The decision of the Madheshi Morcha to reinter and raise their demands in the national parliament, which they had been boycotting for the past two months, is a positive development. It indicates that the Madhesh-based parties, even as they continue with their sometimes-violent agitations, have not completely lost faith in peaceful democratic process. They now seem to be in a mood to raise their voice both from the street as well as the parliament. We would advise them to strongly raise their objections with the new constitution in the parliament—something they did with gusto on Sunday—and give up on their street agitation which has given India a pretext to impose a crippling economic embargo. Whether the Madheshi parties realize it or not, India is using them as pawns to serve its vested interests in Nepal, and this unholy association with India has discredited the genuine grievances of Madheshi people. The longer the economic blockade continues, the greater will be the damage to the reputation of Madheshi parties and harder it will be to bridge the growing trust deficit between Pahade and Madheshi communities.But the onus to find peaceful solutions to the political problems in Tarai-Madhesh is by no means limited to Madheshi parties. As the head of the government at such a critical time it is primarily the responsibility of KP Sharma Oli to create favorable climate for meaningful negotiations. But some of his recent utterances have been highly provocative and intended, it seems, at further alienating the Madheshi parties and Indians. What did Oli hope to achieve, for instance, by suggesting that Nepali Congress voted against him in the prime ministerial election because its leaders had obtained money to do so from Indian intermediaries? Following such accusations India has in the past few days blocked even limited supply of fuel to Nepal. As we have maintained, the Indian embargo, being imposed to bully its small neighbor into following its diktat, is inhumane and a blatant instance of violation of the rights of a landlocked country. But that also does not give our political leadership carte blanche to make unfounded accusations. In such polarized times, why would the prime minster of the country do anything to further inflame the situation?
Now that the Madheshi Morcha has joined the parliamentary process and signaled its intent to find peaceful solutions, the Big Three and the Morcha must immediately resume dialogue and try to hammer out outstanding issues at the earliest. As the agreement last Saturday—when the government had agreed to review provincial borders, the central demand of Madheshi parties—showed, it is still possible to find meaningful solutions given the political will on both the sides. As a gesture of goodwill, the government could honor its previous commitment to compensate the families of those killed during the agitation in Madhesh and to bear the expenses of those injured. But things will not move forward if Oli cannot show that he is the prime minister of the entire country, not just a narrow Pahade constituency that he is seemingly keen to cultivate through his divisive rhetoric.
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