If you think the leaders' haste in promulgating the new constitution results from their commitment to democracy and the country, you are really mistaken. It is crystal-clear that the present haste in constitution process is all about who gets to (mis)appropriate the funds earmarked for April 25 quake victims. Even after more than 100 days of the quake that wrecked havoc, the majority affected by the quake are yet to receive any real help from the government to the chagrin of many foreign governments that really want to help us in this hour of need. And guess what the government is offering: a new constitution. And that constitution, if it ever gets promulgated, is going to make a lot of people very angry and unhappy.The situation now is no different (actually worse) than in 2002 that prompted the then US Ambassador to Nepal, Michael Malinowski to remark in an interview with The Nepali Times: "You know, the house is on fire and people are still worrying about who is going to sleep in the master bedroom".
When the political parties' plan to form a new government immediately after the earthquake did not go well with the public, they came up with another not-so-brilliant plan: promulgate the constitution and form a national government. The CPN (UML) has its own interests and so does the UCPN (Maoist) in forming a new government and those do not have anything to do with reconstruction and democracy. It is no secret that KP Oli has been harboring the dream to lead the government and as a party that maintains good relations with the I/NGOs, it hopes to procure more funds from abroad through them during Oli's premiership that can be used to strengthen the party (and knowing our leaders, we can safely assume, make the rich leaders richer). The party has its man, Arjun Kumar Karki as Nepal's ambassador to the US where many organizations active in Nepal have their headquarters. And as for the Nepali Congress, it will get some portfolios in the national government and have its leader appointed as the President.
The UCPN (Maoist) has been out of power for long and its humiliating defeat in the second CA election has effectively closed its door to power. The only way is through the backdoor and it hopes to have its share of the pie by joining the "national" government headed by Oli. Then create turmoil and lead the government itself, or in their parlance, use the useful idiots. There's also another incentive for the Maoists: According to some credible sources if the new constitution declares Nepal a secular country, then, money pledged for the earthquake victims by some European countries will start flowing to Nepal (with a promise to send more money than they have pledged). Therefore, the UCPN (Maoist) is against the Hindu state that the majority wants. (Only in our land of wonders you can be against what the people really want and still claim yourself—and surprisingly seen by others as—democratic.)
This explains why the leaders came to an agreement about almost everything that they had been disagreeing for the last eight years in mere eight weeks! We are being told that with the new constitution and government, everything will be honky-dory. And what's more insulting to our collective intelligence is that they expect us to believe it.
The April 25 quake had provided the political parties with a golden opportunity to revamp their image but they blew it. Had they all agreed to a three-month Constituent Assembly recess and directed their leaders/CA members to go and work in the affected areas and oversee the relief operations, they would have won accolades and perhaps many converts. But, they chose to politicize even the relief operations. Moreover, by using the "fast track" (meaning bypassing all standard procedures) to constitution when no one is demanding it, they have shown utter disrespect to the whole idea of CA itself. Just about everything about the way they have been pushing the draft is undemocratic and arrogance-driven.
And the draft has treated the issues that people hold close to heart (federalism and religion) very lightly. The spontaneous leaderless protests against unscientific delineation of states have already gone out of hand in the Mid-Western Region and the Tarai is protesting against secularism and "religious freedom". Furthermore, to linger the crisis further and lock us forever in conflict and divide us along ethnic/regional lines, they have not named the proposed federal states. Expect another round of conflict over the names if this draft gets promulgated as the constitution.
If the leaders are even a quarter democratic as they claim to be, then, the right thing to do would be address the issues pertaining to federalism and religion seriously, so that people will take ownership of the constitution. It is the arrogance that has made the leaders make same mistake that many dictators do and that leads to their downfall: View people as predictable. History proves that people are highly unpredictable and their wants, needs, hopes and aspirations change over time. Just because people rallied for federalism eight years ago does not necessarily mean they want it today, or, that their idea of federal states cannot change over time. Forget the experts, even the CA members from the areas that are witnessing violent protests were not consulted before demarcating the boundaries of the proposed states.
When the Maoists meshed Hinduism with monarchy and discredited both as major roadblocks to Nepal's development, the people believed it in 2006. But in 10 years time, people's perception toward religion has changed, which is evident from the overwhelming amount of suggestions received on the draft constitution in support of Hindu state and the ongoing protests in the Tarai districts.
It's almost a decade since people have been waiting for a new constitution. They can wait for a year or two more if they are promised that their hopes and aspirations will be addressed in the new constitution. In the meantime, the focus should be on reconstruction. The time is not at all right for engaging in dirty politics because the consequences are likely to be very unfortunate.
trailokyaa@yahoo.com
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