The Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Loktantrik, the largest regional party representing the Tharu and Madhesi constituencies, has demanded revision before tabling the constitution amendment bill in Parliament.

The party said on Tuesday that the disputed Tarai districts in the East and the West should be aligned with the Madhes provinces for broader acceptability of the constitution amend-ment bill.

The bill registered in the Parliament Secretariat has proposed carving out a province in the western plains comprising Banke, Bardiya, Dang, Kapilvastu and Rupandehi districts and parts of Nawalparasi.

“The bill is silent on Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Kailali and Kanchanpur. The government should put forth concrete plans to end the row over these districts before putting the proposal to a vote in Parliament,” MJF-L General Secretary Ram Janam Chaudhary told the Post after a meeting of the party’s parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

Chaudhary, who won a seat from Kailali in the second Constituent Assembly elections, said the proposed set-up has done more harm to the Tharu community. He said the key Tharu clusters from Nawalparasi to Kanchanpur should not be broken.

“The current demarcation seeks to further marginalise the Tharu community by fragmenting their key clusters,” said Chaudhary. Tharu groups from across the political spectrum believe that the proposed set-up would turn them into minority in their own strongholds by deliberately leaving out key Tharu settlements. Tharu leaders stress that parts of Kailali and Kanchanpur in the Far West, traditionally the land of the Rana Tharus, should be aligned with the Tharuwan province.

The Tharu community, which makes 6.6 percent of the country’s total population, is the second largest indigenous group after Magar (7.1 percent), according to the 2011 census.

During Tuesday’s meeting, many leaders criticised party Chairman Gachhadar for failing to take a strong position on the constitution amendment proposal.

Gachhadar, a prominent Tharu leader, has welcomed the amendment bill overall but insisted on the need for further revision of the federal boundaries based on political consensus between three major parties and the Madhesi forces.