Raksha Bam says, ”Creating pressure outside of parliament is the need of the hour.”
The message of the Gen-G rebellion was generational change in politics. However, few Gen-G activists were seen in the direct nominations held on Tuesday. While some leaders of the movement have entered the electoral fray, some prominent leaders have stayed away from the electoral contest.
Bablu Gupta, who was the Sports Minister in the civilian government, has filed his candidacy in Siraha-1 from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Manish Khanal from Nawalpur-2, KP Khanal from Kailali-2, Sudan Gurung from Gorkha-1 and Bhupdev Shah from Achham-1 are contesting the election. Bikash Rasaili from Pralopa has filed his candidacy in Chitwan-1, Rohit Bastola from Lalitpur-1 and Jatila Karki from Humla. Sujit Kumar Sah from Morang-5 and Ram Khatri from Morang-6 have also filed their candidacy.
The presence of Gen-G in the big parties considered to be traditional forces is seen to be low. Sachin Timalsina has filed his candidacy in Kathmandu-4 from the Nepali Congress. UML has filed Rima Yadav from Parsa-2, while Ajay Kushwaha is contesting the election from the Nepali Congress in Bara-4. In the proportional representation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has filed Purushottam Yadav and Prakash Bohora, who was injured during the protest, are candidates. Pralopa has also fielded Rukshana Kapali, a rights activist from the gender and sexual minority community, as a candidate.
Most young people drop out of the election race at the last minute. Yatish Ojha, who had announced his candidacy from Jhapa-5, withdrew his candidacy after Balendra Shah became the candidate from the same constituency. According to Ojha, ideological disagreements with the parties and lack of political 'transactions' were also the reasons for his withdrawal. 'I had prepared for Jhapa-5. However, I withdrew my candidacy after the mayor himself left,' Ojha said. 'There were also talks with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). We had sought some agreement on the issues of the constitution, secularism and federalism, but the party leadership did not seem serious about those issues.'
The Congress had proposed Raksha Bam as a candidate from Kathmandu-1. However, she rejected the proposal. 'I want to raise my voice by sitting on the streets,' Bam said. 'I cannot betray the street movement. Creating pressure from outside the parliament seems effective for now.’
Another leader of the Gen-G movement, Uparjun Chamling, had also started preparing to file his candidacy. However, he said that he had withdrawn due to the ideological ambiguity seen with the new parties. ‘The old parties are clear in their ideas and principles, they are corrupt, but the so-called new ones are unclear,’ he said. Gen-G activist Bhavana Raut said that the main issue was that political parties should be reformed. According to her, the Bhadau movement was carried out with the expectation of asking questions and reform. ‘We are on the streets again to raise awareness for stability,’ Raut said.
Gen-G movement leader Tanuja Pandey said that there was a risk that the streets would be empty if they all went to the parliament. ‘If the streets are empty, I don’t think the parliament will run at the right pace,’ she said. ‘The streets should not be cheap, but they should not be weak either.’
