At 2:30 pm on Saturday, some young men in white coats suddenly arrived at Maitighar Mandal, which has become synonymous with protests, demonstrations and sit-ins. Then, they started wearing paper masks. It read, ‘We heal others, who will heal us?’ Inside the mask, there was a scene of another mask covering the face, which read, ‘Victim Doctor.’ In which tears were shown flowing from the doctor’s eyes.

They are doctors, medical officers and resident doctors doing internships in various hospitals. Dr. Krishna Sedhari said that they had to take to the protest because the trainee doctors and medical officers were being exploited by being deployed more than the prescribed by the Labor Act, 2074 BS. ‘According to the Labor Act, there should be a maximum of 12 hours of work per day, that is, 72 hours of work per week and one day of mandatory leave,’ he said, ‘But, more work has been done, doctors are not even allowed to rest, that is why they had to come to the protest.’

Another doctor, Pragyan Basnet, carried a poster that read, ‘A doctor who has not slept all night is sick, the health service is sick, the country is sick.’ "We have raised this issue not only for our sake, but also to question the state why doctors who have not slept all night and who have not been able to sleep for 26 hours are forced to provide treatment at Nepal Bir Hospital and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospitals, where the poor get services," he said. "Treating a person who has not slept for 24 hours is like treating a person who has drunk alcohol." He said that the country's Prime Minister, Education Minister and Health Minister should not be the only ones to be young, and that state bodies should also listen to the voices of the youth. "It is not practical to imagine that young doctors and health workers are always struggling and that the country's health will improve through the services they provide," he said. "The government, Prime Minister and Health Minister, who take two days off, should not take a single day off, but rather we have come to the streets so that they understand the plight of doctors who are forced to work continuously in treatment."

Shortly before the doctors' protest, the state was harassing Binu Yadav and Niharika Rajput, who were demanding to meet Home Minister Sudhan Gurung at Singha Durbar Gate and explain their problems, by using police. They have been going to Singha Durbar for 5 days to tell the government their problems. Yadav and Rajput were demonstrating at Singha Durbar gate by ringing the election symbol of the ruling Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a sign that the government that does not listen to their voices should open its ears. ‘Earlier, our voices were not heard because we were people of other parties, now we have become the RSS, will the government still provide justice or not?’ Binu Yadav asked, ‘The bell was used to ask for votes that it provides justice and good governance, now we are asking Ravi Dai by ringing the bell, will the bell provide justice to us?’

Saying that they were repeatedly taken into custody while demanding justice, she said that after ringing the bell, she wondered if RSS President Ravi Lamichhane, Prime Minister Balendra Shah and Home Minister Sudhan Gurung would listen to her voice. Rajput said that the bell was not used only to seek votes, but that their voices should be heard. ‘Does everyone have to die like Nirmala to get justice? "Will they say justice for Nirmala only after death, like justice for Ganesh?," she asked, "Will they wait for us all night only after reaching the hospital? If they want justice while they are alive, they should meet us."

Niharika has been demanding justice for a long time, saying that she was raped. After the Dhanusha District Court acquitted the accused, she went to the High Court again to knock on the door of justice. In the process, the DNA of the accused, Shivraj Shrestha and Niharika, was found to be the same. Later, they were pressured into a reconciliation. That is why she has continued the protest, saying that injustice has been done to her. Binu is also a victim of violence.

While Niharika and Binu rang the bell in front of the Singha Durbar gate on Saturday and demanded justice from the Ghanti Party-led government, a protest was going on in Maitighar Mandal demanding an end to caste discrimination forever. The caste-based discrimination case against untouchability had asked the question, ‘Doesn’t your consciousness recognize people?’ On Saturday alone, 9 sit-ins and protests were held in Maitighar Mandal amidst the pouring rain. Some of the victims have been sitting in the same tent for a long time, raising their voices for justice. Uma Khatri, 47, of Okhaldhunga, is one of those who has been sitting in the tent for three months, demanding justice. During the Gen-G protest on 23 Bhadra, her 23-year-old son Milan Khatri was shot twice by the police, and after initial treatment, he was out of danger.

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As the number of patients with gunshot wounds in the hospital started to increase, doctors requested that beds be vacated. ‘When other serious patients started coming, he was asked to go home and rest. When he came to Balakot, he had gone to Maharajgunj and danced on 24 Bhadra,’ said his mother Uma. ‘When he was seen dancing in Maharajgunj when he went out to look for a driver or a car, a murder case was filed against him.’ On that day, Assistant Inspector Milan Rai and Police Constable Uttam Thapa were killed in the nearby Maharajgunj Police Circle. ‘He was not even seen at the police station, they filed four/five cases just by watching the video of him dancing,’ she said. ‘He was arrested and detained from Maitighar Mandal on 9 Kartik 2082.’ 

Uma, who has been making a living by roasting corn, has been living in Maitighar for three months, seeking justice for her son from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-led government that came to power in the elections held on the basis of the same Gen-G movement in which her son was shot. ‘Those whose sons were shot and made leaders are now running the country, but they have not even signed a single signature for the same sons who shot them,’ said Khatri. ‘They were the ones who wanted to do something at home, and by detaining them, the family’s condition has worsened.’

She complains that when Home Minister Gurung came to Maitighar Mandal some time ago, he did not help her despite listening to her pain. ‘We had even gone to meet the Home Minister at Singha Durbar three/four times, and he had said that they would come out,’ Khatri expressed her anger. ‘But, nothing has happened so far. If someone had really been killed, if they had committed a mistake, they would have been punished, but can an innocent person be kept in prison for so many days?’

Amit Urja of Nepal Gen-G Movement Alliance accuses the government of not paying attention to the pain of the common people, even though it seems to have prioritized addressing populist issues. ‘For example, the issue of metered rate victims was linked to the entire Madhesh region, and they knew that it could be difficult for the government,’ he told Kantipur. ‘That is why the Home Minister himself went to Bara and talked about it, but this government has not taken a decision in favor of the Gen-G friends who are victims of the movement on which this government was formed.’ 

He says that even though the families of those who were imprisoned for participating in the Gen-G movement have been staging a sit-in for a long time, the government has not listened to them. ‘The government that reached an agreement with the metered rate victims in Bara has not promised to investigate the fraud committed by Nishan Mainali’s family in Maitighar,’ Urja added. ‘The Home Minister has pretended to meet some of the victims, but the main thing is whether he gave them a solution or not.’

Bhagnarayan Mandal, 48, of Barhathawa in Sarlahi, is sitting on a sit-in on Saturday in Maitighar Mandal, saying that he is a victim of metered rate. When he went to Bahrain for foreign employment, his wife Uma Mahato had taken a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh from Nirmala Mainali's family in 2072. Ten days later, a tamsuk worth Rs 1 million was signed. 'We not only took the money of the poor, but later, when I was abroad, they also took 10 kattas of land,' said Mandal. 'Earlier, we had also sat on a sit-in in the district, and now, 105 days have passed since we started sitting there, saying that we will get justice in our ancestral home.' According to Mandal, in 2074, Uma's brother had transferred 10 kattas of land to her name. Mandal said that Nirmala came day and night to pressure her to put a mortgage on that land. 'Uma did not know how to put a mortgage, so she said that her son Nishan would take it.' Mandal says that Nishan later took her from the ward office to the land revenue office. Uma, who cannot read, signed whatever papers they asked her to sign. 

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‘We kept paying the money, but the loan was never paid off,’ Mandal told Kantipur, ‘When it was time for my daughter’s marriage in 2079, I finally found out that the land that was mortgaged had gone to Nirmala Mainali’s name.’ He says that when his wife told him about it while he was working as a sanitation worker in Bahrain, he felt like he had fallen off a cliff. ‘We even filed a petition with the CDO office against that, but there was no order in our favor,’ says Mandal. In the decision on the complaint filed by the District Administration Office regarding metered interest, which was received by Kantipur, it is said that Umakumari had passed the land resignation and even prepared a document to take a share and cultivate it. ‘Therefore, since it is seen that there was no metered interest and transaction transaction, but the land resignation deed was passed and the title was transferred, it is not necessary to investigate the complaint of the metered interest victim and take further action,’ the decision states.

He was sitting on a dharna with his wife Umadevi. However, Umadevi was stranded on the road due to the cold and is currently resting in her dormitory room while undergoing treatment. "Her son had taken her to the hospital after she started having fever, diarrhea and vomiting, and she is currently resting in her dormitory," he said. People ranging from road accident victims to royalists are staging a sit-in protest at Maitighar. Meter interest rate victims from Madhesh had also started a march to Kathmandu. However, Home Minister Gurung reached Nijgadh in Bara and held talks with the victims who had taken out a Janakpur-Kathmandu walking march since Ashad 15. After that, a 9-point agreement was reached with the government. 

Some others who took to the streets with different demands have not yet been able to get justice. Even though a powerful new government with a two-thirds majority led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been formed, the number of people taking to the streets demanding justice is increasing. According to the data of the Valley Police Office, Ranipokhari, more than 800 demonstrations and sit-ins have taken place in Kathmandu alone since Balendra Shah became the Prime Minister until mid-Ashad. In Chaitra, 120 protests and sit-ins were held, while 222 were held in Baisakh, 240 in Jestha and 282 in Ashar. This fiscal year alone, 1,771 protests have been held. In the previous fiscal year 2081/82, 2,145 protests were held across the valley. According to police data, there were 2,252 protests in the fiscal year 2080/81. 

Laxmi Singh, a kidney patient from Jajarkot, is also sitting on a sit-in in Maitighar Mandal. ‘I am a single woman, both my kidneys are damaged,’ she told Kantipur, ‘I need help for treatment, and I am sitting on a sit-in because the government also needs to be responsible and accountable for the treatment of its citizens.’ While sitting in Maitighar, she has also been gathering support and has demanded that the government provide free treatment to patients like her.