Demand Rises to Declare Ganesh Nepali a Martyr After Self-Immolation

Kathmandu. A demand has arisen to declare Ganesh Nepali, who self-immolated after a dispute with the metropolitan police, a martyr. Gene activist Miraj Dhungana has made public his six-point views on Facebook, demanding that Ganesh Nepali be declared a martyr.

Dhungana claims that Ganesh Nepali's incident was not suicide but self-immolation, interpreting it as resistance against state policy. He stated that sacrificing one's life by pouring petrol on the body is not just a personal decision but an act of sending a message to society and the state.

According to him, Ganesh Nepali's self-immolation is an extreme expression of dissatisfaction with the traffic fine provisions proposed by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. He claimed that such a situation has arisen due to policies implemented without considering the economic condition and public sentiment of the citizens.

Dhungana has demanded that the bill be amended to free the public from the burden of excessive fines and that Ganesh Nepali be declared a martyr. According to him, this incident is a symbol of pressure to force the state to reconsider its policies.

He expressed his belief that declaring Ganesh Nepali a martyr would send a message that the state must be more sensitive to the feelings and needs of the public, and it would establish a precedent for considering the economic condition of citizens when making policies related to punishment and fines in the future.

However, Dhungana mentioned that he is not in favor of automatically declaring all individuals who self-immolate as martyrs. He believes that if a person self-immolates as a last resort in protest of state policy atrocities, it should be evaluated in context.