Kathmandu, September 13

Three major parties’ decision to proceed with the voting process in the Constituent Assembly today has riled Madhesi forces.

Sadbhawana Party Chair Rajendra Mahato said had other Madhesi parties and Madhesi CA members of the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the Unified CPN-Maoist heeded his party’s call to quit the CA, the three parties would not have dared to begin the voting process in CA today.

Mahato claimed that the new constitution would not give any rights to Madhesis, Tharus, Janajatis and marginalised communities and therefore, the day the constitution was promulgated, these communities would burn its copies. “There will be another uprising in Madhes. The ongoing movement will escalate so much that the three parties cannot even anticipate,” he added.

Mahato said the three parties’ statement that it paused the constitution-making process for two days was to appease the international community. “These parties are not ready to give even legitimate rights to the marginalised communities. They are not serious about holding talks with the protesting forces,” he added.

Co-chair of Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal Rajendra Shrestha said the new constitution, without endorsement of Madhesi and Janajati forces, would push the country to civil war. He said the government was not making any attempt to address the concerns of the agitating forces.

Shrestha said the protesting Madhesi and Janajati forces would hold talks with the government only after they got assurances from the government that the past agreements signed with them would be honoured. General Secretary of TMDP Sarvendranath Shukla said the government was not serious about holding talks with the protesting forces. He claimed that neither the government contacted the protesting Madhesi forces yesterday nor today.

“Had the government been serious about talks, it would have clearly announced the time, venue, agenda and the talks team. But it did nothing of the sort,” Shukla said and added that the protesting Madhesi forces would not hold talks with the government against the wishes of the families who lost their loved ones in police firing and whose family members were injured.

A team of Tharuwan/Tharuhat Joint Struggle Committee held an informal meeting with prime minister and urged him to prepare grounds for formal meeting but failed to get any assurance from the PM. Minraj Chaudhary, who was part of the team that met the PM, said they reminded the PM of their conditions for formal talks set 16 days ago, but failed to get any clear response from the PM.

“Conditions for formal talks are not strict. We have simply asked the government to normalise situation by releasing our cadres who were arrested by the police and providing compensation to the victims of protest, but the PM didn’t respond,” Chaudhari said and added that he felt that the PM was not sensitive about their demands.

MJF-D for two provinces in Madhes

KATHMANDU: Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar-led Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Democratic decided on Sunday to stick to two-province model in Madhes and continue the protest until past agreements signed with Madhesi and Tharu forces were not implemented. Senior vice-chairperson of MJF-D Rameshwar Ray Yadav said his party decided to urge the major parties to pause the constitution-making process for a few days and hold talks with the protesting forces. “Madhes has changed into a battle field. The government must help normalise situation and peaceful demonstrators should not be suppressed,” he added.