Kathmandu, September 1:

President of the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (MJF), Upendra Yadav, today said the forces who wanted to create communal disharmony in the society and those who did not want the constituent assembly election to take place were opposing the Thursday’s 22-point agreement reached between the government and the MJF.

“I have nothing to say about the Maoists’ objection to the agreement. I must conclude that this agreement, which has empowered the Madhesi people, is indigestible to Maoist chairman Prachanda, who claims to have fought for over a decade for autonomy and federalism,” Yadav said.

Prachanda, issuing a statement on Friday, said the agreement was “extremely objectionable, flawed, and deceptive.”

As part of the government the Maoists should also be committed to implementing the agreement with the MJF, Yadav said, adding: “His (Prachanda’s) comment is unfortunate.” He, however, was quick to add that he wanted to normalise relations with the Maoists.

Without referring to Kishor Kumar Biswas, an MJF dissident, Yadav said some of his friends were also against the agreement. “They have been provoked and misguided by some elements who are hell-bent on creating instability in the Tarai and want to disrupt the CA polls,” Yadav said.

“This agreement, if fully implemented, will help bridge discrimination against ethnicity and regional imbalance. It has become a cornerstone in Nepal’s political history, as it has agreed to end the centralised and unitary system of the state and it has ensured federalism with autonomy,” he said.

He urged the government to immediately form a commission for restructuring the state and another commission for the inclusion of the Madhesis and marginalised people in all state affairs, and to provide compensation to the families of those killed during the Madhes movement.

He also hoped that both the factions of the Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha would come for talks and said the MJF would also take initiative to bring them to talks table.

Asked why they dropped the demand for dissolution of the interim parliament, Yadav said they gave up the demand as they also realised that the parliament would be needed in case

the CA polls did not take place on scheduled date.

On the three-language policy mentioned in the agreement, Yadav said, “Democracy and national unity would become stronger if all the languages got due recognition.”

He said a central committee meeting scheduled for Monday would discuss the agreement and future strategies.