Janakpur dwellers on Friday announced the protests as the new federal model floated by the Maoist party has omitted a Mithila state though a recommendation made by the State Restructuring Commission (SRC) and a report endorsed by a majority of the State Restructuring Committee of the Constituent Assembly had upheld the identity of Mithila. [break]
An ´emergency´ meeting Friday morning of political leaders and 18 organizations based in Janakpur decided to launch a program of protests that includes a transport strike, submission of memorandums, pasting of ´Mithila State´ posters on buses coming to Kathmandu from Janakpur, and burning of the effigies of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and UDMF coordinator Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar. They have also formed an action committee to launch the protests.
Though most of the organizations behind the protests are social and cultural organizations, the Baidya faction of the Maoist party and the CPN-UML have also supported the protests actively. Maoist Mithila State Secretary Roshan Janakpuri and CPN-UML politburo member Ram Chandra Jha have joined the demand for a Mithila state in the new constitution.
The protest organizations on Friday handed a memorandum to Constituent Assembly Chairman Subas Chandra Nembang through the chief district officer, demanding that the federal model to be adopted uphold Mithila identity.
"We have launched a series of protests against the conspiracy to deprive us of a Mithila state that upholds the aspirations and identity of the dwellers of Mithila," reads the memorandum signed by Permeshwor Kapadi on behalf of the Mithila State Action Committee.
Kapadi accused the Maoist party of betraying the people of Janakpur by omitting the Mithila state at the last stages of finalizing the federal structure though the party uses the name Mithila in its internal organization.
On Friday evening, the Action Committee organized a two-hour transport strike and burned the effigies of Maoist Chairman Dahal and UDMF Chairman Gachchhadar.
Far-west protests Maoists´ 10-state proposal
MAHENDRANAGAR: People of the fast-west region have intensified protests against the 10-state federal model floated by the UCPN (Maoist). Normal life in Kailali and Kanchanpur was affected on Friday due to the strike imposed by various organizations demanding an integrated far-west region.
Various organizations affiliated to Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Janamorcha, and civil society activists enforced the strike saying the Maoists´ state restructuring model divides the far-west region into Seti-Mahakali and Tharuwan states.
A struggle committee has been formed in Kanchanpur under the initiative of Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and other political parties to protest the Maoist proposal, said Nepali Congress district secretary Bhoj Raj Bohara.
Maoists propose 10 states, one centrally-run zone
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