Though the government formed a three-member talks team under senior minister Mahanta Thakur, president of the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (MJF) Upendra Yadav has set pre-conditions. He told a press conference on Saturday that the forum would not sit for talks with the government till home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula resigned, and legal action was taken against the “murderer” of Ramesh Mahato of Siraha, besides ending what he called an end to the government’s “suppression” of the Madhesis. The call for Sitaula’s resignation is based on the allegation that he is responsible for the death of about one and a half dozen people in the Terai clashes; secondly, a commission is yet to submit a report on the incident leading to the death of Ramesh Mahato; and thirdly, the demand for a halt to the “suppression” of the Madhesis is too sweeping.

As for Sitaula, a number of Congressites, including Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s daughter, who is also a Congress CWC member and an MP, have been asking for his scalp since much before the eruption of the Terai violence. They have now made their call louder citing “Sitaula’s inability to handle the Terai situation”. In an odd coincidence, Yadav and this faction of the Congress are now thinking alike. As for Yadav’s charge, the government has instead been widely seen to have behaved with restraint regarding the Terai protests, resorting to firing, by and large, only when serious incidents of violence, vandalism or arson escalated. But despite protestations of peaceful protests by the organisers, the demonstrations have been anything but peaceful, with threats, beatings, looting, or destruction of property becoming more than just stray incidents.

Nevertheless, the government chose the option of dialogue instead of greater force, for example, by calling in the army. Besides, Prime Minister Koirala himself had rightly admitted a few days ago that the law and order situation had deteriorated in the country and he too was responsible for it, not just the home minister. The nature of the Terai protests and their demands implicated the efforts of not only Sitaula, but the SPA, the Maoists, and the entire Cabinet; and the Prime Minister himself made an address to the nation. As for the second demand, the SPA, the Maoists and the government have expressed the view that the guilty should be punished, but this will not be possible unless the investigation is completed. The third demand is too sweeping. What cannot be forgotten, however, is that no government in the world, howsoever democratic, can be a silent spectator when the peace is disturbed; however, it is supposed to act within the law, showing full respect to the citizens’ fundamental and human rights. What is needed is an emphasis on resolving the issues through talks, rather than on setting pre-conditions. But nothing should be allowed which may overshadow the Constituent Assembly elections, for which the Nepali people have fought, one way or another, for the last 56 years.