Kathmandu, March 2
Speaking at a party function in Pokhara on Monday, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said he could be physically assaulted anytime as the political crisis further deepens in the country.
“Don’t be surprised even if there is a physical assault, causing any untoward result,” he told his cadres.
However, concerned officials and experts do not believe in him. Rather, they think it is Oli’s tactic for attracting people’s sympathy towards him as he is growing more unpopular every day after the Supreme Court rejected his decision to dissolve the House of Representatives.
“Please don’t ask me to speak anything about this statement,” says Nepal Police Spokesperson Basanta Bahadur Kunwar, hinting there is not any evidence supporting the prime minister’s claim.
In an unofficial conversation, a senior police officer says he is surprised by the prime minister’s statement. “If there had been any security threat, in reality, he should not have told it openly. The challenges should have been dealt with secretly,” he says, “Hence, the statement is not true.”
Retired Nepal Police DIG Hemanta Malla Thakuri thinks Oli’s statement is meant for ‘public consumption’ and labels this act as an insensitive one. “This gives a wrong message.”
Security expert Indra Adhikari says Oli has begun making emotional and fictitious statements to show better defences after he has turned weaker, morally, constitutionally and politically.
“His statement is an effort to give a message that I am good and people are after me, thereby hiding his shortcomings,” she analyses, “I do not think anyone can prove his statement. It is not backed by facts.”
Meanwhile, some experts believe Oli, however, has some minor security challenges as he could be shown black flags and shoes by cadres of the opponent faction of the Nepal Communist Party.
