The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik (MJF-L) has said it will not support the constitution amendment bill in its current form. “The provincial demarcation proposed in the amendment bill does not address the demands of the Tharus and Madhesis,” said Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, chairman of the largest regional party in Parliament with 14 seats. 

MJF-L’s stance may make it even more difficult for the government, which is planning to table the amendment bill on Sunday, to get it endorsed in Parliament. “Our party will rather register our own amendment and seek consensus to get it endorsed,” said Gachhadar. “The proposed bill has failed to mention Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Kailali and Kanchanpur—the five districts which are the major bone of contention. The boundary row cannot be resolved without adopting an eight-province federal model,” Gachhadar told journalists while receiving a memorandum from Reporters’ Club in the Capital. 

Gachhadar, a signatory of the 16-point agreement that paved the way for the promulgation of the constitution, has particularly objected to what he calls disintegration of Tharu clusters in the proposed Tharuhat province. The Tharu stronghold of Kailali and Kanchanpur should be aligned with the Tharuhat province alongside Tharu cluster of Nawalpur in Nawalparasi district, he said. 

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.