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Nepal's Madhes-based parties launch fresh round of protests to re-write new Constitutions

Xinhua, April 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

After a hiatus of nearly three months, Nepal's Madhes-based parties and groups on Friday announced a fresh round of agitation demanding "re-write" of the country's new constitution promulgated in September last year.

The Madhes-based parties will submit a memorandum on their demands to the government via District Administration Offices, erecting black flags at government office premises, Upendra Yadav, a leader of the agitating parties, said at the press conference here on Friday.

The parties have also planned to launch massive public demonstrations including rallies and mass meetings in district headquarters and mass assemblies in major cities and towns of the nation, and picket Singhadarbar, the central administrative hub, among others.

The Federal Alliance has argued that the Constitution should be revised to strengthen independence, nationality and national integrity and to constitutionally manage non-discriminatory, secular and identity-based proportional inclusive federal democratic republic.

The Madhes-based parties have said that their agitation will be Kathmandu-centered though their last agitation was primarily focused on the Terai region of the Himalayan country bordering India.

Earlier in February, the Madhes-based parties had called off their agitation programs after the Nepalese government made the first amendment in the new constitution to address their major demands.

However, the agitating parties claim that the government has not addressed their core demands which include ensuring higher representation in the government bodies on the basis of proportional inclusion of the Madhesis as well as other marginalized communities.

A high-level political committee under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa is currently working to resolve the remaining concerns of the Madhes-based parties. The parties are set to resume their protest programs saying that the government seemed not serious toward their demands. Endit