“There will be an autonomous Madhes province and an autonomous Tharuhat province,” reads the manifesto unveiled on Monday. “We have announced that there should be two provinces in Tarai and that is our bottom line,” MPRF-D has declared in its 30-page election manifesto. [break]
Explaining his party´s differing stance from other Madhesi parties, party General Secretary Jitendra Dev said, “The Madhesi parties are trying to gain political mileage cashing in on the bodies of the martyrs of Madhesh movement and Tharuhat movement by proposing one Madhes, one province.” He further claimed that a single Tarai province cannot fulfill the aspirations of various ethnic communities residing in Tarai.
As per the MPRF-D manifesto, the party stands for prime minister as the executive head and a ceremonial president. “The prime minister should be elected by the parliament. We have also proposed giving equal weight to the central and provincial parliaments while electing the president,” added Dev. He further said that in a bid to prevent the PM turning to an autocrat, “some executive rights should be shared between the president and the PM.
The manifesto further says the PM would be responsible toward the parliament. “The parliament would be bi-cameral comprising of the house of representatives and a national assembly.” Similarly, the party has floated that the country should adopt mix model of electoral system.
The party has said in its manifesto that the disputed issues should be resolved by the holding referendum. In a bid to impress women voters, the party has floated 50 percent reservation for women in all state bodies. The party mentions in its manifesto that they are equally sensitive toward the Muslim community. The party envisages establishment of ´reserved election constituency´ for both Muslim and Dalit electorates.
The party has also demanded that the government should adopt multi-linguistic policy stating that the country is multi-lingual.
The manifesto opposes the migration pattern in the Tarai region. “The population of Hill migrants in Tarai was 5.9 percent during the census of 1952-54 AD. But at present, the population of non-Madhesi community stands at 35 percent, a trend that will make the real Madhesi community marginalized in their own home land,” reads the manifesto.
The party has not proposed any plans for the Hill migrants living across the Tarai belt.
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