The parliamentary party of main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has demanded dismissal of Minister for Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sher Bahadur Tamang over his comments about Nepali female students going to Bangladesh to study MBBS.
Issuing a joint press statement on Monday, whips of the party in the House of Representatives (HoR) and National Assembly, Pushpa Bhusal and Sarita Prasai respectively, stated that apology by minister Tamang over that does not suffice and urged Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli to sack him.
"The unbecoming remarks of Minister for Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sher Bahadur Tamang in a way that compromises the chastity and social dignity of female students who have studied and are studying in Bangladesh have drawn our attention," the statement reads. "We express disappointment over the comments and condemn that. We, therefore, strongly demand before the right honorable PM that the Minister for Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs be immediately dismissed."
Speaking at a program organized by Practice International Academy in Chuchchepati in Kathmandu on Friday, Tamang had claimed that Nepali girls studying MBBS in Bangladesh have to sell themselves to get the certificate.
"I will now reveal a story. I have heard that our daughters who go to study in Bangladesh have to somehow sell themselves to get a certificate of doctor," Tamang said during the program. "We send our daughters abroad to study. But they can't acquire certificates there without yielding themselves."
RPP and NC have already officially condemned Minister Tamang's comments while the minister on Sunday issued a press statement apologizing for hurting students who have studied and are studying in Bangladesh.
But the apology is not an unreserved one and the statement instead of refuting his claims that the female students have to sell themselves insists that he wanted to bring the problems faced by Nepalis studying abroad to the fore. It then adds that he said so with an intention that the situation would end if the students get to study medicine inside Nepal and do not have to go abroad for study.
His remarks on Saturday and the stated intent of the comments as mentioned in the apology are in line with the comments of promoter of B &C Hospital Durga Prasai about Nepali female students in Bangladesh, and his accusation that Dr Govinda KC is lobbying for the brokers who send Nepali students abroad to study medicine.