Kathmandu, March 3

Leaders associated with the United Democratic Madhesi Front today met Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar and urged him to mount pressure on the central government of India to pressure the Government of Nepal to address the demands of the Madhes movement.

Nitish Kumar had come to attend the inaugural ceremony of the 13th convention of the Nepali Congress.

According to Chair of Sadbhawana Party Rajendra Mahato, the UDMF leaders told Kumar that Madhesis were agitating against the new constitution because the major parties did not honour the agreements that the government had signed with the Madhesi forces, and the new constitution snatched away marginalised communities’ rights that the Interim Constitution had ensured.

Mahato said Kumar assured the UDMF leaders that he would take their message positively to the central government of India. “India stands against discrimination based on ethnicity and race, and we therefore, asked the Chief Minister of Bihar, to play his role in building support for Madhesis’ cause in India,” he said, and added that the border state of Bihar shared relations of bread and kinship with Madhesis.

Mahato said the UDMF leaders also urged Kumar to play his role in establishing direct flights and bus services between towns in Nepal and Patna, the capital city of Bihar.

Parliamentary Party Leader of Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal who represented his party in the meeting said the UDMF leaders shared their 11-point demand with Kumar.

Vice-chair of Tarai Madhes Democratic Party Brikhesh Chandra Lal said Kumar said that if Nepali society remained divided, the country might not be able to tap its development potential.

According to Lal, Kumar said that forging consensus with all the stakeholders in Nepal would enable the leadership of the country to achieve the goal of peace, prosperity and development.

United Democratic Madhesi Front leaders Mahato, Lal, Rai, Mahendra Ray Yadav, Sharat Singh Bhandari, Rajkishor Yadav and Anil Kumar Jha were present in the meeting with Chief Minister Kumar.