NEPALGUNJ, March 4: Nepali Congress Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel on Wednesday accused the ruling Maoists of trying to manipulate public opinion with a view to impose an authoritarian rule through the new constitution. [break]
“Incidents in various places including Rukum show that the Maoists are working in a planned manner to manipulate public opinion,” said Poudel, addressing a press meet in Nepalgunj Wednesday.
He claimed that the Maoists are trying to impose their ideology instead of collecting people’s opinion on the new constitution. “The Maoist attitude has raised questions over the rationale for collecting opinion from the public,” he said. “We warn the Maoists to mend ways.”
He also said that Nepali Congress will raise objections if public opinion was influenced in Maoist favor.
Poudel also alleged that the Maoists were following late King Mahendra’s path by proposing to ban political parties under various pretexts. “King Mahendra tried to ban the parties in the name of anti-nationalist elements and the Maoists want to do the same thing in the name of feudal forces,” said Poudel. “Who will define what is feudal if a provision to ban feudal parties is brought in the constitution?” Poudel was referring to draft of new constitution made public by Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) a couple of days ago.
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