Ram Kumari Jhakri

President of the All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU)

Born on May 23, 1978 in Myalpokhari VDC-1 Kusunne, Gulmi

Ram Kumari Jhakri ran for the presidential election of the ANNFSU, a student wing of the CPN (UML), in its 19th National Conference in Pokhara in September 2008. After keen competition with a male candidate she rewrote the history of Nepali politics by becoming the first woman president of any student organization in the country.

Ram Kumari was born the sixth of seven children (four daughters and three sons) to a lower-middle-class peasant family of Magar in Gulmi district. Since her childhood, Ram had always played the role of an "ice-breaker" in society. When she was five, her family tried to send her off for sheep-herding; but she didn't go. Instead she went to school with her brothers, having become the first girl from her village to enter a school. Ram Kumari said, "I had a strong interest in reading books since I was a small child. I learnt how to make poems and stories from my elder brothers before I joined a school. So, after having studied for few months in the first grade, I got promoted to the second grade."

She had little difficulty studying in the primary level (up to fifth grade) because she didn't need much money to go to school. But she had to fight with her family when she was advanced to sixth grade. Because of the financial problem her parents didn't want her to continue her studies. "I still feel that a struggle I had with my parents at that time was the toughest one in my life," she remembers. She failed to convince her parents, even after several months of crying; but one day, she joined her classmates who were on the way to their school by telling her family she was going to a bazaar. After that day she never stopped going to school, though it was located two hours' walk from her house.

When she was in higher secondary level, Ram used to get books and notebooks as prizes in various competitions in her school, such as volleyball games, marathon rallies, quiz and debate programs, which were enough for her to use for the whole year. She says this made her independent and her parents accepted that their daughter could continue her education.

When the multi-party system was restored after the 50-day people's movement in April 1990, Ram Kumari was just 11 years-old. Soon after this political change a committee of All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU) was formed in her Prithivi Secondary School. She became joint secretary of the committee, marking the beginning of her political life. Next year she became president in her school. Then, she worked as a president of a regional committee from 1991 to 1993. She was the first woman president in the region. Ram Kumari always walked one step ahead of the other girls in her community, which in turn encouraged other girls to come out from their tradition.

Since childhood, Ram Kumari was a girl with a rebellious mind. She was highly influenced by Karl Marx's ideology on class struggles, which she had heard from her teacher when she was in sixth grade. She said, "Marxism gave me a perspective to look at the society. I was also influenced by my brother Padam Jhakri who was politically active during school days. Through my brother I established my connections with people related to the political party." Even after the political change in 1990 she felt that there was no change in various kinds of discrimination in Nepali society. As a woman from a poor family in a remote village which belongs to an ethnic minority, she herself had to face various hardships. She wanted to end all kinds of discrimination.

After she passed the School Leaving Certificate examinations in 1994 she came to Kathmandu for further study. Ram arrived in the capital on the very day Manmohan Adhikari of the CPN (UML) became the first communist Prime Minister in Nepal. Although she had come to the capital she had no idea which career she should take. Her parents wanted her to be a doctor, and she once thought of taking a course to be a nurse. But after her brother told her to follow her own will she decided to work for her dream to eradicate discrimination in society. She joined Padma Kanya Campus for her intermediate degree, where her journey in politics as a student leader started. She became a member of a campus committee of the ANNFSU in 1995 and became its president in 1998.

In all movements launched by political parties in Nepal, students have played an important role. Even when then King Gyanendra took power by dismissing then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in October 2002, it was the students who first went to the streets to protest while political party leaders were hesitating to take quick actions.

"We knew that the true intention of the king was to form his 'puppet Parliament' and pass the Bill to restore an absolute monarchy in Nepal," she said. In the beginning, only students were in the streets to protest against the king's takeover. But later, members of the civil society and political activists began to come out. Seven student organizations formed an alliance to jointly launch the movement. ANNFSU got the responsibility to lead a series of protest programs. In the meeting Ram Kumari, who was chief of the Central Department of Liaison of the ANNFSU, was asked to lead the first street demonstration. She readily accepted.

Ram Kumari was always in the streets to give directions to student activists. "Every day we sat and made plans on what kind of protest programs we would do. We discussed how we could protest without being arrested," she said. With a rebellious personality she was always determined in her beliefs. "When I fight for my beliefs I find a divine power that leads me. There will be neither hesitation nor fear, only beliefs and determination for the change," she said.

In the first week of January 2004, the alliance of student organizations made a plan to burn effigies of the king in Ratna Park, just several hundreds of meters from the royal palace. Ram Kumari was leading the rally and carrying an effigy. It was a cold winter day and security forces were deployed with a water tank to control student demonstrations. Protesting against state suppression, the students lay down on the road. Suddenly, police started beating protesters with lathis (bamboo sticks). Ram Kumari was badly beaten, "I felt warm liquid flowing through my face. At first I thought it was water thrown by the police, but I realized it was blood coming from a wound on my head." She soon lost consciousness and later came to herself in hospital.

The wound on her head was so serious she had to have surgery and stayed at the hospital for two weeks. Despite a doctor's advice to stay in bed for at least one month after being discharged, Ram returned to the street to attend protests. Her well-wishers gave her helmets and caps to protect her head. After this incident Ram became the center of media attention. Both national and international media began to cover her. Soon after that, students, along with members of civil society, launched a massive protest rally. Five major political parties followed them. The movement against a royal take-over slowly began to take a momentum.

King Gyanendra carried out another coup on February 1, 2005, adopting an even more suppressive manner with the support of the army. This time, the king himself led the government, which detained most senior political party leaders. Political parties could undertake very few protest programs under such strict suppression by the state. On February 18, when Ram Kumari was heading for Bhedasing from Asan, the center of the old bazaar, after having participated in the rally, she and other student leaders were arrested by the police. She was taken to Kharepati, where she was kept in detention as the only woman detainee among some 60 to 70 students and civil society members. She felt frustrated while staying there without communicating with outside people for months. No one from her party came to see her. Ram Kumari complained, "In the situation where most senior leaders had been arrested and communication was totally cut I didn't know about our future plan. We only thought about how to get out of there in order to re-schedule our protest programs."

She finally saw a ray of hope when some human rights activists were released, submitting the writs of habeas corpus. She and some others filed a case of habeas corpus with the help of the Nepal Bar Association. She finally left the detention center after two months. As soon as she was released she was in the streets again. Ram was arrested again and again. "The detention center became like my second house. Whenever we were detained we filed writs of habeas corpus and came out," she said.

She again sustained a head injury in a police lathi charge in July 2005 during a protest rally. That time she was not taken to hospital, instead, she was arrested and taken to custody after having her wound dressed. It gave her problems with infections time and again. "After I got wounded for the second time, I felt nothing worse can happen to me and I became more courageous."

After the alliance between the seven political parties and the CPN (Maoist) was established in November 2005, the movement took on momentum. The 19-day People's Movement that started on April 6, 2006 finally forced the king to quit his power and return sovereignty to the people, which led to the end of a monarchy. Ram thinks this is only a half achievement and that there is still a long way to go, "We won the democracy, but we have got a more important responsibility to make a new Nepal. Political change is not enough. We have to change society, economical conditions, and the living standards of the people. Leaders of the old generation are not suitable for that task, but it's our generation's responsibility to bring those changes."

Nepali history shows students played a crucial role in all major political changes. Even during the Panchayat period students played the role of catalyst in most political movements. In the latest movement which brought about the biggest political change, that being the republic, students such as Ram Kumari and Gagan Thapa of the Nepal Student Union, were the major forces raising a voice for a republic, while most political party leaders were hesitating.

Ram Kumari was chosen by the CPN (UML) as a candidate for proportional representations in the Constituent Assembly, but she withdrew her name. She explained her reasoning, "ANNFSU is seeking an independent role as a student organization. If I accepted an offer from the party, ANNFSU would look like just one of the departments of the CPN (UML). I didn't like that. Instead, I made up my mind to contest for the election of ANNFSU president."

Ram was the first woman candidate to stand for the seat of president in the history of any student organization. Her slogan for the campaign was, "Make the History - Break the History!" and she indeed made history by winning the election. Winning the election was only the tip of the iceberg for Ram. Her potential as an "ice-breaker" is much bigger than that.

Written by Smita Magar

Published: Women of Nepal

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