Ex-minister joins Maoist party praising its work to uplift Dalits

A former assistant-minister and Nepali Congress central member Hari Shanker Pariyar has joined the Unified CPN (Maoist) party on Thursday.

Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal welcomed the former assistant minister including former District Education Officer Bal Bahadur Pariyar, former regional member of Nepal Peasants' and Workers' Party Chakraman Biswokarma and UML's Lal Bahadur Pariyar and Kamal Raj Luintel into the party in a ceremony organized at the party headquarters, Paris Danda today.

Dahal assured the new entrants that they will be given responsibilities as per their capabilities inside the party. He also praised the sacrifice made by the Dalit community during the insurgency period.

"However, the Dalit community have still not been liberated from the age-old oppression and the struggle (to free them) is still on," Dahal said.

Speaking at the ceremony, former minister Pariyar recounted the bitter experiences of the discriminations he faced in the village even though he was a chairman of the District Development Committee.

"Not only are we poor, we have to bear the stigma of being untouchables too," he said, and reminded everyone that it was because of the Maoists that for the first time in Nepal's history 50 Dalits became members of the Constituent Assembly. nepalnews.com