Lawmaker Hari Dhakal Spells Out Rabi Lamichhane's 'Last Wish'

A leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) today talked about the ‘last wish’ of RSP president Rabi Lamichhane, a day after yet another court order sent him to jail in a cooperative case, charging him with organized crime and fraud.  

It should be noted that a controversy has ensued after a DSP tasked with arresting Lamichhane asked him, inadvertently or otherwise, what his ‘last wish’ was, during the procedure on Friday. A video of that episode has generated a lot of heat.

At the start of his party’s public march (janayatra) in his home district, Chitwan, Hari Dhakal, a lawmaker from the RSP, accused the state of hounding party chief Lamichhane for the past seven years or so.  

The state has been chasing an individual repeatedly, we have been seeing this spectacle for the past 5-7 years. First, they arrested him from  the TV newsroom. Despite this highhandedness, Chitwan orchestrated a powerful revolt, Chitwan delivered justice to Rabi years ago. 

Dhakal was referring to Lamichhane’s arrest on the charge of a series of cooperative frauds when he was with Gorkha Media as its managing director and his election as a member of parliament in November 2022 from Chitwan.    
 
Referring to the current government, Dhakal said: These people are chasing an individual they should not be chasing. They don’t know…

Referring to the latest arrest in a case of cooperative fraud and organized crime in response to a ruling from the Butwal bench of the Tulsipur high court, Dhakal said: Our president was ready to cooperate respecting a court order. But they came at 10 pm in his bedroom to get him, they even 'mistreated' him. 

Chitwan is from where Rabi got justice, Dhakal said, so from this battleground will I declare his ‘last wish’:

The manner in which his last wish was sought, I want to state from this battlefield what his last wish is: 

Bringing smiles to farmers’ faces. Stopping youth exodus from this country and creating employment opportunities. Establishing the rule of law in this country by raising voices against corruption and politicization of state institutions. Imprisoning the corrupt ones involved in plundering the country for 35 years and performing their post-death rites in the jail. All this is his last wish.