President's Advisor Chiranjeevi Nepal (File Photo)
Civil society members have taken strong exception to the President’s Advisor Chiranjeevi Nepal’s controversial statement on the government’s decision to print a new 100-rupee note with a pointed map of Nepal.
Talking to Desh Sanchar, a news portal based in Nepal, on May 5, 2024, Mr Nepal said, “The decision of the government has come at the most inappropriate time and without thinking of its larger implications.”
Issuing a press note on Wednesday, former ambassador to India, Nilamber Acharya, Suryanath Upadhyay, the former head, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Sushil Pyakurel, the former commissioner, National Human Rights Commission and senior journalist Kanak Mani Dixit sought Nepal’s resignation describing his statement as “irresponsible” and “against the national interest."
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“In order to keep the position of the President of the Republic above controversy, we demand an immediate retraction from the Office of the President and the removal of Chiranjeevi Nepal from his responsibilities as advisor,” reads the press note issued by the civil society members.
Similarly, on May 6, speaking to BBC Nepali Service, the president’s advisor described the decision to allow the Nepal Rastra Bank to use the map from the amended Constitution as an “irresponsible diversion” and made further problematic comments about sovereignty.
Civil Society members in the press note further said that Mr Nepal’s irresponsible public comments have damaged the propriety and position of Nepal’s constitutional head-of-state.
Pyakurel, who issued this statement, is also a former adviser to the President. He was an adviser to former President Bidya Devi Bhandari. Acharya and Upadhyay are members of the Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG) on Nepal-India relations.
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