EDITORIAL
Still, the nation is not clear about the performance of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, a newcomer in Nepali politics. A little hope that the party had shown by its leaders expressing the commitment to end all kinds of anomalies in the country. Unfortunately, its chair Rabi Lamichhane has lost the post of the member of parliament, including the post of the deputy prime minister and home minister and party chairman following the Supreme Court verdict on 27 January. The Court said that Lamichhane had used an already expired Nepali citizenship. Lamichhane took American citizenship but he didn’t surrender his Nepali citizenship. Later, he surrendered his US citizenship and used the same old Nepali citizenship instead of taking a new citizenship by producing evidence of suspension of his American citizenship. This is the crime committed by Lamichhane.
In the Nepali political context, we have seen leaders including Sujata Jost, daughter of Girija Koirala, who had married a German national but later became the deputy prime minister and foreign minister; Dr Narayan Khadka, who married a Canadian national and enjoyed Canadian green card, became minister time and again. Rajendra Mahato, Anuradha Koirala, Renu Dahal Pathak, Ganga Dahal Pradhan, Devendraraj Kandel, Minendra Rijal are said to have been enjoying dual citizenship. They are enjoying political posts in Nepal. Many of the people residing in Nepal-India bordering cities are holding Nepali citizenship and also Indian ration cards. Many Nepalis in foreign countries are holding the green card and Nepali citizenship as well. Lamichhane alone is not an exception, nevertheless, once he surrendered his American citizenship, automatically, he becomes a Nepali citizen by descent. We believe, Lamichhane didn’t commit a big crime and didn’t create any loss to the nation, however, he neglected the country’s law. Therefore, instead of disqualifying the 20 November election of the Chitwan 2 electoral constituency, some sort of warning was enough for punishment against Lamichhane.
Many serious cases are impending in the court. For instance, Agni Sapkota, who is facing a murder case, later became the speaker. His case is still impending. The court has not finalized the case on illegally occupying valuable Lalita Niwas government land in Baluatar. The case against severe human rights violations by different political leaders is also impending. Meanwhile, the case against Lamichhane was moved through a fast track. Such an act of the court exhibits its double standard.
We always advocate for rule of law and good governance. We, thus want the court and corruption control bodies should be autonomous, powerful and impartial. The anti-corruption body should be able to catch big fish, as well as, the court should be able to move all the cases impartially. The law of the nation should be equal to all and not be mandatory for a particular individual only.
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