12th Madhes Martyrdom Day

LAHAN, Jan 20: In the quest to seek equal rights, dignity and identity of the Madhesi people, many 'sacrificed' their lives in Madhes movements – the first of which had erupted in 2007. The first martyr among them was Ramesh Mahato. It was unbearable for his family to lose a beloved member.

Only after a decade of Mahato's martyrdom, the bereaved family received some compensation. One member of Mahato's family has now been offered a stable employment, which has provided the family a source of income to support the aging members. Ramesh's father Ravi could not stop his tears. 

“My heart broke when I lost a son. Although nothing can replace his death, at least the provincial government has offered my other son a job and solved the financial woes of our family,” he said.

The elderly Ravi, however, is not fully satisfied with the outcomes of the Madhes movements. “Like me, many other fathers too lost their sons in the movements. But the issue of Madhesi rights still remains unresolved, which deeply saddens me. I wish to see the Madhesi issue raised in the movements fulfilled one day.”

The government of Province-2 organized a program on Saturday to mark the 12th Madhesi Martyrdom Day in Lahan. In the program, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Upendra Yadav, who is also the chairman of the Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN), provided a letter of employment to Ravi's son Ramsovit Mahato to honor the contribution and sacrifice of his deceased brother, martyr Ramesh.

The elderly father Ravi accepted the employment letter on behalf of his son Ramsovit. The latter has been told to contact the office of the Chief Minister for employment. Ravi got very emotional after receiving the letter as tears rolled down his cheeks uncontrollably. Audience members in the program also became very emotional. 

The provincial government had deployed employees to collect data from each of the family of martyrs in the province. The team found out that the province had 58 such families. Based on the data, letters of employment were provided to one member each from 46 families among them at the program.

Among the remaining 12 families, some members are already employed by the government while others were elected in the last elections.

Likewise, the government has provided compensation amount from Rs 25,000 to Rs 300,000, depending on their condition, to those who sustained injuries in the Madhes protests. Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut handed over checks to 77 injured people. 

 
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