Effects of Caste

Two parallel theatrical performances are ongoing in Nepal – in Baneshwor, a performance of party politics and in Battisputali, that of social politics. The theatrics of party politics involves installing two big men as the president and the vice president of the country. The Dalits, and among them, the Dalit women, and among them, Madheshi Dalit women, are groups that have been the most oppressed by the state, and who have received the fewest opportunities for representation in the state. But as a part of this theatrical performance, the political parties liberated themselves from their duty to appoint a woman, or a Dalit person, or a Dalit woman, the president, or vice-president. They appealed to lifeless technicality instead of serving the living essence of the constitution or the People’s Movement to deny these groups that opportunity at meaningful representation.

Yet, Nepali history has already seen how a woman president could attack women’s representation by working continuously to limit women to the status of non-citizens. This is precisely why the principles and practices of representation require that representation not be merely superficial, but be firmly rooted in issues. This applies not only to the state mechanism and the practice of political parties, not only to social organizations and institutions but also to cultural production and artistic output. As I watched Vimoksha: The Salvation, a play being staged at Shilpi Theater in Battisputali, questions about representation and its authenticity continuously played on my mind.