Lip service to constitution writing

By Yuba Nath Lamsal

On the surface, parties seem to be focused on the writing of the new constitution and concluding the peace process to ensure peaceful and stable democracy in Nepal. However, deep into their inner heart, they are paying only the lip service to this main political agenda. Their behaviors have illustrated that they are, instead, busy in extracting partisan gains out of the present political equation. If that was not the case, much would have been accomplished to this direction in the last sixteen months since the election to the Constituent Assembly was held.
This is not to say that the achievements made during the last one year were by no means small by any standard. The successful and peaceful election and formation of the Constituent Assembly in itself was a huge task. The abolition of more than 240 year old institution of monarchy and declaration of republic in Nepal is yet another gigantic task that would always be written down in Nepal’s history with golden letters. The third task is the election of the president and Vice president and also the election of the Prime Minister. Until the declaration of the republic, parties were united. When the stage to share the posts and position arrived, they clashed so bitterly that the unity, consensus and coalition culture all of a sudden collapsed like a house of cards.
The coalition of parties is not their choice but a compulsion. The king’s absolute regime that tried to marginalize the parliamentary parties including the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML compelled them to be closer with the Maoists who were waging an armed insurgency for ten years. Had the king not tried to marginalize the parties, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML would have opted alliance with the palace but not the Maoists. Monarchy was the natural partner of the Nepali Congress as it had been championing multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy right from the beginning as the ‘ twin pillars of democracy’. The CPN-UML, too, had accepted the constitutional monarchy in its political doctrine. The decision to forge an alliance with the Maoists was their compulsion as their street protests against the king had not made any impact.
The decision of accepting the parliamentary politics and joining hands with the parliamentary parties was also not a choice of the Maoists but a compulsion. The Maoists people’s war had reached a situation of equilibrium and they were not in the position of capturing the state power by military means. Already fought ten arduous years of guerilla warfare, the Maoists had been exhausted and they had felt a little difficulty to sustain the guerilla warfare for a long time due to domestic and international situation. Moreover, the Maoists had been hard pressed to enter into peaceful politics and join hands with the parliamentary parties against the king’s absolute rule. The pressure was from both within and outside. A faction of the Maoists had also long been advocating parliamentary politics. At the same time, the external force that had been giving shelter to Maoist leaders during their insurgency period also exerted pressure on the guerilla leaders to give up the armed revolution, which the Maoists could not resist.
The 12-point agreement was signed between the Maoists and the parliamentary parties in New Delhi brokered by some Indian leftist leaders. The 12-point agreement paved the ground for a joint movement against the king’s absolute regime, which was then called Jana Andolan II or April revolution. The Jana Andolan II was thus a fusion of the democratic legitimacy and international recognition of the parliamentary parties and ability of the Maoists to mobilize the public mass that created a new history in Nepal’s democratic movement and forced the king to bow down agreeing to relinquish all the royal prerogatives. However, the agenda of the Jana Andolan II was beyond that which sought to permanently bid adieu to monarchy that had been a roadblock to democratic transformation in Nepal. The monarchy was suspended by the reinstated parliament soon after the success of the Jana Andolan II and the elected Constituent Assembly formally declared Nepal a democratic republic.
This was possible only because of the unity and collective efforts of the parliamentary parties and the Maoists. But our political parties have forgotten this ground reality. Once monarchy was abolished, parties again pursued their own partisan agenda pushing the national interest and issues to the backstage. The major responsibility of all political parties at present is to complete the peace process through which the country can be transformed into a stable democracy and sustainable economy. The two fundamental issues that are directly linked with the peace process are the writing of a new constitution and management of the Maoists arms and army.
However, there has been conspicuously delay in the process of constitution writing and the Maoist army management. If these processes get delayed, the peace process would be automatically delayed, if not derailed. The Interim Constitution has clearly stated that the constitution should be ready by two years since the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held. As per the Interim Constitution we have just ten months to write the constitution. But the progress made in the Constituent Assembly has not been promising. The Constituent Assembly has already amended its calendar of activities five times as it could not meet the deadlines for various activities relating to the drafting of the constitution. Given this lackluster performance, we cannot expect constitution in time. Even if it is ready within the stipulated timeframe, the people would not participate in the discussion on the draft of the constitution in an adequate manner. The period allocated for the public discussion on the draft constitution has been shortened as Constituent Assembly failed to meet the deadlines for various activities. If the constitution was promulgated without the adequate discussion among the general public, it would raise the question regarding the people’s ownership over the constitution and its credibility.
The other issue that has to be given due consideration is the consensus and compromise which is highly needed for completing the constitution writing process. The new constitution cannot be adopted without the support of the two-thirds members of the Constituent Assembly. The two- thirds majority is not possible unless the three big parties namely the UCPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML come together. Given the present power equation and attitude of these parties, it is very unlikely that these three parties would be in one place. Each party is trying to marginalize the others. But none of the political force is in the position of marginalizing the other force. This is the ground reality of Nepal’s present politics, which parties appear not to have understood this.
Similarly, the other pertinent issue that must be resolved with priority is the management of the Maoist arms and army. Now more than 19,000 fighters of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are in the seven different UN monitored camps. The Comprehensive Peace Treaty has also stated the urgency of the management of the PLA members. However, parties have differed on how the PLA members should be resolved. As a result, the issue has been controversial. The Maoists have insisted that the PLA members should be integrated into the Nepal Army. However, the Nepali Congress has opposed the idea of integrating them into the Nepal Army but it wants the PLA members to be rehabilitated in the society. CPN-UML has not come up with a clear view and strategy on this issue. One thing all must realize is the fact that peace process and constitution writing cannot be accomplished without managing the PLA fighters.
These issues and circumstances require the political parties to come to a common ground and find an amicable solution to these issues to facilitate the conclusion of the constitution writing and peace process. There is no alternative to consensus to complete the peace process. But the parties have one after another been breaching the coalition spirit and culture. All three big parties are responsible for this crisis of trust and confidence and breach of consensus and coalition culture. It is now high time that these parties bury their partisan differences and come closer for the bigger national agenda and cause. The country does not need lip service but genuine commitment from the political parties and their leaders at this crucial juncture.

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