Chanchala has been raising the voices of the rights of gender and sexual minority communities for 18 years. As the founding executive director of the organization 'Lead Nepal' in Damak, Jhapa, she has shown hundreds of youth the path to finding their identity.From that same thinking, that same pain and decades of struggle, the Inclusive Socialist Party was born.
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Chakra Sawden Limbu was born and raised in a simple farming family in Babiyabirta, Morang. As the 'son' born after two daughters in the family, he was pampered by his family from a young age. But as he grew up, a change began to appear within him that surprised his family and society.
She only associated with girls, was attracted to their clothes, jewelry, and lipstick. This change became a cause of curiosity on one hand, and pain on the other. Friends at school started insulting her. She had to endure this insult for a long time. This abuse did not stop in campus life, but rather increased.
Sometimes, due to insults, she would even turn towards ending her life. However, a new turn came in her life. In 2008, she joined an organization working in the field of gender and sexual minority rights. Standing on the path of identifying herself, she found a way to support herself.
Society and family expected that a son should carry on the dynasty and fulfill responsibilities. However, Chakra was the daughter within her son. It took her years to muster the courage to openly accept her third gender identity. Collaboration with the organization strengthened her, taught her the art of living. Finally, in 2014, she went to Thailand and underwent a gender change. Chakra Sauden Limbu became Numa Limbu 'Chanchala'.
Chanchala has been raising the voices of the rights of the gender and sexual minority community for 18 years. As the founding executive director of the organization 'Lead Nepal' in Damak, Jhapa, she showed hundreds of youth the way to find their identity.
The Inclusive Socialist Party was born from that thinking, that pain and decades of struggle. Its election symbol is 'Shrivatsa', meaning an eternal knot. Numa, who has been living in Kathmandu for 8 months, had an old dream of opening a party. She was in the mood to register the party while staying in Kathmandu. Coincidentally, the Gen-G rebellion took place, which further encouraged her. It is the first such party in Nepal to be registered with the Election Commission under the leadership of a transgender president, whose core is gender and sexual minorities, citizens with disabilities, women involved in the entertainment industry and others who have been neglected by the state for years.
It was registered with the Election Commission as a new party on 27 Kartik and received its certificate on 14 Mangsher. The driving force behind the party registration was former Constituent Assembly member Sunil Babu Pant, the leader of the fight to get the first recognition of gay and transgender identities in the constitution in Nepal. The feeling that mainstream parties had betrayed them for years by considering them as just a 'vote bank' remains like an unhealed wound for Chanchala and her friends.
The national gathering held in Kathmandu on 24 Kartik made Chanchala the president and pushed the community towards a new political direction. The party has 21 central members. Which, as the name suggests, has inclusive participation. Indigenous people, Janajati, Dalit, Madhesi, Muslims, the disabled, backward areas - everyone is included. Party spokesperson Pratiksha Chapagain is blind.
She says, 'We are not in politics to earn money, but for the sake of existence and identity.' According to her, her party will also participate in the elections on 21 Falgun. For which they are busy preparing for the elections. ‘The old parties only created vote banks,’ Numa said, ‘now we will prepare for our rights by winning the elections.’
The party’s agenda is not just a demand for rights, she says, but the party’s vision is to change the country’s development model. Corruption-free governance, job creation, environment-friendly development, participatory democracy – their ‘differences’ on all these issues are not only theoretical, but are presented as practical alternatives.
‘A leader is not good just because he is a man, a woman or a transgender,’ says Numa, ‘The basis of good politics and leadership is ability, honesty and vision, we have moved forward with those values.’ Numa’s political flight is not just a story of her personal transformation, it is a door of possibility for thousands of cycles – who are still hiding their identity due to fear, shame and humiliation.
The population of sexual and gender minority communities in the 2078 census is recorded at around 3,000. Numa says, “We are in the millions, but we have not been able to open up much due to fear of society.” Numa says that after learning that they had registered a party, even elderly people in their 60s and 70s from their community called and congratulated them, saying, “We are happy to hear that we have opened a party.” She says, “Millions of people are on our side.”
