid gone? Now it's our turn." Bahudat, then, is change from bad to good, from corruption to honesty, from oppression to freedom.

A government officer expressed this sense of reversal, in term of his legal action. He admits, "Whatever I used to do, now I have to do the exact opposite." When a group of fifth and sixth grade students demonstrate in front of his office, he considers their demands carefully.

Before he used to simply shoo them away. "What am I supposed to do?" he asks, "All of the political prisoners, whose names we couldn't even mention until a month ago, are now ministers. Everything is backward."

One ramification of this reversal of power has been the meting of justice. Those who are perceived to have done wrong are forced to either leave the community, suffer jokes, threats, or worse. One young man says about the Chief District Officer, "Certainly he is in the wrong. Like all who have done wrong, he will meet up with bahudal eventually."

For some, bahudal means not only the punishment of wrong-doers, but an end to the insidious corruption which permeates all levels of bureaucracy. One woman remarks, "It starts at the top and goes all the way down. Someone gives me some money, I take half and give you half and give someone else half…that's what the Panchayat byabastha meant."

Favouritism, too, is out. Bahudal byabastha is seen as ending the need for "soras phoras" in finding jobs, or receiving privileges. One forestry officer comments on his new status, "The list of favourites is gone. I am at the bot-tom now, or I'm not even on it, or there is not even a list anymore."

HOUSEHOLD MULTI-PARTY

An example of the duality of bahudal's interpretation is illustrated by an incident in a village between husband, wife, mother-in-law, and two sons, aged 10 and 15. The wife sold ' some of her personal property and put the earnings in her own savings account, without consulting her husband. The husband, enraged, and beat his wife severely. Several days later, the woman, her mother and the two sons cornered the husband and beat him with sticks. The incident is interesting for the interpretations which it provoked.

Some villagers, outraged, gathered at a local tea shop to discuss what action to take against the woman. "It isn't right for a woman to hit her husband. And her mother-in-law, it is unthinkable. This bahudal has gone too far." For them, bahudal was the natural order turned up-side down, a dangerous reversal, unrestrained freedom.

Another group, however, gathered at the woman's house. They believed the woman had acted within her legal rights, though unconventionally. For them, bahudal was freedom to act within one's own rights, as well as punishment of those who oppress. "It is her money. Why should she have to consult that fool?" Another added, "He has always tried to dominate her. At last, bahudal has caught up with him."

Ervin works in health care in East Nepal.