NC says it’s protesting, JSP-N blames NCP of betrayal

KATHMANDU, JANUARY 23

Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal-led Nepal Communist Party has repeatedly asked the Nepali Congress to join hands in a joint struggle against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s decision to dissolve the House of Representatives but the NC is still undecided.

NC General Secretary Purna Bahadur Khadka, who is close to party President Sher Bahadur Deuba, said the party had been protesting against the dissolution of the HoR and there was no question of a joint struggle.

Another NC leader Ananda Prasad Dhungana said the party’s Central Working Committee meeting scheduled for January 26 would decide on the Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal-led NCP’s proposal for a joint struggle against the dissolution of the House of Representatives. He said his party had always led joint political struggles in the past, including during the popular movement of 1990 and 2006, but the communist party had always betrayed the nation.

The merger between former CPN-UML and CPN-MC had made the NCP a force of almost two-thirds majority in the Parliament and nobody thought they would dissolve the House of Representatives and curtail people’s freedom.

“Our party has led all the movements in the past and unless we play a similar role, nothing can happen,” he added. He said his party had termed the dissolution of the HoR ‘unconstitutional and undemocratic move’ but would abide by the Supreme Court’s decision on the issue. Dhungana said his party had protested across the country at the central, provincial, municipal and ward levels.

Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal’s Rajendra Mahato said a joint struggle could happen only when the stakeholders reached understanding on addressing each other’s concerns after the agitation succeeded, but in this case, the Dahal and Nepal-led NCP had not discussed anything.

Mahato said that both the NC and NCP had betrayed Madhesi, Janajati and other marginailsed groups and communities while framing the constitution and there was no guarantee they would not do the same again. Mahato added that both factions of the NCP led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal were still averse to the demand of constitution amendment.

He said the NC and the NCP had ruled the country after 1990, but their mindset had not changed. “When NC and NCP leaders ruled the country, they showed the same old ruling class mindset that discriminated against Madhesis and Janajatis,” Mahato said.

NCP Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha said pressure was being mounted on Deuba, but he had not yet taken a decision to launch a joint struggle against the HoR dissolution. He said NC leaders Ramchandra Paudel, Krishna Sitaula and Shekhar Koirala were all for joint struggle against the HoR dissolution.