Pokhara, April 19 Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has accused the government of shielding the guilty in the rape and murder of Nirmala Panta. Inaugurating a newly-built BP  Koirala memorial building in Sardikhola of Machhapuchhre Rural Municipality today, the Congress president questioned how the public could be assured that they would get justice from the government that was protecting murders and criminals. “The present government led by KP Sharma Oli has made a mockery of democracy by trying to centralise power. In the last one year, the government has done nothing substantive. The only thing it has done is controlling the judiciary, the anti-graft body, universities and various other constitutional bodies,” Deuba observed. “The only things that the people have got from the government are exorbitant taxes, price hike, corruption, injustice and lack of peace. As the government is aspiring to be an authoritarian regime, the onus to protect democracy has fallen on us,” the Congress chief said. “Corruption has increased so much that even the ruling party leaders, including its general secretary Bishnu Poudel, were involved in grabbing government land. I was surprised when I heard that Poudel was one of those who appropriated the government land in Baluwatar,” Deuba said, adding that his party would work in exposing the land scam. Deuba also informed that his party was going to launch a nationwide awareness campaign to expose other shortcomings of the government and address people’s concerns.