The 297^th Prithvi Jayanti, the birthday of late Shah King Prithvi Narayan Shah, is being observed across the nation on Friday.  The day is also celebrated as National Unity Day.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari reached in front of Singha Durbar and garlanded the life-size statue of the builder of the nation—Prithivi Naryan Shah. She said that Nepalis are proud citizen of a sovereign nation due to the bravery and sacrifices of our ancestors. She also expected that the unifier Prithvi Narayan Shah's views will be inspirational to lead the nation towards prosperity as the incumbent government's goal of 'Prosperous Nepal: Happy Nepali'.

Likewise, a contingent of Nepal Army presented a guard of honour to President Bhandari. Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Raghubir Mahaseth, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Banskota and former Council of Ministers chair Khilraj Regmi were also there to pay tributes to the King Prithvi Narayan Shah.

Members of general public also gathered in front of the nation’s main administrative building Singha Durbar to offer floral tribute to the statue of the late King Shah, who is credited for unifying Nepal.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli praised King Prithvi Narayan for his role in unification campaign. He said no one could have imagined Nepal in this form if Prithvi Narayan Shah had not led the campaign. He, however, ruled out the possibility of reinstating monarchy in the country. “It is sheer stupidity to dream the reinstatement of monarchy linking. Such dreamers are regressive ones indeed,” he said.

Similarly, Chief Minister of Karnali Province Mahendra Bahadur Shahi has said that the contributions made by Prithvi Narayan Shah should be analysed. RPP (Democratic) had submitted a memo to the CM demanding to observe the national unity day as a public holiday. CM Shahi said that Prithvi Jayanti is a national concern and everybody should be satisfied before drawing conclusion.

In Nepalgunj, the authority has decided to grant public holiday on the occasion of 297^thPrithvi Jayanti. A meeting of the municipal executive committee held on Thursday announced to close all local bodies, government offices and educational institutions under the sub-metropolitan city on Friday.

Traditionally celebrated as a public holiday, the government stopped celebrating Nepali calendar Poush 27 as national unity day following the political change brought by the second people’s movement in 2006. The first meeting of the government led by Girija Prasad Koirala removed the status of national unity day and holiday in 2006. However, the public enthusiasm for the unity day has not come to cease.

King Prithvi Naryan Shah, a king enthroned at the age of 20 in princely state Gorkha, envisioned to expand his kingdom and started unifying other princely states in 1745. After conquering Kathmandu Valley in 1768, he became monarch of modern day Nepal, a hereditary rule that ended in 2008 with the last king being Gyanendra Shah.