Describing the present situation of the country, Secretary General of UML Madhav Kumar Nepal had, in the programme, proposed to all parties to forge alliance and show commitment for the peace rally.
Promising his party’s solidarity to the CPN-UML’s proposal of taking out a peace-rally, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) president and former premier Surya Bahadur Thapa said that today’s meeting was a must since the nation was in a very critical condition facing communal conflicts which the country had never experienced in its millenniums-long history.
“The true and honest political commitment form all the political parties, institutions and common people is the most important thing to defeat all types of racial and communal feelings,” Thapa said.
He, however, blamed the successive governments for not being able to bring all the communities in the right path towards the task of nation building and its overall development.
Former prime minister and leader of the RPP Lokendra Bahadur Chand said that national unity cannot be realized when one Nepali attacks another Nepali just because of colour, caste and class.
“We should never ever forget that all the races and communities constitute the nation and when one race or community is at the risk the whole nation suffers,” he said.
Nepali Congress spokesman Narahari Acharya said that the country now needs two plans—immediate and long-term ones to fight against such feelings.
“The effects of past few days incidents that undermined the communal harmony of the nation that is well know for its virtues like tolerance and mutual understanding are unfortunate,” Acharya said.
Other speakers—former chief justice Surendra Prasad Singh, vice-chancellor of Kathmandu University Suresh Raj Sharma, former speaker Daman Nath Dhungana, chairman of the FNCCI Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, Human Rights activist Kapil Shrestha, artiste Basundhara Bhusal, writer Dhruba Chandra Gautam, journalist Govind Biyogi, monk Ashwoghosh and representatives from religious groups – said that the concerned authorities should be very serious regarding such cases and that the civil societies and common people think twice before joining the activities which harm national unity, mutual harmony and co-existence.
They all reiterated nation-wide rally could show that all the parties are serious regarding national unity and that violence harms the nation.