Kathmandu, August 5

Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal lawmaker Rajendra Mahato assailed the government for falsely giving the impression that he was one of the eight persons whose citizenship certificate had been revoked recently.

Mahato took special time in the House of Representatives today to say that the government had deliberately ‘assassinated’ his character by not saying clearly that he was not among the eight persons whose nationality had been revoked.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad  Baskota had told mediapersons yesterday that the government had revoked citizenship of eight persons – Ashok Shah, Binde Mahato, Danadevi Mahato, Sosil Mahato, Rajendra Mahato, Rajeshwar Mahato, Ram Kishor Mahato and Raj Kumar Mahato.

“A home ministry official told media outlets that I was not among the eight persons whose nationality was revoked, but he clarified only after the damage had already been done to me,” Mahato said.

He opposed the government for dealing with the sensitive issue of nationality so lightly. The RJP-N leader said the government should have mentioned the addresses of the persons to avoid giving false impression about known names.

Mahato rued that media outlets, which had the responsibility of verifying facts before writing their news stories also gave the false impression that his citizenship was revoked.

Mahato said there were hundreds of people by the name of Rajendra Mahato and it was, therefore, necessary for the government to identify people whose citizenship had been revoked through their addresses. He said the government had defamed him and it should apologise for the mistake. He added that at the time of blockade too, the government had questioned his loyalty to the nation.