AMN /
India today extended best wishes to the people of Nepal over adoption of new constitution. External Affairs Ministry, in a statement, said India has always supported a federal, democratic, republican and inclusive Constitution.
However, expressing concerns over the continued violence in several parts of the country bordering India, New Delhi urged for resolving differences through dialogue in an atmosphere free from violence and intimidation for broad-based ownership and acceptance. AIR correspondent reports that the demand for a new Constitution in Nepal , which was a monarchy , was raised by Maoist rebels whose 10-year civil war ended with a peace deal in 2006.
The new constitution took more than seven years. It defines the majority Hindu nation as a secular republic divided into seven federal provinces. Madhesi and Tharu activists have launched a protest against the Constitution which has claimed the lives of 40 people in the Terai region in the past month. People in the Madhes and Tharu belt of the central and western plains of the country are against provincial boundaries demarcated in the new Constitution. They are also opposed to changes to the proportional representation system which they claim will leave them under-represented.