External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj receives Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda on his arrival at IGI airport T3 in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj receives Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda on his arrival at IGI airport T3 in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)
Underlining the urgency to unite despite differences in ethnicity and caste, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda, on Thursday said till the time the Tharus and Madhesis in Nepal are not taken into confidence, the atmosphere for implementing the new Constitution cannot be created.
Prachanda, who was elected as the Prime Minister for the second time on August 3, said the top focus of the new dispensation is to create the “right atmosphere” before the implementation of the Constitution and pave way for the necessary amendments. “We have already made two amendments.”
Prachanda, who is on a four-day goodwill visit to India, his first foreign visit after assuming power, was addressing the Nepali diaspora at the Nepalese embassy here.
“Till the time we don’t take the Tharus, Madhesis and Janjatis (tribes) into confidence and address their legitimate demands the atmosphere cannot be created for implementation of the new Constitution. There is a need to unite Nepal and its people despite differences in ethnicity, language, caste, class,” Prachanda was quoted by news agencies, as saying.
Emphasising that India has never been “prescriptive” in Nepal’s Constitution-making process, the MEA on Thursday said it was an “internal issue” which the Nepalese citizens will decide. “As far as the Constitution-making process is concerned, it is an internal matter of Nepal. We have never been prescriptive in this regard. It is for people of Nepal to decide what is in their best interest,” MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
Emphasising on the need to unite those in the Terai, hills and the plains, the Prime Minister of Nepal said, if that does not happen, then Nepal’s sovereignty will be mere words. “If they are not united then the political crisis will loom large,” he said.
Meanwhile, ahead of talks between the Nepalese Prime Minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi that are scheduled on Friday morning, the ministry of external affairs on Thursday said the Indian leadership would look forward to the opportunity of meeting the Nepalese Prime Minister to know his development priorities for Nepal.
The Madhesi parties in Nepal had earlier led a six-month long agitation, mainly to protest against the seven-province federal model enshrined in the Constitution. At least 50 people were killed during the protests in south Nepal last year over the issue.
India wants Nepal to take steps to address the concerns of its citizens, especially those in Terai, over its newly-adopted Constitution, as it feels the more the process in this regard gets delayed, the situation will “worsen and can get messy again”.
During his interaction, the Nepalese community also reportedly complained that while they had played a prominent role during the movement against the monarchy, but since the new democratic polity came into being they have been largely forgotten.
