Madhes Diary 1: On peaceful resistance
Madhesis and ev
ery Nepali, ought to be proud of the non-violent ways of protesting that has been championed in Madhes Andolan 3. Things could have been much worse given the circumstances, and the fact that Madhesis have been patient and persistent speaks volumes about the intellect of a Madhesi commoner. How I wish to be in Madhes right now, to document innovative ideas of peaceful protest in Nepal that perhaps even the world has seen in the recent past. Different forms of resistance through rallies, theatre, art, music, public narratives etc. have been done to rewrite a new history, ‘history told from below’, just to reach the deaf Nepali ruler establishment. Two and half month of struggle has not brought fatigue, and more and more people are becoming committed to peaceful resistance. This is unique also because Nepal has shown tendency of being violent for political transformations and in fact, human rights violators are not only rewarded in power sharing but also systematically institutionalized in state apparatus. In the face of such obstinate hurdles, the Madhesis commitment to peaceful resistance demands ‘respect’.
It is not surprising that national mainstream media elites always acts to preserve their favored status-quo, and their own commercial and political interests. Despite the media being in denial mode, Madhes movement is becoming more stronger than ever and, in fact, has turned the Madhesis into champions of peaceful non-cooperation movement. The Nepali ruling establishment has done everything to suppress the people (using army/violence/divide-and-rule colonial strategy). For instance, the current Establishment is now showing that it can’t handle the patience of Madhesis as based on today’s incident in Birgunj in which one innocent young man died.
But the fact that momentum of resistance refuses to slow down and is rather gaining grounds paints a convincing picture of how powerful ‘the peaceful resistance’ tool is, and also how strong willed Madhesis are.
My humble words to our tyrannical Govt. of Nepal and its apparatus (media, coercive civil society, arrogant ultra-nationalist) the propaganda to deflect the people towards bigot-nationalism, here’s what Nietzsche aptly says, ‘One may sometimes tell a lie, but the grimace that accompanies it tells the truth’. Jai Madhes, Jai Nepal !!
Sohan Prasad Sha hails from Janakpur, Nepal. He is a PhD candidate in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India. He can be followed at @sohan_sk.
