Iih, whose original name is Ishan, is in news after completing 23 days of hunger strike (satyagraha). The 24 years old tall and handsome young man has been a known figure in protests in Kathmandu for many years now. He has completed second round of satyagraha, this week, against the criminal ineptitude and negligence this government has shown in issues of health in this pandemic.
Less than a month ago, he had led and completed a satyagraha for 12 days, along with Pukar Bam, against the same issue. It had ended with an agreement signed between them and government representatives. Bam is a PhD candidate, and a member of the youth-based political party Bibeksheel Nepali Dal, and has already fought two elections.
But Iih is an interesting phenomenon. He has come into limelight in many avatars. Originally Ishan, he doesn’t like to be called by that name, and doesn’t use his surname at all. From a well-to-do Kathmandu family and involved in political activism early in life, at the age of 15 he left home for such explorations, and has carved a place for himself slowly with a definitive assuredness.
He has swayed, zigzagged along the way. Once always seen fashioning a black Bhadgaule topi, he was part of the Hinduist Rashtriya Prajatantra Party led by Kamal Thapa, he was for some time part of the Bibeksheel, but has mostly been an independent activist. He is seen building alliances as well as character, in a slow yet steady manner, with a level of clarity much beyond his age.
The ‘Enough is Enough’ campaign initiated through his Instagram posts led to huge protests on streets all over the country. Hundreds of thousands of people marched on to the street defying the pandemic situation, ironically, demanding better government response to the pandemic. The satyagraha followed that. And the second satyagraha just ended this week with a record of 23 days of fasting.
The building of this movement and momentum hasn’t been easy. He has been supported individually and institutionally. He has mostly survived on the grace of friends in Kathmandu, and has been generating support and resources through his convincing.
During the protests, the core group that was formed centered around the Facebook group called ‘Enough is Enough’ got divided on the delicate issue of whether to protest or not on the day the New Emblem with the new map was proposed in the parliament. Many of the core team thought that the protest should be called off for the day, as it was sure to be manipulated by the Indian media and presented as a protest against the government stand on Lipulek and Limpiyadhura. But Iih thought otherwise.
The core team members had bitter arguments. Some of them were also unhappy that the protests were getting a political hue. Some core members of the steering team were members of the Bibeksheel Nepali Dal, and many influential celebrity protestors were angry that they were made to feel like pawns in a clandestine Grand Design that was controlled for a political cause.
Iih, however, ignoring the naiveté of the celebrity activists, seems to have navigated all this and trudged forward. He had a clarity on the strategy, and the way he had to fight the battle.
All his endeavors have continuously nudged the youth towards seeking a more aware role in the socio-political arena. He is a source of envy for many aspiring leaders, but he is inspiring too. Many leaders from different parties joined him in support for his fight. Iih seems on the path to build a greater coalition and support around him. Or, he might have to stand apart to stay tall.
But there is another young man who came in the news, and his image will be etched in our memory for a long time, as a symbol of the strange and precarious predicament of the Nepal society in the third decade of the 21st century.
Nabaraj BK will now be remembered by the picture of a rustically handsome young man wearing a black Dhaka Topi and carrying the national flag attached to his rucksack, the picture that was splashed across news portals and social media. He was killed brutally and thrown into the river Bheri two months back.
A Dalit, and from a geographically distant land Kathmandu knows as the fortress of the Maoists, Nabaraj is a representative of the most marginalized community of Nepal and was killed by a group of upper caste men because he attempted to cross the lines of propriety set by the society, for his love. Strangely, the Maoists are hell-bent on protecting the perpetrators of the heinous crime, while the upper caste Thakuri community shows a hubris flared by the assurance of impunity.
From all we know of Nabaraj, he was a promising young man with a drive and patriotism not less in any way than Iih’s. But Nabaraj grabbed the headlines only after his death.
Somewhere, somehow, even after seven decades of fight for liberation, the fight for dignity of this oppressed community has failed to get a political voice in Nepal. The DalitLivesMatter hashtag came into being only after the George Floyd’s killing in America created a cyclonic effect with the BlacklivesMatter.
The nature of Nepali society shows severe inadequacy in being inclusive. Power is centered in and around Kathmandu and among the upper caste people. The mass that surged onto the streets following Iih’s call for action are the representative voice of the privileged youth of this country. And they have displayed a hunger for change. But a true dedication for social justice demands more.
Why does sensitivity of Nabaraj's death have to be routed through America to get its space in the urban youth’s radar in Nepal? Are the fights that Nabaraj had to fight in Rukum aligned to the wars Iih is waging at Basantapur? I believe not. But I believe the day these fights become one, we will have the beginning of a new revolution.
