KATHMANDU, Jan 22: The newly-elected president of the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) said on Thursday that the party’s second national convention which concluded in Birgunj on Tuesday has adopted “social democracy” as its party line.
Yadav, who is also the Foreign Minister, told journalists in Kathmandu that the historic convention established the party as a social democratic party. “The convention established the party as a ‘Social Democratic Party’ on the bases of equality, freedom and social justice,” said Yadav, who has a history of being a communist for many years. [break]
Speaking at a program organized by the Reporters’ Club, Yadav said the convention has also decided to make it more comprehensive, by including people from both the hills and the Madhes. “In the backdrop of the Madhesi parties having the checkered history of multiple splits, this convention has given the message that the parties should move forward united,” he said. “We will try to unite all the Madhesi parties, and if that is not possible, we will forge a working alliance with them.”
MPRF was registered in 1998 as an NGO, before being registered last year as a political party, in the run up to the Constituent Assembly election. It has bagged 52 seats in the assembly. Its chief, Yadav, was associated with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and CPN (Maoist). “I left the communist politics, which has been rejected the world over, 15 years ago,” he said. However, some MPRF leaders accuse him of running the party communist style – taking decisions unilaterally and dictating the party rank and file.
Nepal Loktantrik Party formed comprising dissidents of then MPR...
When asked why MPRF leader and cabinet minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhedar was not included in the newly formed 31-member Central Committee, Yadav said Gachchhedar will be in the committee and “he will continue to remain a senior leader” in the party.
MPRF, said Yadav, has also appealed to all armed groups operating in the Tarai to come to peaceful politics.
Yadav rejected outright the idea of any form of integration of the Maoist’s People’s Liberation Army with the national army. Instead, he said, they should be given working alternatives, such as providing scholarships to study, making separate security mechanisms like industrial security, employing them as forest guards, encouraging them to become involved in businesses by giving them seed money, and sending them abroad for employment.
“Army integration is not like (political) party unification,” he said.
He said participation as guests from the Chinese Communist Party, Bangladesh’s Awami League, and India’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the MPRF’s convention has “internationalized the Tarai issue”. “We have taken it very positively,” he said.
MPRF to give ultimatum to govt
Yadav said the 31-member Central Committee formed by the convention will give the government an ultimatum to implement past agreements, including that reached between the United Democratic Madhesi Front last year. “The convention has given the party a mandate to give the ultimatum to the government to function according to the Common Minimum Program (CMP) and fulfill past agreements,” he said. “If that doesn’t happen, we may pull out of the government and go to the people.”
He also warned of “struggle and peaceful revolt” unless the demands of the fourth largest party in the Constituent Assembly are fulfilled. At the heart of its demands lies the controversial One-Madhes-One-Province.
