INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, MAY 26CPN-UML lawmakers obstructed Representatives today over CPN-MC lawmaker Lekhanath Dahal's remarks a
day ago that then prime minister KP Sharma Oli had replaced the golden jalahari with brass jalahari at Pashupatinath temple.
Orientation for CPN-UML lawmakers
HoR meeting postponed till March 19
UML Chief Whip Padam Giri told the HoR meeting that
remarks against Oli were baseless.He sought the government's answer, and also demanded that Dahal's remarks about jalahari be removed from
the record of the Parliament.He said the Parliament session would not continue until the government clarified whether the jalahari installed
at the sanctum sanctorum of the Pashupatinath temple was made of gold or brass.Meanwhile, speaking afterGiri, UML MP and former Speaker
Subas Chandra Nembang said ruling party MP Dahal's comments on UML Chair KP Sharma Oli were irresponsible and derogatory
He reiterated that he was not supposed to participate in the Parliament with serious allegations concerned with foul play during the
installation of Pashupatinath's jalahari
He also asked Dahal to correct his expression.
UML lawmakers expressed grave concern after ruling party lawmaker made a
serious accusation against them that they had committed corruption by installing jalahari made of brass instead of gold.They demanded that
the issue be investigated and truth be revealed.Speaker Devraj Ghimire requested UML lawmakers repeatedly to take their seats but they
continued to rise from their chairs, stalling House proceedings
UML lawmakers gathered in the well of the House and chanted slogans.The speaker then adjourned the meeting for 20 minutes after his requests
went unheeded even after the sloganeering that lasted for about five minutes.The speaker could not reconvene the House meeting today.In the
House meeting held on May 24, Maoist Centre MP Lekhnath Dahal had alleged that there were various corruption scandals when the UML was in
He had argued that Nepal's foreign debt had increased from 7 trillion to 17 trillion when KP Sharma Oli was the prime minister and accused
him of corruption by installing jalahari made of brass in the sanctum sanctorum of Pashupatinath temple.Enraged by the accusation, the UML
disrupted the meeting.During his tenure, the then prime minister and CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli had decided to replace the silver jalahari
with gold in the sanctum sanctorum of Pashupatinath temple.On 25 January 2021, Oli visited Pashupatinath temple to perform a special puja
There, he had announced that his government would provide Rs 300 million to the temple to install a new golden jalahari and instructed the
Ministry of Culture to allocate the amount.On 24 February 2021, in the presence of the then President Bidhya Bhandari, a 96 kg gold jalahari
was installed in the Shivalinga in the sanctum sanctorum of Pashupatinath temple
It had created controversy at that time too.Narottam Baidya, former treasurer of Pashupati Area Development Trust, who was also a Bagmati
Assembly member, and advocate Nikita Dhungana had filed writ petitions at the Supreme Court on 22 February 2021 against the government's
decision to replace Pashupatinath temple's "jalahari" with a golden one.The petitioners had argued that the government's decision went
against the Ancient Monument Preservation Act 2013, which states that structures over 100 years old must be preserved in their original
design.After the jalhari was placed, the Supreme Court also issued an interim order saying that the jalhari should not be installed
immediately.The 59th annual report of the Auditor General suspected that KP Sharma Oli's government had lost gold worth crores of rupees
when it installed a golden jalahari in Pashupatinath.In that report, it has been stipulated that 10 kggold was embezzled while installing
the golden jalahari in Pashupatinath temple.The plan of Pashupati Area Development Trust, in 2013 was stopped immediately after the dispute
over gold.When Oli was the prime minister, the process of installing 108 kg gold for about 1 billion rupees had started
Although 96 kg of jalahari was installed, 12 kg gold remained to be added to it.Although the Trust said 80 crore rupees was spent to install
the 108 kg golden jalahari, the AG's report suspected that gold worth crores of rupees had been lost.Revathiraman Adhikari, the spokesperson
of Pashupati Area Development Trust, has said that no data and bills were found for installing the golden jalahari in Pashupatinath in
February 2021.
Photo: RSS
A version of this article appears in the
print on May 27, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com
