Kathmandu, May 3

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari courted controversy today when she used the phrase ‘my government’ while presenting the government’s policies and programmes in the joint sitting of the Parliament.

The president’s choice of phrase drew flak from political leaders and civil society members, who said the president used the phrase that was exclusively used by kings in Nepal during the royal regime. Moreover, since she used the phrase repeatedly during her two-hour speech in the Parliament, it could not be a slip of tongue.

Ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker Surendra Pandey said the president should have used the word ‘our government’ rather than ‘my government.’ “The phrase ‘my government’ was used by kings in the past when we had monarchy, but now we have a democratic government,” he said. Nepali Congress Vice-president Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar agreed with Pandey.

NC lawmaker Gagan Thapa said the government dragged the Office of President into controversy by scripting a wrong word in the government’s policies and programmes that the president read out.

Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal lawmaker Laxman Lal Karna said the government was not the government of the president, but that of the people. Nepal Workers and Peasants Party lawmaker Prem Suwal said ‘my government’ was a feudal term.

On social networking sites, people expressed dismay and demanded an apology from the president for her choice of words.

Security expert Geja Sharma Wagle wrote on Twitter: “When sovereignty rested in the kings, they used to say ‘my government’, but now when sovereignty rests in the people, such a reference should not be made.”

Former finance secretary Rameshwar Khanal wondered, “Is this the government of sovereign Nepali people or of the president? What a tradition is being revived?”

The Article 2 of the constitution states that the sovereignty and state authority of Nepal shall be vested in Nepali people. “It shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions set forth in this constitution,” the article states.