Siraha, Sept 13: A dispute broke out while Education and Sports Minister Sasmit Pokharel was attending a programme organised by Aurahi Rural Municipality in Siraha to collect suggestions for the curriculum.
The dispute arose while Minister Pokharel, the chief guest at the programme, was addressing the gathering. The event was attended by Pokharel, members of the House of Representatives Shiva Yadav and Purushottam Yadav, Siraha District Coordination Committee Chair Dinesh Mahato, local elected representatives and teachers.
According to Mahato, he complained after Minister Pokharel, who arrived late following Rural Municipality Chair Shivji Yadav, was handed the microphone directly to address the gathering. Mahato said teachers and other elected representatives attending the event had also expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of an opportunity to speak and the way the programme was being conducted.
He alleged that some people accompanying the minister behaved disrespectfully toward them, saying, “This is not a programme for politicians to speak.”
“This was not just my complaint. The teachers and other elected representatives attending the programme also had the same concern,” Mahato said. “But some people who came with the minister tried to silence us in a disrespectful manner. If the voices of elected representatives from the district are not heard, what kind of suggestion collection programme is this?”
The dispute intensified after the mobile phone of Santosh Yadav, Aurahi Rural Municipality chair of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, was allegedly seized while he was recording video from his seat.
According to Mahato, a person accompanying Minister Pokharel instructed members of the Nepal Army to take Yadav’s phone. This led to further commotion at the venue.
As the dispute escalated, Minister Pokharel cut short his remarks and left the programme with the assistance of security personnel.
RSP lawmaker Shiva Yadav, meanwhile, accused Mahato, chair of the Siraha District Coordination Committee, of being primarily responsible for the dispute.
The curriculum suggestion collection programme turned contentious after the two sides presented conflicting accounts of what triggered the incident.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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