The presence of two controversial religious leaders at a Gen Z Martyrs’ Day programme held at the old Parliament building in New Baneshwar on Tuesday has sparked controversy, with lawmakers from the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party questioning why the two were given prominent places on the stage.

Controversial religious figures Bijay Bhandari and Acharya Shreeniwas attended the programme, which was organised to commemorate those killed during last year’s Gen Z movement.

RSP whip Krantishikha Dhital questioned what the presence of religious leaders at a programme honouring the movement’s martyrs was meant to signify.

“After watching the programme held in memory of the Gen Z martyrs, I am speechless,” Dhital wrote on social media. “I felt that, in some way, we were insulting the Gen Z martyrs and injured protesters. I don’t know why the stage was set up that way. What was the purpose of having those religious leaders there?”

RSP lawmaker Amresh Singh also questioned the decision to give the two religious figures prominent positions while ministers were seated behind them.

“What is the government trying to say by placing controversial religious leaders at the front of the stage during a Gen Z martyrs’ programme and putting ministers behind them?” Singh said.

Acharya Shreeniwas has faced allegations of using religion to promote extremism. Police records show that he has previously made provocative statements at religious gatherings, including an occasion when he brandished a khukuri, and that he once arranged for himself to be shot as part of a staged incident.

Police arrested him in Kathmandu on May 7, 2018, on charges of inciting religious and communal violence by allegedly ordering an associate to shoot him.

The 2018 shooting was later investigated by Morang police, who found that Shreeniwas himself had planned it.

In another incident, he was arrested on October 3, 2023, in connection with a speech he delivered at a religious assembly in Janakpur on September 29, which police said had incited violence. A team from the Central Investigation Bureau, working with local police, arrested him at his ashram in Barahakshetra, Sunsari.

The other religious figure, Bhandari, who is also known as Bijaykrishnamurti, has been arrested multiple times in connection with fraud cases, according to the report. He came under scrutiny after allegedly collecting money from hundreds of people on the promise of taking them to religious programmes in the United States.

The controversy over the pair’s presence prompted Ganesh Chaulagain of the Gen Z Martyrs Welfare Society to defend their participation. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he said both men were associated with the welfare organisation.

“Let’s not just focus on opposing the government. It is wrong for the RSP whip to create such a narrative,” Chaulagain said. “How the families of the martyrs find happiness and what makes them happy is entirely a matter for those families.”

Bhandari said he attended the programme because he had long been in contact with families of injured protesters, martyrs and members of the welfare society.

“There had already been discussions about honouring the martyrs’ families at the memorial programme and holding religious rituals in their memory,” Bhandari told Kantipur. “That was how we came into contact. We later supported them in various ways, and I was introduced to them through Shreeniwas Acharya.”

He said they had also discussed holding religious programmes, including Saptaha, a week-long recitation ceremony, and Mahayagya, a major religious ritual, around the anniversary of the martyrs’ deaths. He said the organisers had repeatedly approached the government to discuss commemorating and honouring the martyrs and meeting families of the injured.

“That was how we came into contact,” he said.

Shreeniwas, meanwhile, said he had personally overseen the stage arrangements for the programme, which was attended by government ministers.