Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party Chairman Mahantha Thakur said on Monday that the Madhesi people were betrayed by the new constitution.

Inaugurating the TMLP National Convention at Ramgram Municipality in Nawalparasi, Thakur said they were organising the convention “during a time of grief and protests”, nine years after the party was formed.

Dozens of people died in protests in the plains around the promulgation of the new constitution last year. Thakur said the new constitution was not drafted as per the spirit of the second People’s Movement and the Interim Constitution.

“We had hoped that the new constitution would end all sorts of discrimination. But we have been betrayed,” said the party chief, adding that “the rulers have humiliated the Madhesi people”. He charged that the government had not taken dialogue with the regional parties seriously.

Leaders of various political parties and foreign delegates attended the inaugural function. Speaking at the function, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba said his party had taken the issues raised by the Madhes-based parties seriously.

Deuba assured the party that the Congress was ready to resolve the issues of provincial boundaries, citizenship and electoral constituencies.

Political leaders including representatives from India’s ruling BJP also attended the convention. The event will last three days.