People came out in large numbers to participate in a Black Day rally staged by Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal to protest the promulgation of the ‘discriminatory’ constitution today.

The rally taken out under the leadership of Province-2 Physical Infrastructure Development Minister Jitendra Sonal started from Janak Chowk and made a round of the entire town before returning to the same place, where it concluded into a corner meeting. Participants of the rally, with black bands tied around their heads, chanted slogans against the constitution and in support of Madhesh agitation.

After the corner meeting, participants burnt copies of the constitution. Later in the evening, they enforced a blackout in the town where lights were turned off for 15 minutes.

The ruling coalition partner Socialist Party organised an interaction on the necessity of constitution amendment. Most of the participants at the interaction programme suggested it to exit the government and start agitation.

Speaking at a different programme about the constitution, Province-2 Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut said the constitution wouldn’t be all-accepted until the rights of the indigenous nationalities, Madhesis and Muslims were ensured.

“It’s meaningless to celebrate Constitution Day until the rights of all Nepalis were enshrined in the constitution. The demand to rewrite the constitution will not fade away until the concerns of the Madhes are addressed,” he said.

RJP-N Presidium Member Mahantha Thakur stressed on the need to amend the constitution. Senior journalist Kisor Nepal said the agenda of constitution amendment could not be ignored.

A version of this article appears in print on September 21, 2019 of The Himalayan Times.