Nepali Congress (NC) has opposed distribution of medals to members of the first and second Constituent Assembly (CA) by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.
"The style of distribution of identifying medals to those who made the Constitution is like thanking them. We don't like that," NC lawmaker Minendra Rijal said during the zero hour in the House of Representatives (HoR) on Wednesday. "There are talks that the artistic display of lines carved to support the Constitution in the medal have given other kind of message about Constitution promulgation and ownership on top of that."
"There are public grievances that the style of handing it and the design of medal have not been able to imbibe the spirit of the struggle filled with sacrifices and succession. I want to draw the attention of everyone concerned," he stated.
Rijal has yet to receive his medal. "Medals should not have been distributed in a way to thank for formulating Constitution. I don't even like the medal's design. The symbol of sun is there," he listed the reasons for not receiving the medal.
"I have heard that Rs 175,000 has been spent on one medal. Why should we distribute medals by spending so much from the state coffers?" he added. "The symbol of sun is kept in a way it is clearly visible. Can a single party monopolize the Constitution? Act as if it solely formulated the Constitution."
Sun is the election symbol of ruling CPN.
"I have already briefed NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba about this. The party should discuss about the medal and take decision. If somebody has received, it should be returned," he stressed.
"BP (Koirala) did not receive any medal during his lifetime. Girija Prasad Koirala also did not receive when he was alive. Should we followers of BP receive medals?" he asked.
He also opined that the handing out of medals is not in accordance to the spirit of republicanism. "Handing out medals is residue of feudal attitude. I did not like the style in which president handed over the medals."
NC lawmaker Gagan Thapa also has not received the medal. "We are people's representatives. Should we attend parties by donning that medal? Our mindset is not republican. The people will respect us for promulgating the Constitution in itself. The CA gave us CA members logo. That suffices," Thapa stated.
Joint Secretary in the internal management division of the Home Ministry, that designed the medals, Mahadev Panta, however, said there is no sun in the medal. "There are 77 stars in the outermost circle. That depict 77 districts. There are seven rhododendrons inside which depict seven provinces," he elaborated. "The straight lines are local bodies. They depict 753 local bodies."
He claimed that the lines that look like sun do not make a sun. "The lines that depict local bodies are golden. That means the future of local bodies is bright. That is not sun."
