CPN Leader Jhakkaprasad Subedi Criticizes Government for Undermining Parliament

Kathmandu. Nepali Communist Party National Assembly Parliamentary Party Leader Jhakkaprasad Subedi has accused the government of trying to rule through ordinances by undermining the supremacy of parliament. Addressing the ongoing National Assembly session, he cautioned the government not to insult the collective wisdom of the elected representatives. 

Subedi believes that bringing ordinances abruptly without the session commencing, even when the parliamentary session has been called, is contrary to democratic values, norms, and the tradition of a multi-party system. Leader Subedi recalled that Article 114 of the constitution envisages ordinances only in special circumstances requiring immediate action, claiming the government has misused its power. 

Specifically criticizing the ordinance related to the Constitutional Council, he stated that the provision of considering a majority of three out of six members as sufficient is mathematically and legally flawed. He noted that the principle of separation of powers is challenged as the government seeks to exercise the powers of the judiciary and legislature through the executive. 

Focusing on economic issues, Subedi criticized the government for seeking to set records by taking foreign loans without a plan. He accused the government of not consulting with the opposition during budget formulation and trying to make the national budget seem like a budget for a specific party. Subedi demanded justification for the loans and for the budget to be inclusive. 

"The process of bringing ordinances by bypassing the parliament is against democracy. The government, with the support of a two-thirds majority, resorting to ordinances on serious matters has raised new questions in Nepali politics," Subedi said. "The country cannot smile while making lakhs of landless squatters cry; it is the government's responsibility to manage them properly before displacement, but the government seems to revel in repression."

Leader Subedi commented that the government has lost human sensitivity in the name of landless squatter management. He termed the creation of terror by operating bulldozers without proper alternatives and management as a "crime against humanity." 

He argued that the government must take responsibility for the deaths along the Bagmati river and the suicides of landless squatters. Subedi also warned the government against proceeding arbitrarily, advising it to adhere to the rule of law and arithmetic.