Arguing that it won´t be feasible to have an ´autonomous one Madhes province´, senior leaders of UCPN (Maoist), NC and the UML have said that they would instead push for multiple federal states including Mithila state in the Tarai in the upcoming CA election. "Even Madhesi people are not in favor of ´one Madhesh, one province´ idea, they want identity-based federal structure," said NC Central Working Committee (CWC) member Ananda Dhungana. [break]
Dhungana has said his party favors Mithila state in Maithili speaking region of the Tarai. "Nepali Congress has always stood in favor of Mithila movement," he said. "Our party is in favor of carving a Mithila state comprising of Tarai districts stretching from Saptari to Parsa," he said.
UML´s Bhim Rawal also said his party supports the idea of carving federal states on linguistic and cultural bases. "Mithila state has been demanded on the basis of language and culture. The demand for a separate Mithila state is just," he said, adding that the demand of Madhes-based parties to have single federal state across Madhes is simply unacceptable.
"Mithila culture and Maithili language have a long history so we support the idea of forming a Mithila state," he further said.
UCPN (Maoist) leader Ram Chandra Jha, who recently defected from the UML, said the Maoists always stood in favor of a separate Mithila state in Tarai-Madhes. "Carving states on the basis of language would further strengthen federal set up in Nepal. Mithila has unique identity and we are prepared to give it a character," he said.
Political analyst Chandra Kishore believes that ´one Madhesh´ was just a slogan forwarded by Madhes-based parties under the pretext of federalism. "The people or parties who are supporter of one Madhes have not done a serious homework on the issue," said Kishore. "The idea of carving one Madhes state is just as impractical as the idea of carving one state comprising districts of the Tarai and the hills."
"The demand for one Madhes demand has lost steam now. It is neither practical nor acceptable," said Kishore. "Major parties have proposed forming two to three states in the Tarai."
Coordinator of Mithila State Struggle Committee (MSSC) Parmeshwar Kapadi, who is currently staying in Kathmandu following alleged death threats against pushing the demand for Mithila state, alleged that one Madhesh demand is in fact an Indian demand brought through the Madhes-based parties. "One Madhesh is in the interest of Indian establishment," Kapadi alleged. "Forwarding Hindi as a contact language is an attempt to colonize other languages spoken in Madhes."
Kapadi said, all major parties, including Baidya-led alliance were also in the favor of a separate Mithila state. "The major parties would forward the agenda of Mithila state in CA elections," he claimed.
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