Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP) Chairman Mahanta Thakur has said that Madhesi people are not Indian or Bihari.

Denouncing the use of stereotypes that denote Madhesi people as Indian or Bihari, Thakur said, “We are being treated like Bihari or Indians in our own country and as foreigners outside our nation.”

Addressing a corner assembly at Nepal-India border in Biratnagar on Thursday, Thakur accused the government of turning Madhes into a prison because of the police suppression. He said the Madhesi people are neither safe at home nor on the streets.  Thakur said the agitation would further intensify in the coming days.

“We won’t accept any written pact or agreement sans guarantee of implementation,” Thakur said. 

Saying that the agitation is on the verge of reaching a decisive stage, TMLP Vice Chairman Hridayesh Tripathi announced their plan of creating a human-chain of one million Madhesi people on October 1 along the East-West Highway from Jhapa in the East to Kanchanpur in the West.