Nepal: population is still divided on first anniversary of Constitution
The new Prime Minister Prachanda has invited everyone to celebrate the event. The parties of the madhese minority have instead launched a "Black Day", a counter-celebration in which they are ready to burn the fundamental text. The Nepalese prime minister in India to mend relations after the embargo. Foreign Minister: "We will no longer be influenced by Indian pressure."
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - The Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda, called on all people to celebrate the first anniversary of the promulgation of the democratic and secular Constitution, which falls today.
The basic charter was passed after years of consultations, but left the demands of madhese minority unsatisfied. So today the parties representing the minority group have launched a counter-celebration called "Black Day", during which they are ready to set fire to the constitutional text, considered discriminatory and detrimental to their rights.
Prime Minister Prachanda was re-elected in August to lead the country, and soon after the assignment has reassured minorities by saying that he would find a solution to their demands as soon as possible.
Yesterday he came back from the first state visit to India, in an effort to mend relations with Delhi following the approval of the Constitution and the subsequent embargo on goods exported from the Indian partner.
Baldev, political advisor to the Prime Minister, said: "The prime minister asks everyone to celebrate the new constitution, which made federalism, secularism and the figure of the President official, replacing a unitary system of government, Hindu state and monarchy. We will soon see the amendments needed to allow the claims of dissatisfied groups".
On the other hand the Madhesi continue to complain that the current territorial division into seven provinces deprives them of an autonomous region in the southern areas of the Terai. Mahantha Thakur, president of Terai Madhes Democratic Party, attacks: "This Constitution removes our rights. We are segregated from the political point of view in a region of which we are the majority. "
The question of respect for minority rights has been at the center of the dispute with India during the months of the embargo, implemented in an official capacity to support the demands of the under-represented Nepalese people. After the State visit of Prachanda, Foreign Minister Prakash S. Mahat, leader of Nepali Congress, has launched a message to the authorities in Delhi.
"In the past - he said - Nepal has been overly influenced by Indian politics and India has attempted to impose choices facilitating government changes. But now India has realized that Nepal has its own importance in the international arena. Our decisions will no longer be influenced. We will solve the issue of Madhesi according to our needs, even if they appear to have been encouraged by the Indian messages that seek to amend the Constitution. "
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