Women of Nepal

Sarita Giri

President of the Nepal Sadbhawana Party
Member of the Constituent Assembly

Born in January 1961, Hajipur Pahaleja Ghat, Bihar (India)

Sarita Giri was born in northern India, but time and consequence lead to her rescuing a conflict-ridden political party in Nepal. As a result, she became the first elected woman president of a leading political party.

On the 6th January, 1961, Giri was born in her maternal grandfather's house at Hajipur Pahaleja Ghat in the Indian state of Bihar by the Ganga, where she developed a spiritual connection with the holy river. Her father resided at Gopalgunj in the same state. Giri spent most of her childhood with her maternal grandfather, Moti Giri, a promoter of education in the villages. Her paternal grandfather, Jaleshwar Giri, was a freedom-fighter for India's independence. Inspiration felt through these two people, including that of her father Bijaya Giri, a lecturer of psychology and a government officer, have been a great support for Giri through her lifelong struggles and achievements.

Giri joined a missionary school in her village. She has since forgotten its name, but her days spent at the school remain clear in her mind. After the School Leaving Certificate examination, she was given a double promotion. Boys especially were jealous of Giri, largely due to her position and high marks in the examinations. A group of boys once made a childish plan to kidnap her. In retaliation, Giri established a juvenile court and had the mischievous boys punished under school rules. Giri chose mathematics as an optional subject, a subject girls never studied in her school. She was the only female among over 60 males and soon realized the difficulties of being a girl among a mass of boys.

She joined Madadh Mahila College when she was 18-years-old, studying physics as her Intermediate. But Giri slowly developed an interest in the study of citizen's rights and philosophy, and shifted her course to political science. 

As happened to most girls in her generation, Giri's family began to speak of marriage before she was able to complete her education. Giri's aunt, incidentally the sister of Tulsi Giri, a famous politician in Nepal during the Panchayat period, proposed for her marriage. Thus, she was married to Laxman Giri, Nepali engineer of Lahan in Siraha district in 1979. It was right after the student movement against the Panchayat regime rose in Nepal.

Giri knew the movement was for the sake of democracy. She had sympathy for those in the movement but could not get physically involved as she was a new daughter-in-law and language barriers existed. But she constantly thought about ways she could help in the movement.

She belonged to a Giri family, but her mother tongue was Bhojpuri and she was married to a Maithali-speaking family. Giri could understand Maithili, but she had to work hard to speak it fluently. Giri knew little about Nepal and Nepali politics before marriage. When she came to Nepal, all she knew was that it was a country of the king and the Himalayas. She had no idea of its social structures and ethnic diversity. "Peace in Nepal first attracted me. I used to question what is there behind this peace. It was fascinating when I came as a bride here in Nepal," she remembered.

Giri later went to Dang district after her husband was transferred. She saw a completely different lifestyle there. It was shocking to see how women were treated. Children and women were dying but there were no basic health facilities in the village, and shamans made horrible noises throughout the night. At that time she was pregnant and nothing was certain. It seemed nobody knew what their future held. A doctor lived 26 kilometers away and there were no transportation facilities. "It was not very far from Kathmandu, but I saw just another part of human beings' life. Only God was there to save us," she recalled.

By 1985, Giri was mother of two children and was worried about their education. She was not satisfied with schools in Lahan. There was a trend to send children to Darjeeling for education. She decided not to send them to India, and rather took them to Kathmandu. By then, she had already obtained her bachelor's degree in Art through correspondence. "So, I came here to Kathmandu alone with two small children. It was my decision and many of my family were not happy with it. I knew that it would be difficult but I was determined," she said.

Both children were admitted to Modern Indian School and Giri obtained a position teaching. At the same time, she took an evening course studying her Bachelor in Education at Shikshya Campus in Putali Sadak. She also took a job as a newsreader at Radio Nepal for extra financial support. "It was really a rushed life, full of struggles. Many people used to ask me why I was doing all those things when my husband was an engineer and we belonged to a well-to-do family. An easy and comfortable life never attracted me. I was born to struggle," she said.

Meanwhile, Giri began to show an interest in Nepali politics. Some of her relatives in Kathmandu were arrested in association with a series of bomb-blasts in the capital and other areas in 1985. That incident gave her a chance to see an overview of the political scenario. During the People's Movement in 1990, she joined a street demonstration with her brother-in-law, Purushottam Giri, though at that time she was not associated with any political party.

After multi-party democracy was restored, Giri took membership of the Nepali Congress.  She was aware of the discrimination against women in Nepali society and that one needed to reach the top policy-making level to overcome it.

On the other hand, there was resistance when she joined the NC. When she became known among NC leaders, some of her close relatives started to feel uncomfortable. A polarization of sorts was created in her family as her relatives did not have a good relationship with NC president Girija Prasad Koirala. "This is patriarchy. This is an example of how patriarchy limits chances of women. There are different cards to stop a woman from moving ahead," she said.

Giri noticed there was discrimination against her in the party, which she took as a challenge. As she also came from a political family, she refused to do politics with the Giri family's legacy. "I was determined that if I have something political in me, then I will create my own political space," she said.

She was slowly recognized among the party's intellectual circle. The NC's renowned female leader and former deputy Prime Minister Shailaja Acharya was of great guidance to Giri. But her journey with the NC did not last long. She realized the NC had no outlook when it came to Nepal's diversity in terms of people and geography. She had the opportunity to participate in top-level party meetings. She remembered, "I participated in a meeting of 30 top leaders that was held in Shangrila Hotel after the NC had lost its position in the by-election. What happened there was an eye-opener for me. I realized that the NC cannot understand the country's diversity and decided to quit the party."

She naturally put forward her idea about including the diversity in the party structure. Former Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola told her that one cannot imagine such 'vibrant' democracy in Nepal, but he failed to understand that it is vibrancy which people seek. Even today Giri respects the NC for its history and contribution to the democratic movement, but she came to the conclusion that the NC cannot take care of this country.

From the first day of her marriage, Giri felt she was losing her identity as an Indian Madhesi. After marrying into a family of Pahadi-origin Madhesi in Nepal, she went from being a 'free Madhesi' to an 'oppressed Madhesi', and her links with the Madhesi party tightened.

Giri read of the Nepal Sadbhawana Party (NSP) in newspapers during the 1990 movement, but found all literature seemed negative about the party and its leader Gajendra Narayan Singh. After analyzing Nepal's politics and the party's stand, she decided to join the NSP in 1994 after it unified with Samajbadi Janata Dal. Giri was attracted to the party's two stands - ethnic recognition and federalism.

Life was not easy for Giri even after she joined the NSP. Firstly, family members did not approve of her move. All blamed her, saying there would be no politics in that small party and that she was just doing it as a hobby. "I did not ask anybody to join the NSP. I did not change the party for my position, either. It would be suffocating if I continued to stay in the NC, because I had ideas and nobody in the NC listened to me," she said.

The NSP was, however, loaded with different problems. Big parties have a patriarchal culture, but also have opportunities; whereas, small parties have the same patriarchal culture but less opportunity. Conflict is more deadly and personal interests overdo party stature. "I was in a critical condition. They presented me as a Madhesi in front of the mass to win party support, but in the party leadership, when I was making my position, they again sidelined me, saying that I have Indian origin."

Crisis in the party started right after Gajendra Narayan Singh's death in January 2002. Bhadri Prasad Mandal tried to take the whole party to the palace, thus helping in the formation of the Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandi Devi) in March 2003. Giri worked for the latter as joint general secretary, spokesperson, chief of the foreign affairs department, and central committee member. In June 2007, the NSP merged with the NSP (A) again, and Anandi Devi Singh was honored with the title of chairperson.

The leaders should have worked together to give the party direction, but they all lacked vision and sincere party workers suffered from the factional politics. Hridiyesh Tripathi, Rajendra Mahato, Shyam Sundar Gupta and Khushilal Mandal tried to create a faction within the party. Methods to achieve this included holding separate press conferences, making allegations towards another faction, and asking to pull out the party representative in the government. All this became almost routine. Despite the chaos, Giri maintained her support of Anandi Devi. She was very conscious that men, one after another, were misusing their power and leadership. "And when it turned out to be a woman, they used an old woman for their vested interest. I wanted to put an end to this drama and always stood by her side. I rescued her when Khushilal Mandal and Shyam Sundar Gupta abducted and kept her secretly in the ministers' quarter," she said.

Giri then took the initiative to organize the fifth general convention to take the party out of the crisis. It elected her as party president on 20th October 2008, and renamed the party the Nepal Sadbhawana Party. "I know God has given me the strength and blessing to do what I did for the party until this date. And I believe that by the grace of the God, I will be doing the same for it in the future," she concluded.

Besides these achievements, Giri was executive chairperson of the Center for Women and Politics, a coalition of women leaders from eight political parties. She also worked as a member of a national task force to form policies and programs for women's inclusion. She was nominated as a PhD candidate by the Centre for Nepal and Asia Studies (CNAS) at Tribhuvan University, but was unable to complete it because of her growing responsibility in the party.

Unavoidable circumstances forced Giri to seek divorce from her husband and she now lives separately with her two daughters and son. She believes divorce is not the end of the world, but in many cases, it could mean a real beginning of life. Though she failed to be a good wife under traditional understanding, she is, in her own words, a happy mother.

Written by Subhechha Bindu Tuladhar