His Excellency President,
Hon. Prime Minster,
Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

We, the following undersigned Nepali people, do not accept Mr Parmanand Jha as a vice president of Nepal due to his following acts which are against the country's integrity, sovereignty and our self-respect:

1. Criminal Act : According to the Interim constitution of Nepal (which a Vice President is also liable to), Hindi is not one of our national languages. Also, according to the 5th amendment to the constitution, Vice President can take oath only in the language of official work, i.e Nepali. Violating constitution, whether by an ordinary citizen or a Vice President is worth contempt. He violated the constitution even before he assumed his office.

2. Offense against the people of Nepal : Vice President is a post of national importance. He does not belong to any region or language. Nepalese of all origin and background should be able to feel pride and respect for their Vice President. Rather, he has offended a large section of Nepalese. If Mr Jha thinks he has offended only the Nepali-speaking population, so be it, but a Vice President should not offend them. Hence, he should apologize for swearing in a foreign language.

3. Disapproval of the principle of a Federal Republic : Nepal is trying to transform. From a centralized governance to a decentralized, federal republic. Because people believe that the centralized governance threatened minorities, their languages and culture, we are rewriting our constitution that will safeguard the identity of all ethnic, regional and linguistic groups. In a federal republic, regional states will have their own regional languages and systems. By not respecting his own mother-tongue and his national language, he is acting against the principle of a Federal Republic. He is promoting Hindi which will not safe guard any regional languages including those spoken in Terai.

4. Failure to live up to his post : Being the first vice president means setting an example. It also means being a symbol of national unity in a country whose historically, politically, culturally and religiously accepted guardian (the erstwhile king) has taken a beating. By speaking a language that is neither listed as one of our national languages, nor is natively spoken by more than 0.05 percent of terai dwellers, his action has hurt our self-respect. Mr. Paramananda Jha is also no saint. While acting as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal, he was proven guilty of involvement in the biggest hashish (679 kg of it!!) smuggling case of Nepal. It is not a question of non-Nepali speaking people being any less Nepali than those speaking Nepali. It is a question of the dignity of the post, abiding by the rules and the situation/timing of the act.

5. Suspicious motive : While taking oath, he speaks the first words in Nepali and then translates the rest of the text into Hindi as he speaks. Mr Jha was well aware of the act he was doing. It is clear that he knew who he would please and who he would anger with his act. Language is important. Especially to smaller communities and nations. Languages are associated with their existence and identity. Even more so in a country like ours' with very sensitive geo-political location. Languages are associated with the culture, heritage and history. Therefore there have been so violent events all over the world for linguistic rights and nations have even been divided on issues based on languages. We can not ignore this fact based on 'practical issues'.