Kathmandu, August 11:

Speakers at a seminar on Journey of Democracy and the Students’ Movement organised by the Tri-Chandra Campus, Free Students Union today came down heavily on the King’s actions and stressed the need to launch a more intensive movement for democracy. “It’s high time the mainstream political parties gave an ultimatum to the King that constitutional monarchy and democracy cannot go together it he does not mend his ways,” Kishore Singh Rathore, president of the Nepal Students Union, said.”The mainstream political parties should take to the streets for full democracy, he added.” Tika Ram Bhattarai, member of Nepal Bar Association, expressing solidarity with the students movement for democracy, said there is a need to identify a clear path to lead to the goal of movement.

“King has broken all agreement reached with the people’s representative in 1990 and hence there is no need for the students and the political parties to stick to the agreement, which the King broke after the February 1 royal takeover,” said Bhattarai. “Unless the monarchy is uprooted there is no way to establish full democracy and the students have taken to the streets to this end, he said. Bhattarai warned mother political parties against creating obstacles in the student’s powerful movement and said new leadership will emerge and take its own path should that happen. Poudel said that the NSU would announce further ‘decisive’ protest programmes after the general convention scheduled for August 14-16 at Pokhara.