On a day when families across Nepal gathered to celebrate Dashain, applying red tika and jamara to their foreheads and receiving blessings from elders, activist Deepa Nepali spent the festival at Kathmandu’s Maitighar Mandala, continuing a protest that has lasted 186 days without a response from the government.
As the country immersed itself in the festive mood, Nepali continued to demand accountability, asking: “How long will caste continue to be placed above human beings?”
She was joined at the protest site on Wednesday by former Constituent Assembly member Binod Pahadi, Dalit rights activist Madan Nepali, Dalit campaigner Sunita Marik, Dalmardan Kami, yoga guru Drishtant Sharma and Ekal Darmali, who expressed solidarity with her campaign.
Nepali said she had been forced to spend the festival on the streets because the state had ignored her demands despite 186 days of protest. Being unable to celebrate a major family festival at home, she said, raised serious questions about caste discrimination, citizens’ dignity and the state’s accountability.
“If a citizen has to stand on the road for 186 days over a fundamental question of humanity, where is the state? Where is the government?” she asked.
Nepali launched the “Government, Is There a Room Vacant?” campaign at Maitighar to demand action against caste-based discrimination, particularly the exclusion of Dalits from rented accommodation. She said the campaign was not directed at any particular landlord or a single incident of housing discrimination, but sought to challenge discriminatory attitudes embedded in society.
Caste discrimination, she said, remained a barrier to social progress. A society that places caste above a person’s humanity reflects a cruel mindset, she added.
Her protest also draws attention to the persistence of caste discrimination in Nepal’s capital. If people can be denied rented accommodation because of their caste in Kathmandu, the problem raises wider concerns about the experiences of marginalised communities elsewhere in the country.
Nepali said the issue reflected the attitudes and sensitivity of the state and its institutions. She questioned whether those in policy-making positions were willing to confront discrimination.
“I have begun to feel that even those in policy-making positions want to preserve discrimination. Otherwise, why are they silent?” she asked.
Nepali said her campaign was not about supporting or opposing any political party, but about defending the humanity and rights of citizens who had endured injustice and inhumane treatment for years.
She had hoped the government led by Balendra Shah would take concrete steps to address caste discrimination. But the lack of action on her demands over 186 days had left her disillusioned, she said.
She urged the government to invite the protesters for talks, seek a resolution and take practical measures to end caste-based discrimination.