In a veiled attack on India, Nepal’s Maoist chief Prachanda on Thursday accused foreign and national “agents” besides feudals of trying to destabilise the country by breaking communal harmony in the Madhesi-dominated Terai region by playing the Constitution card.
The 60-year-old former Prime Minister known for his anti- India stance claimed that the feudals as well as foreign and national agents have hijacked the agenda of the Maoist party in Terai in a bid to make the party weaker in the southern plains.
“The feudals and the agents are trying to destabilise the country by breaking communal harmony in the Terai,” the UCPN- Maoist chief said.
The Terai region bordering India is majorly populated by Madhesis who are Indian-origin and opposed to splitting Nepal into seven provinces.
He cautioned the party’s Madhesi cadres saying that the national and international agents are trying to drag the country towards communal disharmony.
The new constitution is anti-feudal and anti-colonialist as well as oriented towards socialism, he said, adding that the colonialists and expansionists are not happy with the promulgation of the statute.
Prachanda was addressing his party cadres during workers training programme organised by the party in Biratnagar, the industrial town situated in southeast Nepal close to the key border trade point with India which has been blockaded by people protesting the new Constitution.
His remarks may be seen as a veiled attack on India, which Nepal blames for the “unofficial blockade” that has led to scarcity of essential goods.
Nearly a fortnight ago, Prachanda had said that Nepal cannot bow down before anyone’s pressure and that the promulgation of the new statute is a “matter of conscience and self-respect”.
This was Prachanda’s first leg of visit in the Terai - the southern plains - amid two months-long agitation after the promulgation of the new constitution.
After Biratnagar, Prachanda is addressing the party workers in Birgunj of Parsa, Kailali and Banke districts in south and western Nepal as part of the party’s campaign in the Terai after the promulgation of the constitution.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who has recently quit the Unified CPN-Maoist to form a new force, has termed the alleged ‘unofficial blockade’ by India on the border as “inhuman”.
Bhattarai has stressed on the need to free the country of ‘extraneous pressure’.
Talking to journalists during a press conference in Nepalgunj on Thursday, Bhattarai said that time has come to end the 200-year-old foreign interference while strengthening national integrity.
In a different context, Bhattarai clarified that he quit the party with a purpose to drive the country towards economic development and prosperity in the post constitution scenario.
“The country needs a new political force now and that it will be formed soon,” he said, adding that suggestions, advices and participation of all are needed for such a move.
Bhattarai said that he has been successful in fulfilling a big responsibility of drafting the constitution and underlined the need for further incorporating the demands of the Madhesis, Tharus and other ethnic communities in the new constitution.