Nepali Congress and Bibeksheel Sajha Party activists on Thursday tried to gift the now-famous ‘Marsi’ rice to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, as a protest against the government’s apathy towards Dr Govinda KC and Ganga Maya Adhikari, one staging hunger strike in Jumla demanding reforms in the country’s medical education sector and the other also on starvation protest demanding justice for her murdered son Krishna Prasad.

While the prime minister’s office in Baluwatar refused to accept the present of Marsi rice, a rare and highly-prized rice variety native to Jumla district, the protesters were content at knowing that at least they succeeded in getting their message across.

Pritam Subedi, one of the protesters, said it was a symbolic protest they had come up with to draw Prime Minister Oli’s attention to the concerns of Dr KC and Adhikari. Marsi rice quickly became the status of wealth and affluence after Prime Minister Oli, Communist Party Nepal Co-chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and a business magnate Durga Prasai were pictured eating the rice, which can be identified by its distinct reddish brown colour.  

  “If the prime minister is willing to work for business persons by having Marsi rice with them, we thought that he would return a similar gesture if we present him the same rice and request him to address the concerns of Dr Govinda KC and Ganga Maya Adhikari,” quipped Subedi.

The Thursday’s protest at Baluwatar also saw participations of people from Solidarity With Prof. Dr KC Alliance, Save Ganga Maya, Nepal Medical Association, Nepal Bar Association, Nepal Engineers’ Association, Government Doctors Association and Nepal Teachers’ Association, among others.