Kathmandu, August 25

Madhesi, Tharu, and indigenous Constituent Assembly members of Nepali Congress today attributed yesterday’s Kailali carnage to the top leaders’ oligarchic way of dealing with the issues of demarcation in the federal set-up and security lapses from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

In an interaction organised by NC leader Shekhar Koirala to assess the recent violent protest in Kailali, Sarlahi, and Rautahat, NC CA members said the leaders’ attitude of not heeding the concerns of Tharu, Madhesis, as well as indigenous people so as to accumulate power unto themselves along with security lapses due to the ineptitde of the Ministry of Home Affairs were the main reasons behind the Kailali incident.

CA member Buddhi Sagar Chaudhari said, “After the leaders decided to go for seven-province model, the people of hilly origin in Kailali brought out a victory rally and tried to undermine Tharus of the plain areas on Friday. In the given situation, Tharus felt they were ignored and the antagonism grew leading to yesterday’s killing. The violent incident took place due to the failure of security bodies.”

He added that there should be a separate cluster of Tharu dominant areas or Kailali should be a union territory for the time being to prevent communal riots. CA member Tejulal Chaudhari said the leaders should take special initiative to address the real concerns of Madhesis and Tharus while demarcating the federal units.

CA member Surendra Chaudhari said, “I had warned the leaders that a civil war could take place if people’s concerns were not addressed. However, the leaders continued their oligarchic attitude and ignored the dominant communities. So, they must correct themselves.”

CA member Amir Yadav said if NC did not address the concerns of the Madhesi people, it will lose its major basis of power and vote bank. NC lawmaker Amrit Lal Rajbamshi said if infiltration had caused yesterday’s incident, the country’s security and intelligence were equally responsible for the same.

“If the situation continues, the country will have to suffer civil war. So, the leaders should be alert in time,” he said.

NC leader Shekhar Koirala said the genesis of yesterday’s incident was related to the inept dealing of leaders on issues of demarcation and he would convey the CA members’ opinions to the leaders.