INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, October 23
Nepali Congress lawmaker Devendra Raj Kandel, who heads the management committee of a college named after his
grandmother Radha Kumari in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, today dismissed recent reports claiming that he was an Indian
citizen.
Organising a press conference at the NC headquarters in Sanepa, Kandel said the school, Radha Kumari Bidhyalaya, was established by
his grandmother in 1950 during the Rana regime in Thutibari, Gorakhpur, 200 metres from the Nepal-India border on the Indian side.
He said
his grandmother decided to open the school on the Indian side of the border because the then Rana regime did not allow to open schools in
The school got approval from the Indian government on 31 January 1952 and now has been upgraded to Radha Kumari Inter College.
&Ever since
the establishment of the college, it has been under the patronage of my family
First my grandmother was its patron, then my father Prithvi Raj Kandel, and now I am its patron,& he said
&How can I be labelled an Indian citizen just because I head the college management?&
According to Kandel, his address mentioned while
taking oath as the college management committee head after his election was his temporary address, and he did not own an inch of land there
He said he stayed at his friend place whenever he visited Gorakhpur and he had mentioned the same address, C/O Yogesh Bajpayee, 33 Kasaya
Road, Betihata, Gorakhpur during oath taking
&In my oath, I have just said the address of my residence was correct, and I have not said I am an Indian citizen,& he said.
He also said
the list of voters of the college management committee published by the election committee—Assistant Registrar Firms Societies and Chits
Gorakhpur Mandal, Gorakhpur—had mentioned his permanent addressas Maheshpur, Nawalparasi
He also produced a copy of the list.
Producing relevant court documents before media persons, Kandel said his rival in the management
committee election had filed a case at Allahabad High Court, stating that Kandel was a Nepali national, and that he could not head the
college management committee.
&In my reply to the court, I have accepted that I am a Nepali citizen, a Nepali lawmaker and former state
I have also stated that I can still head the college management committee on the basis of Nepal-India Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950,
whereby a Nepali citizen can run a social organisation in India,& said Kandel.
&I am surprised that people in Nepal are trying to prove me
an Indian at a timewhen I am fighting a court case in India in which my rivals want to prove me a Nepali citizen, which I have accepted.&
He
also said if his name was found registered in any other electoral roll of India, he was ready to face action
He also reiterated that he did not own an inch of land in India, and did not have Indian citizenship
Acknowledging that he had acquired an Indian driving licence when he was studying in India, Kandel said any Nepali could acquire a driving
licence in India and that did not prove that he was an Indian citizen.
He said his grandmother and his father were active members of the
His grandmother was a member of the NC parliamentary committee in 2015, while his father was elected to the House of Representative from
Nawalparasi in the general elections of 2015.
He also said the then rebels during the insurgency had fired 16 shots at him when he was state
He said he still had one bullet in his chest.
&It is disappointing that I, a member of a family having long history of service to the
nation, have been dragged into controversy on the basis of false information,& he said.
The post Lawmaker Kandel dismisses reports he is
Indian citizen appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
