Kathmandu, January 27;

Maoist central leader and member of the interim legislature, Matrika Yadav, today said that the Maoists would launch a peaceful movement to thwart the Terai unrest, which he claimed has been “fuelled and conspired by the Rastriya Swayamsewak Sangh”, an Indian organisation of the Hindus, and the palace.

Yadav suggested the government to immediately announce a federal system of governance and proportional electoral system.

“The Terai unrest has no voice of the Madhesis,” Yadav said, labelling the Madhesi Janatantrik Forum (MJF) as a “broker” of the palace and RSS. He also conceded that his party was well informed about a meeting between former home minister Kamal Thapa and MJF chairman Upendra Yadav at a hotel in Kathmandu.

“That is not all, we are also well informed about his (Upendra’s) meeting with RSS people in India and former minister Badri Mandal,” he told an interaction at the Reporters’ Club today. “We have decided to launch a movement to thwart the conspiracy and to protect the property of the Pahade people,” he said. He also cautioned the Madhesi leaders to refrain from destroying property of the pahade people to prevent the Pahade community from getting mad against the Madhesis.

Nepali Congress (NC) general secretary Ram Chandra Poudel said that the Terai unrest would be settled through dialogue. Criticising the destruction of the statues of BP Koirala and others in the Terai, Poudel said: “An organised force would not go for such destructions. There could be infiltration of reactionary elements.”

CPN-UML standing committee member Bam Dev Gautam urged the government to immediately initiate dialogue with the forces concerned. Gautam also suggested that the interim legislature should announce the establishment of a republican set-up before the constituent assembly elections. “This announcement would then be ratified by the people through referendum,” he suggested.

Gautam also said the Terai unrest was plotted by some reactionary elements to create the illusion that there cannot be communal harmony in the country without the king.

Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) spokesperson Sarbendra Nath Shukla said the promulgation of a “faulty interim constitution in haste” has invited the Terai unrest.

Shukla also suggested the formation of an all-party talks committee (in the interim legislature) to hold talks with the parties concerned.