Mr. Manish Suman is a Member of the Province Assembly (MPA) in Province Two in Nepal, as well as Chair of the Economy and Planning Committee (EPC) of the Assembly. He won the last PA election in 2017 and is the Central Working Committee (CWC) member of Janata Samajwadi Party – the fourth largest political party in Nepal. Mr. Suman is known for his activism for identity, inclusion, and fair representation of minorities in the political mainstream.
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Action
Mr. Suman has been actively engaged in laying the background work for a number of historical events that have shaped the current political landscape in the region and in the country. An Interim Constitution (IC) was enforced in 2007. However, the IC sparked a massive protest by Madheshi – regional group in the southern part of Nepal constituting over a quarter of national population – and forced the government to amend the IC with proportional representation, state restructuring and federalism, and delineation of election constituencies based on population and not just geography.
Mr. Suman played a decisive leadership role in his region to plan, organize and ensure peaceful rallies and other forms of protests for weeks. He also led smooth communication with the media about the rationale behind the protests and continuous negotiation with security to avoid the use of force to suppress the peaceful protests.
Relevant discourse
In one of the most sensitive topics of political polarization, Mr. Suman joined a famous TV discussion with other leaders from mainstream parties on 29 October 2017, before the first election after the 2015 Constitution. During the conversation, Mr. Suman made one particular response which was later used as a bottom line by his party in the election. He reiterated the need to amend the constitution, as it is not complete yet nor is it felt by all citizens across the country. He announced that he himself and his party, as well as other large numbers of minority and indigenous groups, would support the mainstream parties in their constituencies if they were ready to support the amendment.
Leadership experience
When Mr. Suman started his political activism, rejecting the different treatment he had suffered and still suffers because of the skin color and origin of people like him, there was no political constituency for the cause he started fighting for, though millions of people in the country suffered from the discriminatory treatment.
The first lesson was that you need to have the space to share suffering and pain so that people with similar experiences join hands, are a part of a growing crowd and then form a political constituency so that their voices can’t be ignored in electoral politics. Once you have a seat at the table, you can bring your agenda and push for it. However, the quest for justice and fairness in politics begins at the community level and is a long battle.
