President Ram Baran Yadav, as per the decision of the cabinet, prorogued the House session and sent a letter to this effect to parliament following a mid-night meeting at his residence with Prime Minister Madav Kumar Nepal. [break]
Immediately after the President prorogued the House, Prime Minister Nepal convened an emergency cabinet meeting and decided to bring the budget through an ordinance at 4 pm on Saturday. A special resolution passed by the meeting said, “The Council of Ministers strongly condemns the vandalism and manhandling in parliament. These anarchical activities are aimed at pushing the country toward a serious financial crisis.”
Justifying the cabinet decision to bring the budget through ordinance, Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said, “Since the secrecy about tax rates were leaked after the scuffle in parliament we had no option but to announce the budget through ordinance.”
Earlier in parliament, Maoist lawmakers had disrupted the House session and resorted to vandalism and manhandling soon after Speaker Subas Nembang permitted Finance Minister Pandey to table the budget.
Maoist lawmaker Chandra Bahadur Thapa manhandled Pandey and snatched the briefcase containing the budget booklet. Other Maoist lawmakers also manhandled some ministers and lawmakers belonging to the ruling party. Following the confrontation, Speaker Nembang adjourned the House till December 2.
The government has accused the Maoist party of breaching an agreement reached between Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal late in the evening to allow the government to table a full budget in parliament.
Addressing a press conference on parliament premises at midnight, Finance Minister Pandey claimed that the Maoist chairman had told Prime Minister Nepal that his party, as a responsible opposition, would allow the government to present a budget and would only register a symbolic protest. “You all have seen what happened at parliament,” Pandey told the reporters.
The government and the Maoists were at loggerheads over the budget for a long time until three parties—Maoist, NC and UML – reached a decision to bring the budget, during the last round of tripartite talks held at Gokarna Resort. However, differences persisted between the government and the Maoists about what should be the right process for presenting the budget in parliament as the latter kept on changing their stance.
Maoist Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha, however, accused the government of trying to bulldoze the opposition. “The government tried to bring a full-fledged budget, which was not what we had agreed to,” he said, adding, “We had agreed with the parties that the government will introduce a budget only to resolve the financial crisis by amending Article 96. It means the government will present only a Finance Bill that confers powers to spend only two-thirds of the previous budget.”
Parties deplore manhandling
Ruling parties, the prime minister, the speaker and various political leaders have deplored the manhandling of ministers and vandalism in parliament by Maoist lawmakers.
Major ruling parties –NC, CPN-UML, MPRF (D) and TMDP among others - who met shortly after the confrontation at parliament, issued a joint statement condemning the incident. “The incident is a mockery of the sovereign parliament elected by the people.” It further added: “It’s a serious conspiracy against democracy.”
They have also demanded that the speaker probe the incident and book those involved in manhandling and vandalism in parliament. They urged the government to bring a budget as soon as possible in view of the looming financial crisis.
Talking to media while emerging from the parliament building, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said, “These types of activities should be denounced from all sides.”
Nepali Congress leader Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said the incident of manhandling and vandalism vindicated the view that the Maoists do not believe in any constitutional system.
“This substantiates the fact that they believe in terror. They do not believe in the rule of law,” he said.
Dr Mahat alleged that the Maoists breached the understanding reached two days ago to bring a new budget. “They also breached the understanding reached today. The Maoists had agreed to play the role of a constructive opposition party,” he said.
I will take action against guilty: Speaker Nembang
While terming the manhandling and vandalism in parliament on the part of Maoist lawmakers as ‘unfortunate’ and ‘deplorable’, Speaker Subash Nembang has vowed to take action against the guilty in the incident.
“The incidents that have taken place today are unfortunate and regrettable happenings in our entire parliamentary history,” Speaker Nembang said while emerging from parliament. “I express deep sorrow and regret over the incidents.”
Nembang said there have been incidents of manhandling and thrashing in parliament. “The vandalism has caused a great loss in the assembly hall,” he said, adding: “I will take action according to existing law against those involved in the incidents.”
Asked why he did not issue a ruling to avert such a situation, Speaker Nembang said, “You all have seen the incident. I do not want to make any comment on this. The guilty will be punished as per parliamentary regulations.”
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