What triggered the rage?

Some days ago I posted a tweet saying that the national unity can be strengthened in the country by sharing the symbols of dress and language of two different and distinct peoples as the official symbols of Nationalism. What happened immediately after that was surprising as well as shocking. There was a kind of flash flood of tweets directed to me and submerging me. I was getting breathless as I was trying to read each and every one of them. But before I could finish one, another one was there. Huge number of tweets in replies  coming like shells of bomb with super speed was not some thing natural, and as someone tweeted afterwards that nearly 300 tweets per minute were coming to me.They were hurting me and making my soul bleed in pain. I then   realized what  the rage of racism and hatred could be like and how powerful the hidden rage can be when it explodes all of a sudden like a volcano . I also realized that how disastrous the impacts  could be upon a supposedly vulnerable people such as  women in situations like this. But I also had sensed that there were some provocations behind all this.

A Woman trying to talk of an alternative form of  nationalism is always vulnerable within the sphere of a dominant form of nationalism . The talks about nationalism are generally the privilege of men and women are expected to accept their notions. They are expected to be quiet if they do not agree. I do remember that someone wrote to me that I should remain quite if I am for national unity. An overwhelming number of men and a very large number of women prefer to accept the notions of nationalism which generates domination, conformity and silence. 

There is no safe and secured space for women to talk of alternative forms of nationalism based on peaceful and dignified coexistence of different peoples in the arena of politics.Tweet replies were like stones being pelted at me, without giving me moments to scream and cry. They muted me as well as stupefied me.

I could feel the presence of another dimension in the whole experience as the leader of a party representing the voice and aspirations of Madheshis in Nepal.  As a common madheshi I could sense something new in most of  those reactionary tweets .  Madheshis are perceived as subordinates, colonized, sub humans, you may call them by whatever name, you want depending upon your mood. So far they were demanding as an oppressed community. Their demands have been treated  as the demands of  subordinates asking for this and that at times. And the practice has been that they had been given things in parts to pacify them depending upon the situation.

My tweet was perhaps different in tone and tenor. It talked of national unity from a different platform and level. It talked of national unity as equals. It perhaps brought some  shift in the paradigm of dialogue between the two peoples. And that could have triggered the rage and reaction! 

So in the face of the upcoming elections we live in a country of many volcanoes or landmines which are lying unseen but can  explode or blast at the slightest irritation.