Kathmandu. The political parties have threatened to boycott the elections as they have not included the issues of Dalits, minorities and Genji youths in their manifestos for the election to the House of Representatives scheduled for March 4. At a press conference held at Sambad Dabali in the capital on Wednesday, the stakeholders warned of launching a campaign to boycott such candidates.
Genji leader Bibek Thapa questioned the slogan of ‘vote for new’ and said that the parties that have been in power for a long time cannot be called new. He also objected to the tendency of collaborating with those involved in cooperative fraud in the name of Dalit liberation. Thapa urged the parties to support only those who raise the issues of oppressed, Dalit and backward classes.
Genji leader Sarishma Thapa, who has been staging a hunger strike for 53 days, accused the government formed after the Genji movement of not addressing the demands of the movement. She said that although they had been on sit-in for 53 days, the demands were limited to paper documents. “It is not acceptable to us that Genji youths are being blindfolded and asked to vote,” she said. Those who ordered firing in the Jenji movement in the name of elections and burnt down Singha Durbar have also become candidates. Which we didn’t want. Sarishma said it would not be meaningful to hold the election without making the report of the probe commission public. She also warned that she would not vote until the truth about the events of September 23 and 24 was made public.
President of Dalit Non-Governmental Federation JB Bishwakarma said that although the Dalit community has been participating in the elections since 2048 BS, their fundamental rights were still not guaranteed. Saying that Dalits have been deprived of their rights, he said, “Dalits have votes, but water will not. According to him, the laws related to Dalit rights mentioned in Articles 24 and 40 of the constitution have not been formulated even after 10 years of the promulgation of the constitution.
Accusing the political parties of being indifferent to the issues of Dalits, he said that the candidates who do not address the issues of Dalits will be boycotted in the upcoming elections. He further said that although the CPN (Maoist) had encouraged Dalit liberation and inter-caste marriage during the people’s war, these commitments were not implemented after the peace process. Speaking at the program, advocate Chakraman Biswakarma said that the issue of social justice has been overshadowed by the Zenji rebellion. According to him, the political parties have not included the issue of implementing the constitutional rights of Dalits and women in their manifestos.
“Candidates are seeking votes with dreams of development, but no one has gone door-to-door with the issues of justice and equality,” he said. Stating that the parliament is the forum for making laws and ensuring social justice rather than development, he urged the people to vote only for the candidates who are in favour of social justice.
On the occasion, Kathmandu Constituency No. Candidate of Province 5 Shyam Kaji Sunuwar accused the old parties of not reforming and those who call themselves new are also lacking a clear agenda. He argued that the Rastriya Swatantra Party had only the objective of making a new prime minister and not a new agenda. Accusing Balendra Shah of being made the Prime Minister by Facebook, he claimed that Balen and Ravi had agreed to settle the fraud case.
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