Growing impatient with the prolonged banda, local people in various Tarai district have urged the protesting Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) to revise the ongoing Madhes agitation.

Locals in Birgunj said the style of SLMM protest has created difficulties in daily life. “The objective of the sit-ins at the major border areas cannot be accomplished if the situation continues. We request the leaders to change the form of protest to address the demands soon,” said Birendra Kurmi of Sripur in Birgunj-14.  

“Though the protest and ongoing blockade have been continued to mount pressure on Kathmandu, locals living near Nepal-India border areas have suffered more,” said Niraj Sarraf of Murali Bagaicha in Birgunj-15, referring to hardships facing the people in those areas.

Another group of agitating Madhes-based party, Sanghiya Samabeshi Madhesi Gathabandhan, has indicated at changing the form of protest considering people’s difficulties in the Tarai. 

However, public vehicles have started plying the roads in Birgunj, not far from the Miteri bridge where the SLMM supporters are staging a sit-in. Normal life has been hit hard since the Birgunj-Raxaul border crossing—major trade point between Nepal and India—was obstructed by the SLMM supporters on September 24, 2015. 

Locals in Siraha have echoed similar thoughts that the ongoing protest has tortured the Tarai people for the past several months. 

“People of Tarai have faced more hardship than those in other areas. Now the protest should be centralised,” said Mohan Raya, a Siraha local.  

Smuggling and black marketeering have increased on the pretext of banda, according to civil society leader Ugrakanta Jha. “All of the leaders should correct their attitude,” he said, adding that the SLMM should let the markets and transportation resume soon. 

Public sentiment in Rautahat is no different. Local Jagannath Keshari blamed that the government has been dramatising during talks even as people across the country have been reeling under the fuel crisis. “We request SLMM leaders to change the form of protest,” Keshari said. 

Meanwhile, locals in Biratnagar accused the government authorities of promoting black marketeering, piling misery on the public. Professor PK Jha said people have faced difficulties in the name of Tarai protest. “People in the Tarai region have been compelled to face hardships as the protest itself was started to obtain rights in the Tarai,” he said, calling on the SLMM to change the form of protest. 

Civil society leaders and locals in Dhanusha share the opinion. Advocate Raj Kumar Mahaseth said the Madhesi people have been affected more due to the ongoing banda. “The agitating leaders should now change the style of protest,” he said.

In Siraha, locals have suggested the agitating SLMM to start a Capital-centric protest to draw the government’s attention for their rights. Local Kapil Dev Yadav said protests in the district have failed to serve their purpose and instead creating hardships to local people. “The Madhesi leaders should start the protest in Kathmandu to ensure Madhesi people’s rights,” he said. 

(Bhusan Yadav in Birgunj, Aman Koirala in Sarlahi, Shiva Puri in Rautahat, Lilaballav Ghimire in Biratnagar, Shyamsundar Shashi in Janakpur and Deonarayan Sah in Siraha)