I agree with Ashu. Some people might need to take Paramendra Bhagat with a grain of salt, but voices like his do more good than harm to democracy and national unity by bringing to the surface deeply burried issues that are bound to surface and potentially burn us if not dealt with in a proper and timely manner. We chose to bury our heads in the sand about ethnic dignity and aspirations for decades and allowed the Maoists, a party lead mostly by bramhins and chhetris, to take advantage, fairly or unfairly, of pent-up feelings amongst janajatis and galvanize that into a mass movement for the establishment of a communist state. That the Maoist movement has now lost steam is another issue that can largely be attributed to their high-handed and often brutal ways. I also feel that the Nepali nation state has proven itself to be strong enough to handle the ethnic aspirations of the Madesis and Janajatis and we will, in the end, emerge as a stronger nation if we address the grievances of those who feel left out of the national mainstream. Remember more Madesis voted for the more broad-based parties like the NC and UML in previous elections than they did for the Terai-centric Sadbhawana and unless the Sadhbhawana party does something radically different the next time, that trend is likely to continue. The ethno-centric parties have been strongest when the nation was coming out from repression - right after the downfall of the Panchayat and have weakened in strength since. Freedom and democracy, in the long run, appear to have a mainstreaming affect on those on the fringes of politics. My 2 paise.