Kathmandu, July 27:

Eight student unions have decided to intensify protests to pressure Vice-President Parmananda Jha to correct his mistake.

The unions made this decision during a meeting today.

Students have been protesting against Jha’s act of taking the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi.

The unions also decided to submit a memorandum to President Dr Ram Baran Yadav and Chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subas Nembang tomorrow to demand the Vice-President to correct his mistake.

“We will organise a torch rally from Ratna Park at 6:30 pm tomorrow and protest rally from Ratna Park at 1 pm the day after,” Thakur Gaire, president of the All Nepal National Free Students’ Union, said after the meeting.

The unions have appealed to their committees throughout the nation to organise protest programmes.

They have called on organisations that have expressed solidarity with the protests to take part in students’ rallies.

Today too, students continued to stage protests in different parts of the Valley. They burnt effigies of the Vice-President and brought traffic to a halt in different parts of the Valley by burning tyres on roads.

Meanwhile, central advisers’ committee of the CPN-UML said the Vice-President’s act of taking the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi had hurt feelings of the Nepalis.

Issuing a press release, committee president Nar Bahadur Khand demanded the resignation of Jha.

Interestingly, Jha was common vice-presidential candidate of the NC, UML and MJF.

Tharuhat Joint Struggle Committee has decided to organise various programmes

in different cities of Tarai from tomorrow to protest the Vice-President’s act. TJSC coordinator Kishor Kumar Biswas said Hindi is the language used by people who migrated to Nepal from India.

“The meeting condemned Jha’s act,” he said adding that a parliamentary hearing could have been conducted before electing Jha as Vice-President because “he was convicted by the Judicial Council on corruption charges”.

RSS reports: Protesters vandalised the vehicle used by chairman of Rastriya Samachar Samiti and former president of FNJ Taranath Dahal at Nijgadh of Bara district this morning. Chairman Dahal, former central member of the Federation of Nepali Journalists Bishnu Chhimeki, journalist Chandra Kishor Jha, Right to Information trainer Nayan Bahadur Khadka and executive director of Freedom Forum Santosh Sigdel were in the vehicle.

They were heading to Gaur to impart training to journalists. After the attack, all six returned to Birgunj.