Nobody should resort to adding fuel to the fire in the guise of religious or ethnic freedom
All political parties, civil society members and the National Human Rights Commission have appealed to all to maintain social, religious and communal harmony, and also respect the religions and beliefs of other communities. The political parties and social workers issued their joint and separate appeals to the people after social tension hit the roof following reports that an ox had been killed in Dharan last week by some people, who also posted the illegal act on social media. Hindus and other ethnic communities also became angry over the construction of a church in front of a Hindu temple in Dharan. Considering the impending religious violence and social strife, the Sunsari District Administration Office issued a 24-hour prohibitory order in Dharan Sub-Metropolis on Friday to prevent ethnic and religious organisations from carrying out rallies in the city areas. Issuing a press release, the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) appealed to all to unite and maintain communal and mutual harmony. In a separate press statement, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal also appealed to the people to maintain social harmony.
However, NC leader Shekhar Koirala, while addressing a function in Biratnagar the other day, blamed the PM for fomenting the social tension. Koirala said that the social tension flared up after PM Dahal said a few weeks ago that he would back efforts to rename Koshi Province on the basis of ethnic identity. The name of Pradesh 1 was named Koshi with the support of the NC, UML, CPN-Maoist Centre and other parties immediately after the November 20 election. However, some ethnic communities in the region were unhappy with the naming of the pradesh as Koshi, which led to violent protests in the aftermath of the decision. As the Prime Minister and leader of a responsible party, Dahal should not have aired views on ethnic lines, and should have played a role to pacify the disgruntled communities to accept the decision made by the provincial assembly.
Religion, culture and faiths are very sensitive issues, and all the political parties, groups or social organisations should refrain from fomenting communal tension in the guise of identity. Killing a cow or an ox, and, that too, displaying the inhuman act of slaughtering the national animal on social media will definitely infuriate the Hindus. All should understand that killing a cow is punishable by law even though Nepal was declared a secular state. The new constitution of Nepal has given all castes and communities the right to observe their faiths and cultures without infringing upon the religious and cultural beliefs of other castes and communities. The constitution has also allowed the people to convert their religion or faith as they wish. But nobody is allowed to covert religion on the basis of any temptation. Nepal has largely maintained social and religious harmony since time immemorial despite being a multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-lingual society. It would be very difficult to maintain the fabric of social and religious harmony once it is snapped from any quarter. Therefore, all the political parties, social organisations and civil society members should not resort to adding fuel to the fire in the name of religious freedom. The government should also book those who killed the bull.
Why pork barrel fund?
Regardless of the arguments put forward by the parliamentarians from the Nepali Congress and the CPN UML to justify allocation of the pork barrel fund in the budget, it is not popular with the general public. The budget has allocated Rs 8.25 billion from taxpayers' money for this programme in the budget. The people would thus welcome the Supreme Court's interim order last week against the federal and provincial governments for allocating money under the constituency infrastructure development programme (CIDP). The apex court has observed that allocation of the fund in the budget was against the doctrine of separation of powers.
It's been decades since the government has been allocating funds to the members of parliament for the development of their constituencies. Yet no one seems to know if the money has been used as intended. Till date, no one has been held accountable for misappropriation of the budget. It is no secret that contesting the elections in Nepal is becoming a costly affair. It is widely speculated that the fund is pocketed by the parliamentarians themselves. Unless there can be a thorough audit of the expenditure, the fund should not be released.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 28, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
