The current uprising in Madhes highlighted some frustrations and anger they've felt due to the discrimination put upon them. Two young activists—Pradeep Ghimire, 22, and Biplab Subedi, 29, decided to do something about it.With the intention of launching a campaign to apologize to our Madhesi brothers and sisters using social media, Pradeep and Biplab organized a discussion session with few other concerned and active youth at Name Café, Putalisadak on Thursday. There they talked about how apologizing to Madhesis would be prove to be a gem during a time like this.
"It is a known fact that the Pahades and the Madhesis haven't been in good terms for years. Knowingly or unknowingly, we might have showed a discriminatory attitude towards them, ourselves. The current political turmoil has further expanded the distance. During a time like this, harmony and unity is of utmost value and we, as youth, should do whatever little we can to restore them," said Biplab, who works for Techno Track, an IT company as an Executive Chairman.
Pradeep, who also chairs Debate Network Nepal—a profit not distributing organization, added, "In social media such as Twitter and Facebook, we have been witnessing confessions of frustration regarding the segregation our Madhesi friends have experienced. We cannot leave everything to the government. As concerned citizens, we have to do our part because we aren't entirely innocent, either."
Pradeep expressed that this is also the right time to launch such a campaign. With the disputes brought forth by the new constitution, a simple apology could do a lot.
At the discussion, the group tried to think of a suitable hash tag that would be used by all the campaigners over social media. The strategy would be to express notes of apology to the people of Madhes using the hash tag. When more people join the campaign, the hash tag will start trending, which is the goal. The hash tag hasn't been decided upon yet, but they've planned on launching the campaign before Monday, September 28.
One major concern for this campaign would be to keep an eye on all the posts that are being shared on social media. Bikram KC, one of the administrators at Mens Room Reloaded—a popular Facebook group for men—shared at the discussion, "People can share all sorts of posts on social media. Tables would turn if people take this issue to be a political one. That can happen if someone posts phony information using the hash tag we chose. We can filter but it's still a concern."
Another concern would be, what if this does not work?
"This campaign is just a starting point. A means to show people the power of apologizing and forgiving. We are well aware that some Pahades in Madhes too might be suffering from the same sort of discrimination. But one party must start. We don't know how big this will be, but instead of merely watching everything, it's better to start something," said Pradeep.
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