Anti-India protest by Nepal oppn party

Nepal’s main opposition CPN-UML party on Monday accused India of interfering in the country’s internal affairs as its students’ wing staged a protest outside the Indian embassy in Kathmandu.

A day after India described the registration of a bill in Parliament to amend the Constitution to address the demands of agitating Madhes-based parties as an “important” step, the CPN-UML said this amounted to a “grave intervention” in Nepal’s internal matters. Student and youth leaders Rajiv Pahari, Nabina Lama, Niraj Labaju and Tilak Thapa, who are close to several left wing parties, asked staffers of the Indian embassy “not to interfere in Nepal’s political affairs”. The activists were stopped some 300 metres from the embassy.

The CPN-UML also accused India of putting pressure on Nepal to approve the constitutional amendment bill.

The party’s activists criticised Indian ambassador Ranjit Rae, alleging that his actions went against diplomatic norms and decorum.

On Saturday, Rae held a breakfast meeting with Madhes-based leaders and urged them to accept the constitutional amendment bill which they had rejected.

Several student unions affiliated to political parties, including the left wing CPN-ML, Rastriya Janamorcha, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and CPN-Maoist, joined hands with the CPNUML’s youth wing for the protest.

A group of opposition parties, including the CPN-UML, has been opposing the bill on the grounds that it is “anti-national”.

These parties have obstructed the proceedings of Parliament since last Wednesday.

Nepal has been deeply polarised since the constitutional amendment bill was registered in Parliament.