Amid criticisms from the agitating Madhesi and Janajati forces for the delay in registering a constitution amendment motion, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday said that the government was working hard to make the constitution broadly acceptable.

Dahal said he was working to amend the constitution through political consensus by incorporating the voices of the Madhesi, Tharus and Magar communities. He was addressing a delegation of political representatives of the Magar community in Baluwatar on Monday morning. Dahal assured the delegation that justice will be done to the Tharus, Magars, Madhesis and other marginalised groups, according to a press note issued by Dahal’s secretariat.

“We have got other fundamental issues right in the constitution. But while making the constitution we could not keep the Madhesi, Tharu

and Magar clusters together. We are working with other political parties to ensure that justice is done this time around,” he said.

Keeping national unity intact by uniting the people of the mountains, hills and the Tarai was a top priority of the government, Dahal said, according to the Rastriya Samachar Samiti.

During the meeting, the delegation demanded an autonomous Magar province in a new federal set-up, their proportional representation in every state organ and “legalisation” of customs and traditions of ethnic and indigenous communities, the news agency reported.