Nepal PM Prachanda Refuses to Resign Despite Backlash Over His Controversial Disclosure About Indian Businessman

The Opposition has called for the resignation of Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ over the shocking revelation that an Indian businessman living here “once made efforts” to make him the leader, which caused a storm in the Himalayan nation. However, his close aide said on Thursday that he would not resign.

Rekha Sharma, the government’s spokesman and minister of communication and information technology, said at a ceremony to launch the book Roads to the Valley: The Legacy of Sardar Pritam Singh in Nepal that the Prime Minister would not step down due to his comments regarding Sardar Pritam Singh.

In his comments, Prachanda had said that Singh, a pioneering trucking businessman in Nepal, had contributed significantly to improving ties between Nepal and India.

Prachanda said, “He (Singh) had previously attempted to make me the prime minister. To appoint me as prime minister, he made many trips to Delhi and undertook numerous rounds of negotiations with Kathmandu’s political elite, according to Prachanda.

The comments have sparked a controversy and received backlash from a number of sources. As Sharma informed the media about the Cabinet deliberations on Thursday, the Prime Minister did not mention anything that called for his resignation.

She said that when Parliament was ready to approve a law intended to penalize loan sharks, the Opposition sought the resignation of the Prime Minister. The opposition just requested the PM’s resignation to distract the Parliament’s attention, she said.

In the meanwhile, a statement from the Prime Minister’s office claimed that his comments had been “misinterpreted.” According to a statement made by the Prime Minister’s Press Advisor Govinda Acharya, “efforts were made to fulfill political interests taking advantage of the remarks, and the matter had drawn “serious” attention of the secretariat.”

The secretariat said that the words attributed to the Prime Minister were an attempt by the main opposition parties to hinder the legislative process. The decree to introduce the bill to criminalize the usury practice has been revoked as a consequence of the blockage in parliament, depriving the victims of justice, according to the statement.

“We are committed to taking the necessary actions in favor of the victims of loan sharking,” the statement reads. “We would like to offer deep sorrow over the annulment of the ordinance.” The CPN (Maoist Center), Prachanda’s party, expressed worry over the opposition’s misinformation on the Prime Minister’s remarks about Sardar Pritam Singh.

The biggest opposition party, the Communist Party of Nepal-(Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML), and other opposition parties’ actions in parliament have drawn criticism from the governing coalition, which has referred to them as “non-political” and “non-parliamentary.”

The opposition parties opposed the government’s efforts to ensure justice for those harmed by the usury practice, according to a meeting of the ruling parties held Thursday at the PM’s official residence, which led to the government’s decision to abandon its plan to present the “Bill to Amend some Nepal Acts, including the Civil Code-2080 BS.”

According to Rajendra Pandey, vice chairman of the CPN (Unified Socialist), “Any party or member in parliament is free to criticize the Prime Minister’s public statement, but the way the major opposition parties chose to protest was against parliamentary norms.”

Following the disturbance caused by opposition parties the UML, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party, and the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) over Prachanda’s statements, the House of Representatives meeting was postponed till Friday.

Members of the RPP and the largest opposition Communist party, the CPN-UML, screamed that a New Delhi-appointed prime minister had no right to remain in office. On Wednesday, the CPN-UML interrupted the National Assembly session in order to call for the resignation of the prime minister.

The prime minister need to resign for moral reasons, according to UML politician Raghuji Pant, who was speaking in the lower chamber. A prime minister chosen by Delhi is not anything we need. The governing parties have also voiced their displeasure with Prachanda’s comments, in addition to the opposition.

The prime minister’s comments merit condemnation. Bishwa Prakash Sharma told reporters after the House meeting on Wednesday that his comments were incorrect. It’s not the first time Nepal’s senior officials have stirred up controversy with their careless comments on delicate subjects like geopolitics, bilateral ties, and other domestic matters.

The Prime Minister has defended his contentious comments made about Singh at the book launch on Sunday, claiming they were intended to stir up controversy.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Prachanda said that although he had quoted from Pritam Singh’s remarks in the book “Roads to the Valley” (The Legacy of Sardar Pritam Singh in Nepal), people were trying to make a big deal out of it. He was speaking at a training session hosted by the All Nepal National Independent Students Union, a sister organization of his party.

“I wanted to show that Pritam Singh was interested in politics as well as social services and the transportation industry and that he had lobbied with parties in Delhi and Nepal to become prime minister,” the author said.

I think the Prime Minister may not have meant to suggest that India was meddling in Nepal’s domestic affairs. However, he ought to have exercised caution while using political and diplomatic language when discussing such a delicate matter, according to Ganesh Shah, secretary of the CPN-Maoist Centre.

He noted that the Parliament was debating serious and significant matters, but sadly, his words caused the delay to waste time that might have been utilized for productive talks.