Rachana Khatiwada is busy responding to congratulatory calls from relatives and well-wishers. Yet she finds herself unable to feel happy.

She is the mother of 23-year-old Rasik Khatiwada, a native of Kavre, who was killed during the Gen Z movement on September 8 last year. On Sunday, Rachana’s name was mentioned on the list of Proportional Representation (PR) of the House of Representatives representing the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). While relatives phoned and sent messages in celebration, Rachana’s tears flowed uncontrollably.

“No matter where I reach, my young son is not coming back,” she says in a voice heavy with emotion. “I feel no joy.”

Rachana is the only lawmaker representing the families of those killed during the September protest. While the RSP had included Prakash Bohara and Pawan Shahi, both injured in the Gen Z movement, on the closed list, they did not secure seats. Instead, Rachana now carries what she describes as a heavy responsibility.

“Now I will have the opportunity to speak in the House,” she says.

Her son Rasik had taken to the streets of Baneshwar demanding justice and good governance. According to Rachana, the state responded to the protesters’ voices with bullets. Rasik and his peers died there.

Rachana continues to protest against those she calls the ‘murderers’ of her children. “I will raise my voice against them in Parliament as well. I will fight to bring justice to these sons until my last breath,” she says.

Before September 8, Rachana lived a very different life. She was a homemaker with little interest in national politics. For more than two decades, she and her husband ran a small grocery shop to support their daughter Rasila and son Rasik. Rasila was in Australia, and Rasik was preparing to join her there.

On the day of the protest, Rasik left his meal unfinished to join the demonstration. His mother spent the day waiting for him to return. Evening came, but the son who had promised to come back and make tea for his mother never returned home.

Since then, Rachana has been seeking justice for her son. She has staged sit-ins outside Singha Durbar, the country’s administrative headquarters, and Baluwatar, the prime minister’s official residence.

“Our voices were being suppressed. We approached the government with a 14-point demand, but the most crucial issues were never addressed,” she says. “We needed justice, but they could not provide it.”

Rasik had been waiting for his Australian visa. By the time it arrived, he had already passed away. During a visit to her Teku home in October, Rachana said the visa had come just weeks earlier.

Rasik’s father, Purushottam, still lights a lamp beside his son’s garlanded photograph every morning. When he heard the visa had arrived, he wiped his eyes and spoke to the black-and-white portrait: “Son, your visa has finally arrived.”

The family spent many days and nights grieving their loss. When RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane visited the families of the martyrs in Babarmahal, he heard Rachana’s story.

“He had seen my videos. He even cried after hearing me speak,” she recalls.

Following that meeting, the RSP remained in contact with her and discussed including her name on the PR list. Eventually, her name was included under the Khas-Arya female cluster.

“I never imagined I would become a member of parliament,” she says. “I was a victim. I needed justice and was fighting for it. Even now, I will continue that fight.”

Rachana says she hopes RSP leaders, including Lamichhane and senior leader Balendra Shah, will prioritise the issues of martyrs’ families.

Until recently, she was a mother fighting a personal battle for justice. Now, she carries the collective voice of families who lost loved ones and of those still injured.

“There are my son’s friends and relatives still walking with bullets in their bodies,” she says. “There are many tears from families like mine. For them, my voice must be heard in the House.”