Even as discussion on national flag, national anthem, national animal, and other emblems is underway in the Constitutional Committee (CC) of the CA, opinions of the lawmakers have differed on other national emblems as well.UCPN (Maoist) leader Dev Gurung stated that the current national flag should be changed so as to reflect the nationalities in the country. Gurung claimed that the current flag represented the royal dynasty and hence would be inappropriate in the changed political context. “The current national flag must be changed,” he said. He also suggested that the flag be designed in a way with symbols to represent the number of provinces in the country. However, Amrita Thapa, lawmaker from the same party, said that the present flag could be retained by redefining the symbols -- the sun and the moon.
NC leader Bimalendra Nidhi argued, however, argued that there was no point in linking the current flag with monarchy. “Former kings used a different flag and scepter as their symbols. They did not use the national flag. We should give continuity to the current flag by redefining the symbols,” Nidhi said.
Agni Kharel of the CPN-UML also echoed Nidhi´s view urging the CA members not to link everything to royalties unnecessarily. Those who were against changing the flag argued that the current flag should be given continuity as it is known the world over for its uniqueness.
CA members Chhavi Lal BK, CP Mainali, Sharada Jha and Kul Bahadur Gurung, among others, stood in favor of giving continuity to the current flag, while Bishwendra Paswan, Sarita Giri, Shadrul Miya Haque and Sarala Regmi, among others, were for changing it.
CC Chairman Nilambar Acharya said in the meeting that the CA members should give a second thought before taking any decision on the national flag issue. Meanwhile, Madhesi CA members also threw their lot in favor of retaining the current national flag by changing its blue borders with green.
A majority of leaders in the meeting also proposed to change the national animal. They argued that cow had become an irrelevant symbol after Nepal was declared a secular state. Instead, the leaders proposed that rhino be made the national animal.
Some other CA members said that the crimson color, lophophorus, rhododendron and cow need not be mentioned as national symbols in the new constitution.
thira@myrepublica.com
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