• The govt not doing enough to end House obstruction • Rastriya Janamukti Party lawmaker Shiv Lal Thapa

Kathmandu, December 9

The CPN-UML and six other fringe parties continued to obstruct parliamentary proceedings today also to protest the registration of the constitution amendment bill in the Parliament.

As soon as the House met, lawmakers representing the UML, CPN-ML, Rastriya Janamorcha, Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, Rastriya Janamukti Party, Nepal Parivar Dal and Nepal Rastriya Party rose from their chairs to protest the bill. Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar then accorded Rastriya Janamukti Party lawmaker Shiv Lal Thapa time for speaking.

Thapa said although the bill was positive to the extent it proposed to put the clusters of Magars from Province 5 to Province 4, other proposals of the bill, particularly relating to citizenship and language, were, however, against the interest of the country.

Thapa said the bill was brought with the objective of allowing naturalised citizens to hold top constitutional posts and to make Hindi another official language and should be withdrawn. He said the government was not doing enough to end House obstruction.

After Thapa ended his speech, lawmakers protesting the bill again rose from their chairs to stall House proceedings. Speaker Magar repeatedly urged the protesting lawmakers to sit down as the bill was not among the House’s business list.

The protesting lawmakers, however, ignored the speaker’s request following which she adjourned the meeting till 11:00am on December 15.

Deputy parliamentary party leader of UML Subas Chandra Nembang said, “There are over 200 lawmakers who are against the constitution amendment bill. This means the bill will not be passed in the House. Why did the government bring a bill which will not be endorsed?”.

Nembang said the constitution was promulgated after 90 per cent forces, including the three major political parties, backed it, but the government’s unilateral decision to bring the bill created rift among the forces that had shown unity in promulgating the constitution. If the government withdraws the bill, that will end deadlock in the House, he added.

Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ajay Shankar Nayak ruled out withdrawing the bill, as it would not solve the problems.

“If the elections are to be held, some key demands of the UDMF and Janajati forces should be met and the bill was brought with an objective of addressing their key demands,” he said and added that parties could still forge understanding on the bill by moving a joint amendment proposal on it in the House.

Nayak said the ruling parties were holding dialogue with the opposition parties and the government too would intensify its effort to forge consensus on the bill.