Tuesday marked 100 days since the promulgation of new constitution on September 20th. Since its promulgation, elections of the new prime minister, president, vice-president, speaker and deputy speaker have taken place in line with its provisions. The Supreme Court has established a constitutional bench, as provisioned in Article 137 of the new constitution. But that's about it. Largely due to the protests in the Tarai belt against the new constitution and continued obstruction of the house by Madheshi parties, implementation of other aspects of the new constitution is proving tricky. The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs says it is all set to table a bill in the parliament to amend 193 existing laws and bring them in line with the new constitution. Likewise, a panel in the ministry has identified 109 federal, 22 provincial and six local-level laws that need to be formulated to implement the new constitution. These measures should not take much time if there is a larger political settlement with the protesting Madheshi parties. Thankfully, there were some positive signs on Tuesday as the Madheshi parties hinted, for the very first time, that they were ready to rethink border blockade and that they would be flexible on border demarcations.It was about time. The over four-month-long protests in the Tarai has not benefitted anyone. Over 50 people have already been killed. Young students have been deprived of education. The national economy has been decimated by the Indian economic embargo. Earthquake victims are shivering out in the cold as even the supplies of vital necessities to sustain them have been blocked at the border. As people have died, the gulf between the Big Three and the Madheshi parties has increased dangerously, making logical solutions harder to come by. Meanwhile, extremist forces are starting to assert themselves. The longer it takes to implement the new charter, the stronger they will get. And if that happens, mainstream Madheshi leaders could find themselves sidelined. Nor will such developments be in the interest of major parties. We hope both the sides to the current standoff over the constitution realize that realistic solutions can come only from dialogue. For neither the tactic of Oli government to tire out the protestors nor the one adopted by protestors to provoke the government and get it to retaliate with disproportionate force is working.
As we mark 100 days of the new constitution, we hope all major stakeholders in the constitutional process are beginning to realize there is no option to using the new constitution as a base to build New Nepal, in the spirit of the 2006 Jana Andolan, the three Madheshi Andolans and all the other movements for rights and equality in the past one decade. Yes, the new constitution has its flaws, but it also has many more strong points. Rather than trying to question its legitimacy on the basis of its few glitches, effort should be made to build on its strong points while also looking to plug loopholes. It would not be in the interest of any of the democratic forces to try to subvert the new constitution drafted by an overwhelming majority of the sovereign Constituent Assembly.
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