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Kathmandu, Sept 28:  The Nepali Congress has announced that its annual tea reception and exchange of greetings on Kojagrat Purnima will not be held this year.

The party said the decision was made in light of the loss of lives and property during the Gen Z youth protests on September 8 and 9 and the unexpected political developments that followed.

During the protests, Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife Arzu Rana were assaulted, and their residence was set on fire. The party’s central office and the homes of several leaders were also attacked and vandalized. Government buildings, including the President’s Office, Parliament building, Singha Durbar, the Supreme Court, and other state institutions and police offices, also faced arson and destruction. Seventy-four people were killed and more than two thousand injured.

Calling it “one of the most unimaginable and tragic events in Nepal’s history,” the party said holding a reception at such a time would be inappropriate.

Chief Secretary of the party’s central office, Krishna Prasad Poudel, said in a statement that the entire nation was in mourning and even the Congress headquarters had been destroyed. The party, he said, believes the country now needs “greater national unity and reconciliation among patriotic citizens.”

The statement formally informed the public that the event, traditionally held every Kojagrat Purnima since 1976 to mark the day BP Koirala returned from exile in India with his policy of “national unity and reconciliation,” would not take place this year.