UDMF announces protests against amendment bill

Mum on border blockade

KATHMANDU, Dec 18: After the major three parties moved ahead by tabling the constitution amendment bill in parliament, the agitating Madhes-based parties, under the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), have announced aggressive protest programs for the next two weeks.

The UDMF organized a press conference on Friday and announced protest programs that include burning copies of the amendment bill at the district headquarters, cities and villages and organizing torch rallies and mass demonstrations and processions with staves at district headquarters. Likewise, the UDMF has announced that it would obstruct all the government functions and visits by ministers and parliamentarians to such functions. Though the UDMF has not mentioned anything about the ongoing border blockade in its press statement, leaders said that the ongoing protest programs will continue.

During the press conference, Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) Chairman Mahantha Thakur said that leaders and cadres of all four parties in the UDMF will go to Madhes to intensify the protests.
“The government and ruling side are not serious and this has forced us to reach a conclusion that sitting for talks is meaningless,” said Thakur. “We are going to focus on protest programs in Madhes and the next round of talks will be held there,” he added.
He said that the constitution amendment bill could not address even the demands of proportionate inclusion and delimiting of electoral constituencies on the basis of population. “We were told that our consent will be sought before tabling the bill but the bill was tabled forcibly without addressing our concerns,” said Thakur.
He also said that they have already rejected the four-point proposal forwarded by the government during the India visit of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa.

Why does UDMF want to intensify protest?
Madhes-based leaders reached the decision of intensifying protest after concluding that the major parties did not show seriousness thinking the protests have lost steam.
Following the Delhi visit by Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa and top leaders of the UDMF, there was high hope that the ongoing political crisis would end soon. There was a possibility of an understanding between major parties and agitating parties on the amendment bill but the major three parties instead tabled the bill unilaterally in parliament. But the UDMF has taken the tabling of the amendment bill by the major parties as a trial balloon and announced intensification of their agitations.
“The continuation of protest programs should be for a better deal. When I visited Madhes recently, I found the mood in favor of intensifying the protests once again. The UDMF leaders have tapped the mood,” said Madhes activist Deependra Jha.
According to Jha, the amendment bill does not address the demands of Madhes-based parties for downsizing the number of marginalized clusters for electing proportional representatives in the lower house as well as electing members in the National Assembly on the basis of provincial population.
“Following DPM Thapa’s Delhi visit, the government thought that Delhi will convince Madhes-based parties to work together on their four-point proposal. The agitating parties had said from the very beginning that the four-point proposal will not be a win-win deal for them,” Jha analyzed.
“The recent political developments including the forcible tabling of the amendment bill have caused the mistrust between the major parties and the agitating parties to deepen. In such a situation, if the issue of provincial delineation is to be settled through a political mechanism within three months as per the four-point proposal, the agitating parties at least want to develop a term of reference for the mechanism,” he added.