ABSTRACT
Following the 1990s people’s movement and the restoration of a multi-party political system, organizations representing regional, caste, linguistic, and ethnic identities moved to the forefront of the political landscape. The Mongol National Organization (MNO) emerged alongside numerous organizations that sought to gain political, economic and social power for Nepal’s indigenous nationalities. This chapter describes the history and scope of Nepal’s contemporary indigenous nationalities movement and locates the MNO within this movement. This movement created a collective identity for numerous, diverse ethnic groups in Nepal, a prerequisite for making political demands. It also spearheaded the post1990 public debates over how the Nepali nation should be defined and how the state should represent and recognize differences within its population.
