An Open Letter to Bibeksheel Nepali

Dear Bibeksheel Nepali Party,

I am writing this letter in response to the party’s recent activities that have embarrassed Madhesi community who have been staging protests against the country’s new constitution for the last three months.

Nepali youths, including those from Madhes, believed that Bibeksheel Nepali (BN) to be a progressive political party unlike others. But the party’s recent conduct and perspective towards the ongoing movement in Madhes has disheartened youths like me. Recently, your open letter to Prime Minister is evident of the fact that your stance to join hands with the government and ruling parties recently has made an attempt to thwart the Madhes movement. This is something unexpected for us.

Dear BN, where were your efforts to minimize the excessive use of force by the state on Madhesi protesters and the state’s involvement in extrajudicial killing of innocent Madhesis? We, progressive Nepali youths, looked forward to your parties efforts to pressurize the government to stop suppressing the movement but in vain.

देर आये, दुरुस्त आये । [Better late than never] Two months of the ongoing protests in Madhes had already elapsed when your team visited Birgunj to learn about the situation.

People in Birgunj were happy to welcome you and at the same time, I, on their behalf, would like to express apologies for their complaints and angers during the meetings. After your visit to Birgunj, Madhesi community were once again optimistic toward the party and its actions to help them to get their voices heard.

Although you organized a rally in Kathmandu to show its solidarity to the Madhes Movement, reading your perspective toward Madhesis’ demands I found that BN is against every demand of Madhes. If your perspective is against demands of agitating Madhesi community, how can we believe that you are supporting Madhesis?

In Birgunj, we witnessed that you also sat with Madhesi protesters at the border to impose blockade. We believed that you will properly communicate with others that this is not Indian blockade but the blockade by us [Madhesis]. But your message came to us as a surprise. Even after your visit, you stated that India had imposed the blockade on Nepal. Your contradictory actions in Birgunj and in Kathmandu has disappointed us.

Dear BN, I would like to suggest you to research about the allocation of petroleum products at different depots in India for the supplies in Nepal. Since Birgunj is the shortest route to Kathmandu, India sends its 60-70 percent of petroleum products via this border. Without removing the blockage at Birgunj border, supplies cannot be brought to normal levels in the country. Most importantly, India has always expressed her serious concerns about the safety of their nationals and drivers transporting supplies to Nepal due to the border unrest. Would Nepal have risked its people to send supplies across the border if India was facing an unrest there?

Dear BN, instead of organizing protest against India in London, it would be more effective if you organized the protest in Kathmandu to pressure the incumbent government to solve the crisis peacefully. Organizing a protest against India/Modi cannot help solve the current crisis, when the solution is within our country.

Madhes Movement was also a great opportunity for BN to showcase its contribution to build inclusive Nepal but in my observation, you have failed miserably to capture the essence of Madhes Movement. #WakeupAndAct and #KTMwithMadhes remained the key initiatives to support Madhes movement. But these efforts are not enough. When we have a Prime Minister who labels the longest form of peaceful human chain protest as a chain of flies, #‎KTMwithMadhes‬ trends will not matter much to the ruling class.

Finally, I humbly request you (BN) and others helping the government’s propaganda to foil the people’s movement of Madhes by terming it as terrorism and focusing on Indian blockade to instead pressurize the government to resolve it with talks. If we want to see our Madhesi brothers and sisters feel welcome in their own country, then it is high we pressured our government by organizing peaceful protests in front of Prime Minister’s residence or Singhadurbar. Let us ask leaders to visit Madhes and hold the talks with agitating Madhesi fronts. If not, we all will be vindicated for criminal silence and willful inaction while the nation keeps burning and we keep blaming our neighbors and each other.

I am hopeful that we will together decide for better Madhes and better Nepal.

Jay Desh, Jay Madhes

Sincerely

Aashu Sarraf

www.madhesiyouth.com