The main opposition, Nepali Congress, has announced protests against the government, specifically targeting Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Rabi Lamichhane, who faces charges of misuse of cooperative funds.

“A joint meeting of the congress central working committee and parliamentary party on Wednesday decided to hold demonstrations starting Sunday demanding a parliamentary investigation against Lamichhane, who is accused of embezzling millions of rupees from credit cooperatives in Butwal, Pokhara and Chitwan,” said Nepali Congress spokesperson Prakash Sharan Mahat after the meeting.

The party has also instructed its sister organisations to organise protests against the “government’s protection of the cooperative fraudsters” starting Friday and expand these protests and demonstrations at the local level.

“The way the home minister presented himself against Nepali Congress leaders and issued a veiled threat against some Congress leaders including General Secretary Gagan Thapa and others has made us serious,” an office bearer of the party told the Post.

Over two dozen central working committee members as well as lawmakers spoke at the Wednesday meeting.

“The government forced a confidence vote [in Parliament] by muzzling the main opposition and other opposition parties,” a statement issued by the party said. “It shows the government is trying to invite confrontation in the House, bypass the parliamentary process, evade questions, silence the opposition parties as well as the voices of cooperatives’ victims.”

“On the one hand, the ruling parties have disrupted the process of discussions on crucial issues including policy corruption, people’s livelihoods, development plans and budgetary issues, plus lawmaking, and on the other hand they have also colluded to remain silent on several issues in which they are involved.”

And outside Parliament, the government is trying to silence those who question it by putting pressure on and influencing them. Unconstitutional and undemocratic moves were made in the provinces through province heads, reads the statement.

“We condemn such tendencies of the government. It is our conclusion that the government is becoming irresponsible, illiberal, arbitrary, undemocratic and totalitarian. Nepali Congress deplores such tendencies and has decided to oppose them resolutely in the federal parliament and provincial assemblies and out in the streets,” said the party’s statement.

The Congress office bearer said that the home minister’s unsubstantiated accusations against Congress leaders was intolerable. “Time has come to show the party’s strength in the house as well as in the streets.”

The party also took exception to the arrest of Kailash Sirohiya, chairman of the Kantipur Media Group (KMG), and concluded that it was an attempt to muzzle the Nepali press and threaten its very existence.

A team of Nepal Police on Tuesday arrested Sirohiya from his office on the charge of forging citizenship documents. He is currently under judicial custody in Dhanusha, Janakpur.

During the meeting, according to the multiple Nepali Congress leaders, several leaders and lawmakers demanded the resignation of the home minister, concluding that the government is increasingly marching on a totalitarian path.

“Now onwards, the Congress should make the home minister’s resignation its single agenda and stand resolutely for it,” said a Congress office bearer. “Then the party should call for the formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate Lamichhane and should not stop its protest until the government agrees to its demand.”

Although the major political parties were ready to form the parliamentary panel and also constituted a task force, disagreements over its terms of reference stalled the process.

Congress spokesman Mahat said provincial and district committees of the party will announce their separate protest programmes against the government and home minister.

“Until now, we have been calling for a parliamentary probe against the home minister. But this is no longer just about Rabi Lamichhane, as the alliance is trying to weaken the constitution. In such a situation, the Nepali Congress will not remain a bystander,” Mahat said after the meeting.

The arrest of Kantipur Chairman Kailash Sirohiya was widely discussed in the meeting, and almost all central working committee members condemned it. The meeting also denounced the government’s attempts to muzzle the media and terrorise journalists.

“We deplore such activities of the government and demand a free and fair environment for the media,” the party said in its statement.

“The government is duping citizens, protecting criminals and attacking the constitution, democracy and democratic values, and it is headed towards authoritarianism. The meeting also called for justice for millions of cooperative victims, formation of a parliamentary probe committee against the home minister and urged the government to take action against those involved in the cooperative scam,” said Mahat.

“The way the home administration presented itself while arresting Sirohiya from his own office was totally a vendetta,” said Mahat. “We deplore the arbitrary arrest, which was motivated by a series of news published by Kantipur in favour of the cooperative victims.”

Besides criticising the role and activities of the home minister and the government, some lawmakers also came down hard on the role of Speaker Devraj Ghimire. Despite obstruction from the Nepali Congress, Speaker Ghimire had started the House session to allow the Prime Minister Dahal to seek a trust vote on Monday.

“To ask for justice for 75,000 cooperative victims and in order to ensure the return of their deposits, the party has decided to voice its concerns in the street and in Parliament,” said Ajay Babu Siwakoti, a central working committee member. “We will expand such protests at the provincial and local levels.

Besides Siwakoti, Nain Singh Mahar and several other central working committee members also were firm on their demand for the home minister’s resignation. “It is no longer a question of just probing the home minister. Now, he must resign,” said Mahar.

He labelled the decision to arrest the KMG chairman as being motivated by “vendetta and revenge, which means the home minister no longer has any moral right to remain in the position.”

“The way Sirohiya was arrested, the government was clearly intent on exacting revenge against him,” said Chanda Chaurhary. “The home minister used to say that he will put Sirohiya behind bars for at least a day and now he has got his wish.”

“The citizenship issue is just a pretext to take revenge against him,” she added.

Dila Sangraula termed the home minister’s statement in the House as ‘violent’ and ‘uncivilised’ and said he should resign. “Now the Nepali Congress should also raise the issue of Giribandhu tea estate land scam,” she said.

According to the Supreme Court’s verdict, a cabinet decision of the then KP Oli government had allowed the estate owners to illegally swap a huge swath of estate land in Birtamod, Jhapa with a similar piece of lower-value land somewhere else in the district.

Not only the Congress, another opposition party, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party also demanded a parliamentary investigation against Home Minister Lamichanne. A meeting of the party’s work execution committee on Wednesday called for a probe against the home minister, who is facing charges of using two passports and of being involved in misusing deposits of at least three cooperatives.

The law should be equal for all, said Mohan Shrestha, party spokesperson.

“The way a probe was launched against Sirohiya, a similar investigation should be initiated against home minister Lamichhane. The same law should apply to a common man and the minister,” said Shrestha.