The country celebrated its 13th Republic Day on Thursday amid the nationwide lockdown imposed to prevent the virus’s spread. The Day also coincided with the government's historic decision to update the country's official map by incorporating its own territory in the Kalapani area. It is obvious that the lockdown has left an adverse impact on the people's life and the country's economy. The spike in virus cases has not allowed it to either relax or lift the lockdown. In the meantime, the government has brought out its new official map by including the Nepali territory which has for over six decades been encroached upon by the southern neighbour that has now resisted Nepal's lawful move of introducing new map.

In her messages to the nation on the occasion of the Republic Day, President Bidya Devi Bhandari reminded every citizen of his/her forefathers' contributions towards maintaining the nation's territorial integrity and strengthening the nationality. She exuded confidence that the Republic Day would motivate all countrymen to collectively build a culturally, socially, economically prosperous country by utilising the nation's resources and through the federal democratic system of governance. Similarly, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, in his message to the nation, remarked the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the biggest challenges that the country had faced now and added that the government had focused on the battle against the contagions and hoped it would get back to normalcy soon as the government had undertaken various measures to cope with the situation.

Highlighting the significance of the hard-earned republic system of governance, he stated the republicanism was the greatest achievement of all democratic movements in the country. Since the nation evolved into a republic state 12 years ago, all aspects of democracy such as social justice, good governance and prosperity have been taken care of and the country has galloped forward with a stronger image of a sovereign, independent, democratic, peace loving nation. Healthy debates of ideologies, disciplined discussions between beliefs and unhindered expression of disagreement have flourished and taken root during this period.

The messages from the head of the state and the government have definitely carried a strong weight at this testing period. The call for unity, cooperation and collective efforts would certainly inculcate in every citizen a strong sense of nationality and self-confidence and guide him/her towards protecting our national integrity. Also, the achievements of the past decade will certainly guide us to bolster our republic system of governance further. Here it may be prudent to note that the efforts from the government are not enough when it comes to achieve success against the dreaded pandemic and the success over the struggle in gaining our own territory from a bigger, powerful neighbour. The country will definitely attain greater success in the days ahead should the people, the political parties, leaders of all hues and stripes, civil society members and others stand united in the face of formidable challenges we are facing now