The Nepal Democracy and Solidarity Committee, India, comprising nine political parties, today asked the UPA government not to take any step that will accord legitimacy to King Gyanendra’s rule.Committee members told reporters that if the Indian government was sending arms to Nepal, it was a ‘‘form of legitimisation’’ of the Royal takeover. ‘‘We don’t want that the King should be given any legitimacy,’’ said CPI(M) Politburo member, Sitaram Yechury.The committee, which met here today, will organise a convention on the issue in India on August 26 for which members of Nepal’s seven-party coalition will be invited, its members said.The committee also plans to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Home Minister Shivraj Patil to highlight the harassment of Nepalese coming to India for treatment, ‘‘on the pretext that they were Maoists’’.Surendra Mohan of JD(S) alleged that eight doctors had been arrested in Muzaffarpur and Champaran for reportedly treating Maoists.Warrants had been served on other doctors, as well, he said. ‘‘Apart from Nepalese, Indians are also being harassed,’’ Mohan said.The committee will also establish Parliamentarians for Democracy in Nepal, during the current Monsoon Session, to mobilise international opinion on the restoration of democracy. The solidarity committee was formed in India after King Gyanendra dismissed the Deuba Government and imposed emergency in February this year. Apart from Yechury and Mohan, those who attended today’s meeting included Debabrata Biswas of the Forward Bloc, Ravinder Manchanda of SJP, and Anjan Mishra of the Socialist Front.
