Paswan, who has been leading the protests of five lawmakers in the Constituent Assembly (CA) and in the legislature-parliament, not only protested against the CC decision, but also tore his own shirt apart. Other lawmakers Buddharatna Manandhar, Rukmini Chaudhary and Saddrul Miya Haq have been backing him in the protests.[break]
When Acharya ordered him to behave as per the parliamentary norms and etiquettes, Paswan challenged Acharya to shoot at him. “Who are you to warn me? You can shoot at me if you have courage,” a member quoted Paswan as saying at the meeting. He tore his shirt and bared his chest toward the chairman saying he was ready to brave the bullets. He was later found roaming around the parliament secretariat bare-chested.
The four lawmakers have been obstructing the CC meetings as well as parliament procedures accusing the leaders of neglecting the concerns of dalits, Muslim and marginalized communities for several weeks.
Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress (NC) parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said that they would address their concerns through a proper mechanism.
The leaders at the meeting agreed to hold an all-party meeting and then form a small team to study their issues and recommend solutions. But the agitating lawmakers demanded the top leaders´ commitment in writing.
A lawmaker present there said some of the members were terrorized when Paswan went berserk, pounding his chest and shouting continuously. “If the doors of the meeting hall were open and if I were allowed to go outside, I wouldn´t have stayed there for a moment,” said a woman lawmaker.
According to officials at the CA secretariat, a table that he banged has received cracks. Over 50 sheets of papers snatched from Acharya´s folder by Paswan were torn into pieces. Later officials collected the pieces.
Paswan is the same lawmaker who had thrown away a chair from the fourth floor of parliament building, where the CC meeting was underway in April.
Subcommittee term extended
Leaders at the meeting agreed to extend the term of the subcommittee formed under the CC to settle the disputes in constitution writing till May 27. UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Dahal heads the body and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal from CPN-UML, parliamentary party leader Paudel from the NC and Upendra Yadav of Madhesi People´s Rights Forum, among others, are its members.
The CC, which is mandated to prepare an integrated draft of the new constitution, formed the dispute settlement subcommittee on February 25. The subcommittee earlier reduced the number of contentious points from 75 to 30. But it ran out of steam and failed to make much headway after its term was extended for the first time on March 15.
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