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Political tempest
| FROM ISSUE # 159 (March 2009) | IN THIS ISSUE | |||
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Ram Kumari Jhakri, President,
All Nepal National Free Students' Union
It's 8.30 AM and Ram Kumari Jhakri has to be at her nephew's bedside after his operation at the hospital. But the President of the UML-affiliated All Nepal National Free Students' Union (ANNFSU) is consumed with work, especially with the party's eighth national convention happening in Butwal. For the past weeks, she has been shuttling between meetings and organising logistics for the event.
"I do feel bad because I'm supposed to be there with all my relatives but presently my life's so hectic–from dawn till dusk it's work all the way," says the eloquent 30-year-old.
Entering politics has given her multiple identities to juggle, but the former school athlete seems to enjoy keeping on her toes. For the past five months after the elections, she has been leading her union in actively lobbying for the protection of student rights in education and employment during constitution writing. "We want to create more pressure on the CPN in drafting a constitution that is inclusive," Ram Kumari tells WAVE.
"We are in a transition from old to new," she adds with a glimmer in her eye. Ram Kumari had her first brush with politics when she was eleven years old during the first People's Movement. Then, in her hometown at Gulmi district in Western Nepal, people were aggressively rallying for democracy, torching boards and crying anti-Panchayat slogans. Curious, she decided to find out more. The rest is history.
Being in politics for more than a decade, she has faced a fair share of challenges, the greatest being the gender barrier. Calling it a 'political violence' against women, she says, "Paternalistic values dominating every sector of society are the main barriers preventing women from entering politics. Sometimes people tend to question my leadership and capabilities."
Yet social perceptions are no stumbling block, for she is a woman who had after all, emerged victorious from a contest with General Secretary Gokul Gharti last September for party leadership. Confident of earning her stripes, she says, "I have won previously and I will continue winning."
*Kong Yen Lin