National
Resolve boundary row first: Madhesi, Janajati leaders
Madhesi and Janajati leaders have said that the ongoing row over the federal boundaries should be resolved before holding the local elections and urged the Nepali Congress and the Maoist Centre to find a solution to the Tarai crisis before making preparation for the polls.Madhesi and Janajati leaders have said that the ongoing row over the federal boundaries should be resolved before holding the local elections and urged the Nepali Congress and the Maoist Centre to find a solution to the Tarai crisis before making preparation for the polls. The leaders have warned of strong protests if the polls are conducted without taking the agitating parties on board.
Rajendra Shrestha, co-chair of the Sanghiya Samajwadi Forum-Nepal, said that the NC and the Maoist Centre should redraw the federal boundaries, addressing the agitating parties’ concerns over identity before conducting the polls. The NC and the Maoist Centre plan to conduct local, provincial and central elections in the next 18 months.
“Prachanda won’t have moral ground to say he is different from Oli [Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli] if he went on to hold local polls without addressing our demands,” said Shrestha.
Some Madhesi leaders said that the NC and the Maoist Centre should at least give credible assurance to address their concerns over the boundaries even if CPN-UML, the second largest party whose support is essential to make any changes, refused to lend its support.
Sarbendra Nath Shukla, general secretary of the Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party, said that there would be pressure from within the UML if the NC and the Maoist Centre came up with specific plans to resolve the boundary issues.
“If that doesn’t happen, NC and Maoist Centre should make categorical commitment to create one more province in the Tarai plains. If they did so, 90 percent of work will get done. We can complete the remaining work afterwards,” said Shukla. Madhesi leaders are of the view that the boundaries can be revised after the election if the NC and the Maoists assure them of carving two provinces in the plains now.
One way of giving such assurance would be registering a joint amendment proposal at Parliament incorporating the demands that the first amendment had failed to address, the leaders said.
The Sanghiya Gathabandhan, the larger alliance with Janajati groups of which the SLMM is a constituent, have demanded two provinces in the Tarai plains. The UML leadership has stood firm against any changes to the existing federal structures, arguing that it would spark unrest in other places. Despite insisting on early resolution to the crisis, the NC and the Maoist Centre have yet to forward any specific proposal on the matter.
NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal have made a joint commitment to resolve the Madhes crisis in the very first point of the seven-point agreement signed between the two parties before the Maoists pulled out support from the UML-led government.