Kathmandu, October 19

Tharu members of Parliament representing Unified CPN-Maoist have threatened to quit parliament membership if the party does not address the concerns of the Tharu community. There are eight Tharu MPs from the party.

Expressing discontent with the exclusion of Tharu members from the Cabinet, they said they were unhappy as the party had ignored them.

“We have put forth three demands – include Tharu participation in the party’s decision making process; implement the principle of proportionate inclusion in political appointments and provide other opportunities and move ahead the process of amending the constitution to address concerns such as proportionate inclusion, making population the major basis while demarcating election constituencies and the issue of boundaries of provinces — before party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal,” said UCPN-M parliament member Santa Kumar Tharu. If the concerns are not addressed, the Tharu UCPN-M MPs will resign from Parliament, he said.

The Tharu community, which covers a large portion of the country’s population, has been agitating for over two months, but the party has ignored them in the decision making process, he said. “The party did not select a single minister from the Tharu community in the government. Had the party sent a representative from the community in the Cabinet, it would have sent a message that the party was serious about implementing the principle of inclusion. However, we feel sad that the party did not see any necessity to do that,” Tharu, who is chair of Tharu National Liberation Front Nepal, said.

Another Tharu UCPN-M MP Aman Lal Modi said, “We are not happy because the party took no initiative to amend the statute to address the concerns of Tharus regarding federal boundaries If our concerns are not addressed, we will move ahead with the stir after Dashain,” said Modi.