Nepal President urges parties to back constitutional amendment
Nepali President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has urged political parties to focus on implementation of a new constitution and maintain harmony…
Unfortunately, though not unsurprisingly, the ethnic cauldron in Nepal could simmer for some time yet. The Constitution amendment bill, that seeks to address ethnic sensitivities, has encountered a hurdle at the threshold. Registration of the legislation, introduced by the government led by the CPN (Maoist-Centre), has been challenged in the country’s Supreme Court on the plea that the move is against the “letter and spirit of the Constitution”.
To make confusion worse confounded, the bill has been greeted with violent demonstrations, spearheaded by students and a section of the populace. On closer reflection, the bill is a measure of critical forward movement after the sub-regional jingoism of the Madhesis and other ethnic segments in the Terai region had convulsed the country in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, had crippled the economy in the wake of a border blockade, and had killed an estimated 50 people.
Chief among the provisions of the bill are a separate province for the Madhesis — indeed their principal demand — citizenship, representation in the Upper House, and recognition of languages spoken in various parts of the country.
Theoretically, this entails yet another bout of state reorganisation — in itself a prickly issue — and there is substance in the counter-demand that the matter must be decided by a federal commission… rather than a government fatwa via the legislature. Equally, the Federal Alliance, an umbrella organisation of ethnic groups, is justified when it shrills for more rights and representation for the “marginalised people”.
The nub of the matter must be that the Himalayan country has suffered considerably for close to two years — both on account of a natural calamity and violent ethnicity. It is direly imperative therefore to devise a solution not merely in the interest of the Madhesis… but of India as well. Not least to dispel the impression that the border blockade, that dislocated the supplies of food and medicine, was stagemanged by India to express solidarity with the Madhesis who inhabit the peripheral areas. Nepal has reached a stage when only a separate state for the Madhesis and certain other groups will help defuse the festering crisis.
The crafting of the bill would suggest that the present government, though not the previous, has in principle concurred with the demands. At the core is the dominant feeling of exclusion within their own country, a sentiment that was reinforced in the wake of the initial reorganisation of provinces, which had palpably accorded the Madhesis the short shrift.
The bill needs to be executed for peace and stability in a SAARC country. Unlike in Bhutan, Nepal’s transition from a monarchy to an elected democracy has been a bumpy journey without maps.
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