8 February 2010 / AP, KATMANDU
Nepal’s vice president was reinstated on Sunday after he retook his oath of office in one of the country’s officially recognized languages -- nearly a year after his insistence on being sworn in using an unrecognized minority language cost him the job.
Vice President Paramananda Jha had been removed from office last year by the Supreme Court because he had taken the oath in Hindi, commonly spoken in neighboring India and in some parts of Nepal but not an officially recognized language in Nepal. Jha retook the oath Sunday in his native Maithali language at a special ceremony at the president’s official house. Nepali is the country’s official government language, but dozens of other dialects are officially recognized. Hindi, however, is not among them. Jha comes from southern Nepal, where Hindi is widely spoken. He said at the time of his first swearing-in that he wanted to highlight the fact that many Nepalese speak Hindi and it should be officially recognized. Street protests broke out in 2008 after Jha took the oath in Hindi. Demonstrators called for a public apology, and a lawsuit was filed alleging Jha had not followed the law requiring the oath be taken in Nepali language. The Supreme Court later removed him from office.
