Gaighat, September 2

Raj Kumar Lekhi, former chairperson of Federation of Nepal Indigenous Nationalities, today alleged that the leaders of three major parties were to blame for violence in Tikapur.

Speaking at the party’s gathering, in Gaighat of Udayapur today, Lekhi alleged that senior Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML Vice-chair Bhim Rawal and UCPN-Maoist Shiva Raj Bhatta were the masterminds behind the incident.

“Police personnel had to lose their lives because of vigilantes used by the government,” he alleged. He argued that the government was mobilising Nepal Police and Nepali Army to suppress the peaceful agitation of the Tharu community. The state also used force to set ablaze the houses of Tharus, he said. “If the government is not serious about addressing the demands of the Tharu community, we are ready to retaliate against the state,” warned Lekhi.   He also accused the government of discriminating against Tharus for years.

The government further tried to suppress the voices of different communities by imposing curfew, prohibitory zones and riot-hit zones in different places of the country, he said.

“Though the Tharu people have been protesting for the past three weeks, the government was not heeded their demands, may be it wants civil war in the country,” he argued. Security has been beefed up in the area.