“We reached a conclusion that we should promulgate a new constitution on May 28 at any cost as we are at risk of a counter-revolution from the rightists,” said Maoist leader Barshaman Pun after hours-long meeting of the party standing committee on Monday. [break]
“As we have already held discussions on the constitution for more than one and a half years, we can now shorten the constitution-drafting procedures at the Constituent Assembly (CA) and settle the issues directly. Now we are not in a position to extend the CA deadline,” he said. The party will formally put forward its stance during the meeting of the High-Level Political Mechanism on Tuesday.
The standing committee analyzed the new political scenario after the demise of Nepali Congress (NC) President Girija Prasad Koirala and reached a conclusion that the rightists have upped the ante in the post-Koirala Nepal and are trying their best to turn the clock back.
Maoists were especially shocked by the statements of former king Gyanendra, former prime minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh, and BJP activities to turn Nepal into a Hindu state again.
“Such things clearly show the conspiracy being hatched by the rightists. So we will put in all efforts for promulgating the constitution on May 28,” said Pun.
On Sunday, Bhattarai had issued a statement terming the concepts of republicanism, secularism and federalism as “hastily-imported alien concepts that were against the original national identity” and calling on the political parties and citizens to revive the 1990 constitution that had the provisions of a Hindu state and a constitutional monarchy.
The remarks of the only living founding member of Nepali Congress came a few days after former king Gyanendra told the media that “monarchy has not ended”. When BJP leader Singh was in Nepal to attend the funeral of late Koirala he had publicly demanded that the country be turned into a Hindu state again.
According to Maoist leaders, the party has concluded that the country might see a rightist surge if the current political confusion persists and decided to be flexible while dealing with other parties on constitution-drafting and peace processes.
The party has however decided to push for a national unity government. “We are not toppling the government through a no-confidence motion. We will look for other options for this,” said Pun. Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had told the leaders that the party was holding talks with other parties for a national unity government.
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