Purna Bahadur Khadka Issues First Statement as Outgoing Acting President

April 21, Kathmandu – Following the Supreme Court’s hearing on the Nepali Congress dispute, Purna Bahadur Khadka has issued his first press statement as the outgoing acting president. In the statement released Tuesday, Khadka expressed his objection to the government’s decision to dissolve student organizations and the Free Student Union. He described student organizations as the backbone of Nepal’s proud political history. Khadka also noted that through the Free Student Union, the country attained a federal democratic republican system, enabling the Nepalese people to enjoy the highest level of civil liberties.

“During the dark era of the party-less autocratic Panchayat system, when political parties were banned,” the release stated, “student unions organized on ideological grounds courageously led the campaign that kindled the flame of democracy, raised public awareness, and initiated rebellion against dictatorship.” The statement interprets the recent decision by the government led by Balendra Shah to dissolve student unions and the Free Student Union—once considered the nursery of democracy—as an authoritarian move. Khadka’s full press release reads as follows: