UML Secretary Bhattarai makes chronological mistake
Mohan Mainali / July 13, 2016
CPN-UML Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai in Naya Patrika of July 12 has said: “On March 27, 1981, the All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) staged Nepal’s first national general strike against the then Panchayat system. …Probably public opinion was shaping up for and against a referendum.”
South Asia Check has factchecked his statement:
It is correct that the ANNFSU had staged a national general strike on March 27, 1981, but public opinion on a referendum was not shaping up during that time, because a referendum had already been conducted several months before the national general strike.
Here is a list of major political events that took place before and after March 27, 1981:
| April 4, 1979 | Pakistan executes its former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Students in Nepal stage demonstration against the execution. Student movement starts after government suppresses the demonstration. |
| May 24, 1979 | King Birendra announces referendum asking people to choose between a reformed Panchayat system and a multiparty democracy. |
| May 2 1980 | Nepal votes on referendum |
| May 14 1980 | Referendum results published. Reformed Panchayat side is declared winner after it receives over 400,000 more votes than the multiparty democracy side. Multiparty democracy receives 2,007,965 votes against the reformed Panchayat’s 2,433,452 votes. Reformed Panchayat wins in 55 districts while multiparty democracy wins in the remaining 20 districts. |
| March 27, 1981 | ANNFSU calls a national general strike |
| May 9, 1981 | Nepal conducts its first election based on universal adult suffrage under the Panchayat system. |
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