Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has reportedly said his life is in danger as he has been speaking against India these days.
According to reports, Mr. Dahal said in a programme on Saturday that King Birendra Shah and CPN-UML leader Madan Bhandari were killed “because they were nationalists” and that they had chosen not to be close with India. He said his fate could be the same.
Sunday’s newspapers carried the news, but Mr. Dahal later clarified that his remarks were distorted and that he did not mean it that way.
“I just wanted to raise an issue that may be Birendra was killed because he wanted to import arms from China, and Bhandari maybe because he took the side of protecting national sovereignty,” Mr. Dahal said.
King Birendra Shah was killed along with all his family members in a massacre in 2001 while Bhandari was killed in a jeep accident in 1993.
Federalism opposed
Life in Kathmandu was partially affected on Sunday as a bandh was called by the Rastriya Janamorcha party which maintains that federalism would only break the nation. Although it was decided by the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly in 2008 that the country would be turned federal, the party believes federalism is not required in Nepal.
