The party has reached a conclusion that the Constituent Assembly (CA) is no longer a place to defend the rights of the Madhesi people and there is no alternative to a strong protest for regional autonomy.
MPRF Chairman Upendra Yadav and co-chair JP Gupta have claimed that the mass movement will help the country to move towards federalism and provincial autonomy as well as consolidating the republican set-up.
Addressing a rally in Biratnagar on Saturday, Yadav also called on other Madhes-based parties including Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) and Sadbhawana Party to quit the government and join the third mass movement.
“The joint Madhesi Front should be consolidated to establish an autonomous Madhes Province,” said Yadav, “I also call on Mahanta Thakur (TMDP president) and Rajendra Mahato (Sadbhawana Party president) to stop being stooges of the government and to join the mass movement for the rights of the Madhesi people.”
According to Gupta, the party will hold protest rallies till December 17 in the Tarai region and launch general strike and other strong protests if no agreement is reached with the government on the party´s demand by then. “Our role in the CA is over. We cannot do anything to empower the Madhesi people even if we continue playing a role in the CA,” said Gupta, “There is no alternative to a struggle as the government and the major political parties are anti-Madhes.”
MPRF Chairman Yadav claimed the Madhes mass movement will not stop unless an autonomous Madhes province is established. He said the government is not sincere to implement the agreements reached with the Madhes-based parties during the second Madhes movement. “So all the efforts will be put in unless an autonomous Madhes province is established,” he said.
Yadav also argued that the Kathmandu-centric government should not be run in the Madhes and all the people -- from prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala -- will get due respects in such an autonomous province.
He pointed out the need of a Madhes province for the independent existence, identity and development of the region.
The MPRF chairman also demanded that the government apologize to vice president Paramananda Jha, whose oath in Hindi has been nullified by the Supreme Court, and warned that the third mass movement would be stringent if the government failed to do so.
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