The main opposition party, the Nepali Congress, observes the 45th National Day of Unity and Reconciliation nationwide by organising various programmes.
Every year, Push 16 of the Nepalese calendar is marked by the NC as the National Day of Unity and Reconciliation, when the party’s founding president, BP Koirala, and other leaders returned home after a long exile in neighbouring India.
The party is marking this day across the country by organising various activities, including meetings, corner meetings and talk programmes in all 77 districts of the country.
Historically, NC leaders BP Koirala, Ganesh Man Singh, Shailaja Acharya, Khum Bahadur Khadka, among others, had come back to Nepal putting forward the ideas of national unity and reconciliation on Poush 16 of 2033 BS (1976 AD). BP Koirala had advocated the need for reconciliation between the people (through various political parties) and the King to protect the nation’s sovereignty.
In 2017 BS (1960 AD), the then King Mahendra had removed Koirala — also a prolific writer of Nepali literature — from the office of Prime Minister, overthrowing the government and parliament to introduce the party-less Panchayat system.