We all must agree that all the people living in Tarai-Madhes are Nepalis and they must get equal rights as other Nepalis who are living in Kathmandu and other parts of the country

I was having a tete-a-tete with my acquaintance in a local tea shop one day. The sahuji was struggling to boil tea over burning firewood. The guy in a frustrated voice burst forth with several questions to me --what is the demand of Madhesi Morcha? Can government fulfill all the demands? Why has India imposed blockade? When will this crisis end, and is why government not doing anything and so forth? He told me that after completing MBA, he joined a private school as the principal. This year schools and colleges were closed more than a month due to earthquake and we don’t know how long educational institutions will be closed due to strike and bandhs imposed by the Morcha and blockade by India. What will happen to the future of students and how will poor farmers, daily wage earners and laborers survive in such a situation? Adverse impact is already seen in the economy and poor country Nepal will be poorer in the coming days.

I was wondering if a principal and MBA guy did not have clue on why Madhesi Morcha is so much concerned about territory of the federation rather than other important issues such as inclusion and empowerment of the Madhesi people. I can presume that many Nepalis are not aware about the real motives of the agitating parties and their backers.

There is no doubt and we all must agree that all people living in Tarai-Madhes are Nepalis and they must get equal rights as other Nepalis who are living in Kathmandu and other parts of the country. Moreover, the socio-economic conditions of most Madhesis who are engaged in agriculture are poor compared with the condition of other social groups. The middle class people from the hills and mountains have migrated to Kathmandu, Pokhara and other cities. The poor and lower middle class people migrated to Madesh, hoping that they can grow enough food to feed the family and they will have other income earning opportunities as there is access to road and market in most of the areas of Madesh. Hence, most of the people living in Tarai-Madhes are poor. Thus, the government must give more priority to uplift the socio- economic condition of many Madhesi people.

If Madhesi Morcha is fighting for common Madhesis we must salute their struggle. However, the story is different. Their principal demand relates to the territory of the federation. If the Morcha is fighting for the disadvantaged people of Tarai-Madhes, why they are they more concerned about territory? Madhesis are free to migrate from one place to another like other Nepalis. We can see Madhesis doing business all over the country. It is a fundamental right of citizens to choose the matters that affect their personal or family life. If the Morcha is fighting for the poor Madhesis, then why are they concerned much more about territory than other matters which may help the people living in Madhes whether they are Madhesis or Pahadis who have migrated from the hilly areas of the country?

International treaties and laws provide certain rights to landlocked countries. Why India is not respecting the rights of landlocked country Nepal and fundamental human rights of the Nepali peoples. The UN is established, to look after the international issues and to protect fundamental rights of the people. Why is the UN not as active as it should be in such serious matters? If the UN is afraid of big and powerful countries and cannot speak for small and poor member countries, what is the use of having this institution for small countries?

As reported by the media, India told our two ministers, the then supplies minister Sunil Thapa and the present foreign minister Kamal Thapa that blockade is due to internal problems of Nepal, and that if Nepal solved these problems there would be a smooth flow of goods again. They could not speak out on this as they should have done on why we are not getting foods, medicine, fuel and other essentials from other border points where there is no agitation.

If the disruptions of supply from and through India are due to the internal security problems of Nepal, as India has officially claimed, then the blockade of Morcha is mainly only in one place. Why are goods not coming in from other border points? If the agitation at one border point is named as an internal problem, small groups of people can blockade any border point anytime to fulfill their vested interests. Would they be allowed to go on with their protests then?

Why is the government not raising these issues at the UN and other international forums strongly? The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh has raised the issue of the blockade imposed on Nepal, calling it inhuman. But we have been lacking in this area. Our government must learn from the Chinese -- “they speak less but act more.” Managing country affairs efficiently is much harder than giving dry speeches. Leaders represented from Madhesi parties are not explaining to the Madhesi people about important provisions made in the recently promulgated Constitution. The Madhesi people provided their mandate to major parties (NC, UML, Maoist) to write a new constitution, but they seem to been largely unable so far to highlight the achievements made by the promulgation of this Constitution for the Madhesi people and also collect other genuine grievances, if any, that may be necessary to be addressed through future amendments to the Constitution.