Come, Join and Form Human Structure of 100 to Mark 100th Day of Madhes Protest

Monday, November 23, 2015, is the 100th day of Madhes Movement in Nepal. This is the longest ever movement launched for rights in the country. However, the government is still turning a deaf ear to the genuine demands of agitating Madhesi/Tharus/Janjatis and other marginalized communities.

The agitating groups in Nepal are demanding amendments in the new constitution promulgated on September 20, 2015. Agitating parties representing Madhesis and Tharus want to see the constitution amended based on the 22-point and eight-point agreements signed between the state and UDMF in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Although those agreements were incorporated in the Interim Constitution,  three major political parties — CPN-UML, Nepali Congress and UCPN (Maoist) excluded them while promulgating the new constitution through ‘fast track’ with a view to give the earthquake-devastated country a headway. But the three-months-long protests in Tarai where around half of the population resides and is the backbone of the country’s economy has been pushed behind by a decade.

The Madhesis’ demands are very clear. They articulate their demands in four key points—electoral constituencies based on population, proportional representation of Madhesis in government bodies, identity-based provincial demarcation and equal citizenship provision for women marrying Nepali men, which are yet to be accommodated. Also, they want the amendment of controversial provisions in the constitution.

The current movement has already dealt with two governments and more than a dozen rounds of talks between the government and agitating Madhesi parties. But those attempts of talks made no headway. The irony, however, is the government and three key political parties do not seem serious towards the genuine demands of Madhesis/Tharus.

Young leaders and civil society of Nepal are urged to come together to mark the 100th day of the Madhes Uprising as the historic day to draw attention of the world. Young leaders and members of civil society will make Human Standing Structure forming “100” on Monday in different parts of the country especially throughout Tarai and in the capital to pressure the government to resolve the crisis.  

On the same occasion, United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) has also planned to observe the 100th day of ongoing protests in different locations of Tarai-Madhes districts by observing five-minute silence program at 1 PM to pay tribute to all the martyrs of Madhes movement.

We expect larger media coverage of the 100th day observation in order to help affected common Nepalis in creating pressure on the government for faster solution.

Sincerely

Madhesi Youth
Media Coordinator

Event Coordinator — Khusbu Gupta

Name of location and contact person for the event

We’ll keep updating if other events are fixed.

Image credit: Aashu Sarraf