CHITWAN: Prime Minister and CPN Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said Nepal would not have existed if King Prithvi Narayan Shah had not unified it over 250 years ago.

Inaugurating the council meeting of the Bharatpur Sub-Metropolitan City in Chitwan today, the Maoist leader, who led a decade-long war to abolish the monarchy, said the King had a significant contribution to establishing Nepal's independence in the world.

"If Nepal was not strong and powerful enough then as the Britain was conquering small principalities in India to establish a big empire," he said, "Its existence would vanish from the history."

The Maoist leader, however, maintained that Shah was just an agent who fulfilled the historical need.

"If he did not play the role, there would be someone else," he said, "It was a historical need."

Meanwhile, Dahal said demands for a public holiday on the birth anniversary of Prithvi Narayan to celebrate it as the National Unity Day should be addressed in a political understanding.

"I will take initiatives to find an appropriate conclusion after holding discussions at the political level."

With public holiday on the day and paying tributes to the founding father of modern Nepal, Poush 27 of Nepali calendar--which is tomorrow this year--was marked as Prithvi Jayanti and National Unity Day till 2007 when the interim government decided not to observe King Prithvi Narayan Shah's birth anniversary.

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