CPN Chief Whip Criticizes PM Balen Shah's Parliament Statement on Border Issues

Kathmandu. Communist Party of Nepal Chief Whip Yuvraj Dulal has accused Prime Minister Balen Shah's statement on border issues given in parliament of being against national interest, baseless, and surrenderist. Speaking in a special time during the House of Representatives meeting on Monday, he expressed serious objection to the Prime Minister's statement. 

Although the Prime Minister's presence to answer questions as per the demand for accountability to parliament is positive, his views on the border dispute are unforgivable, he said. Chief Whip Dulal claimed that the Prime Minister's statement lacked the necessary national stance, diplomatic maturity, and strong will to reclaim Nepal's encroached land. 

He commented that comparing the issue of Nepali citizens cultivating land in border areas with the Indian army occupying land by parading on Nepali soil is a serious national surrenderist mindset. He recalled that Nepal's official claim of approximately 60,000 hectares of Nepali land, including Lipulek, Limpiyadhura, and Kalapani, being encroached upon by India is alive, and argued that it is not appropriate to compare this historical fact with cross-border cultivation at the border pillar. 

He interpreted the clarification issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in defense of the Prime Minister's statement as an attempt to lie and distort facts. He argued that such a statement from the Prime Minister coming on the eve of the ruling party chairman's visit to India raises serious doubts. Expressing anger from the rostrum of the parliament, Dulal said, 'Yesterday, the state had to bear great loss due to the foolishness given by the majority, lack of experience, ignorance of the importance of diplomatic language, and the peak of stunt style.'

He stated that the country's top position is not just of enthusiasm but of wisdom, experience, knowledge, and responsibility, and that 'new' friends should learn a serious lesson from this. Commenting that the Prime Minister bringing up the context of the then British (UK) government is another peak of surrenderism, he added, 'What is even more surprising is that the Prime Minister rushed to make this statement on the eve of the ruling party chairman's visit to India; is it not a gift given to India on the occasion of the India visit? Serious doubt has arisen.'

Dulal said that it is gross ignorance for the Prime Minister to say that Nepal has encroached upon India's land when India itself has not claimed that Nepal has encroached on its borders, and the Nepali army is not occupying any Indian land. He asserted that the Prime Minister's response is anti-national and surrenderist in the matter of reclaiming every inch of encroached land that ancestors saved by sacrificing their lives, and expressed determination not to let the session proceed or the meeting continue until the Prime Minister withdraws the incorrect statement made in parliament.