BRB lashes out at Gyanendra, again

BRB lashes out at Gyanendra, again

KATHMANDU, AUG 01 -

UCPN (Maoist) leader Baburam Bhattarai has vented ire at the recent activities of former king Gyanendra Shah.

In his Facebook post on Wednesday, the former prime minister said it is his “moral duty as a conscious and responsible citizen to ring the warning bell about former king Gyanendra’s recent activities driven by counter-revolutionary motives.”

“I would not be surprised by the illusion created among the people by the publicity of Gyanendra’s move to distribute relief aid while forgetting what he said during his overt and covert counter-revolutionary actions,” Bhattarai wrote in his post. He said that though he respected the devotion of former royalists, he cannot agree with them.

Bhattarai raised objections to the “fact” that the former king has not made any “public commitment about the historic achievements made through the heroic sacrifice of the people for republic, federalism, secularism, inclusive democracy and fundamentals of a new constitution.”

He added that the Kamal Thapa-led Rastriya Prajatanra Party-Nepal, which he said has the “blessings” of Gyanendra, has been openly claiming that it would reinstate the monarchy through a revolt if not through consensus or elections.

Referring to Gyanendra’s recent visits to districts, Bhattarai said, “I don’t think we need to wait long to understand the motive of Gyanendra’s visits. Nepal is the only example in the world where a deposed king has been given a free rein.”

On July 23 too, Bhattarai had fired a verbal salvo at Gyanendra. “If I were in power, I would send him (Gyanendra) to jail for his anti-election activities,” Bhattarai had then said.