Sheikh Abul Kalam Azad better known by his nickname Phool Babu () is a high profile Nepalese politician, Social Worker and current Minister of State for Social Development in Madhesh Province. He won second time in a row Member of the Legislative Assembly () of Rautahat District Constituency 4(B) Pradesh Sabha. He is also former VDC chairman() of Gamhariya, Nepal. Personal life and early career Phool Babu was born into an affluent Muslim Sheikh family in Gamhariya, a village in Rautahat District, some 90 kilometres east of Nepal's financial capital Birgunj. His father, grand father and great grand father have very long history of ruling this area as Zamindar. He started his political career from Nepali Congress party and won the local election from Nepali Congress at the time when Communist Party UML were making a clean sweep in Nepalese local elections, 1997 and served as chairman () of VDC Gamhariya thereafter. The local representatives that were elected in 1997 had their five-year terms expired at the height of the brutal Maoist insurgency. The 10-year war ended in 2006 and the country began a rocky transition from a Hindu monarchy to a secular federal republic, which has seen it cycle through nine governments. The long gap between polls has left an institutional void at local level, which has seen graft become a way of life in Nepal, hampering the delivery of basic services as well as the recovery from a devastating 2015 earthquake. During this transition period he served as De facto leader of this area. Madhesh Andolan The Madheshis and Tharus are non-Nepali speaking people forming 70% of Terai population residing in Terai(Madhesh/plain) region of Nepal who are culturally distinct from the hill people. This is the 60 years old dissatisfaction of Madheshi and Tharu that Nepal does not considers them as a Nepali, Nepal considers Madhesh as internal colony. The southern plains of Nepal – Terai belt should be an undivided federal state. This demand was revised such that there shall be two federal states in Terai. One from Jhapa to Chitwan called Madhesh and another from Chitwan to Kanchanpur called Tharuhat. These people think the demarcation of seven federal provinces in the constitution to be unfair. Only a patch of eight districts in the region were given the status of state in Terai; while the remaining 14 districts were carved with the hill districts with the sole