By IANS,
Kathmandu : The row over the use of Hindi as Nepal’s official language continued Wednesday with a defiant politician taking his oath of office in Hindi as Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal expanded his cabinet for the fifth time.
Already accommodating 33 ministers, the coalition government, which includes 22 parties, is set to induct 11 more, creating a jumbo cabinet.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Nepal had administered the oath of office and secrecy to two new entrants, both of whom are from Nepal’s Terai parties that have been championing the use of Hindi for official work.
Sarbadev Ojha was appointed minister for women, children and social welfare in a bid to pacify his Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (Loktantrik) party that split from the original Forum this year after a bitter dispute about joining the government.
Laxman Lal Karna, a veteran politician from the Sadbhavana Party, was sworn in without being allocated any ministry.
The PMO said later during the day, the premier is scheduled to induct nine more ministers – seven ministers of state and two assistant ministers.
Besides the Terai parties, the new faces would also include the former royalist Rastriya Janashakti Party.
While Ojha took his oath of office and secrecy in Nepali, Karna resorted to Hindi, saying it was his mother tongue.
The decision came even as Nepal remains sharply divided on the language issue. On Sunday, the first vice president of the nascent republic was suspended from his post by the Supreme Court for having taken his oath a year ago in Hindi.
Despite an order by the apex court to be sworn in again in Hindi by Sunday, Vice-President Paramananda Jha refused to do so, plunging the state into a constitutional crisis.
The ministers and MPs, however, have an edge over the vice-president.
The constitution allows them to take their oath in their mother tongue.
The expansion of the cabinet by the three-month-old government, which has been severely criticised for its failure to show any improvement, comes as a bid to appease the coalition partners, especially the Hindi parties.
The Terai parties last week called a shutdown in the southern plains in support of embattled Jha and the portfolios are a means of pacifying them and ensuring that the stir is called off.