Parliament Session Disrupted by Opposition Protests Over Prime Minister's Statement

Kathmandu. Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal has tried to change the style of continuous opposition protests in the House of Representatives but has not succeeded. Opposition parties have been protesting since the start of the House of Representatives meeting for 40 days against the statement made by Prime Minister Balendra Shah (Balen) regarding border disputes. In Thursday's meeting, Speaker Aryal urged all opposition MPs to speak one by one instead of speaking in turns and to proceed with the meeting. 'Opposition parties have been protesting on the same issue continuously. Let's have one person from the opposition parties present their views and move the session forward,' said Speaker Aryal. He also urged them to focus on the issue raised during the protest. 'It is not good to have a situation where the Speaker has to keep telling the honorable members to speak only on the subject and not go beyond it, as I have requested the honorable members,' he said. 'The justification of their statements will also be proven if they express their views within the scope of the issue for which the protest was initiated.' The Speaker gave time to speak to Harinadevi Kami, a Member of Parliament from the Nepali Congress, on behalf of the opposition. Even after Kami expressed her views, the opposition parties did not agree to the proposal of only one person speaking. After she finished speaking, other opposition MPs also started demanding to speak by standing up from their respective seats. Then Speaker Aryal again urged, 'My request to all the honorable members from the opposition bench is that since one honorable member has already spoken representing all of you, let's proceed to the daily agenda.' However, the opposition parties did not heed the Speaker's request. On June 17, Prime Minister Balendra Shah had made a statement in the House of Representatives while answering questions from MPs, saying, 'India has not only encroached upon Nepal's land, but Nepal has also encroached upon India's land in many places.' Taking this statement as a basis, the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Nepali Communist Party, Shram Sanskriti Party, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party have been continuously protesting. The opposition parties have been demanding that the Prime Minister present the facts of his statement, or otherwise withdraw the statement from the rostrum of the House of Representatives and apologize. Stating that the protest has been focused on the same issue for a long time, Speaker Aryal made a final request. 'Listening to everyone, the subject matter is the same. Therefore, to make the session dignified and to keep track of time, I would like to request cooperation from the opposition bench by having one person speak to move today's meeting forward,' he said. However, as the opposition parties did not agree, the Speaker gave time to speak to Asuda Baral of UML, Bhimkumari Buda of Nepali Communist Party, Purnaprasad Limbu of Shram Sanskriti Party, and Khushbu Oli of Rastriya Prajatantra Party respectively.