Kathmandu, August 14:

University professors today urged the people to set aside all differences and intensify the ongoing people’s movement. Speaking at a discourse on “Democracy: Intensification of Peoples’ Movement” organised by the Nepal University Teachers’ Association (NUTA) to mark its 43rd anniversary, NUTA president Prof Bhupati Dhakal said the king will have to flee with a handful of soil if he does not return the rights of the people soon. He said the king should be ready to accept a garland of shoes if he wants to rule the country and listen to his criticism. He said not even 36 professors welcomed the February 1 takeover. Dhakal said Article 127 of the statute does not allow the king to impose an autocratic rule. “The king should declare that he is above constitution and he need not follow it,” he said.

“Without intensifying the peoples’ movement, the reactionary rulers are not going to leave,” said Prof Kapil Shrestha, adding that the king is imposing a 13th century autocratic regime in the 21st century and still Nepalis are not opposing it. “The Nepali people have now come to understand the intensions of the king and the minor reforms here and there will not do,” Shrestha, also a human rights activist, said. He said all the movement of the Nepali people have become myths of the Sisiphus. “But this time around, it should be decisive and people should see to it that they do not repeat the mistakes they have made,” he said. President of Nepal Engineers Association, Prof Jib Raj Pokhrel, said the demonstrations should be held in the restricted areas also. Prof Dr Purush Ratna Bajracharya of the Nepal Progressive Teachers’ Union also lauded the need of total democracy.