Politicians could not finalize the text due to sharp differences among the major political parties about some key wordings in the preamble, which is considered to be the gist of any constitution.[break]
They disputed on whether to incorporate the concepts of pluralism, right to self-determination and ´people´s war´ in the preamble.
UCPN (Maoist) leaders have been insisting that the term ´people´s war´ be included to refer to the decade-long Maoist insurgency. While Madhes-based and some other political parties have argued that the Madhes movement and others should also be incorporated in the text if the Maoist insurgency is to be mentioned, Nepali Congress (NC) leaders have said ´people´s war´ is objectionable wording.
"We can´t recognize the Maoist insurgency as people´s war. Therefore, we are against using the words at all," NC leader Ramesh Lekhak, a member of the taskforce, told Republica. "How can we describe the Maoist insurgency as people´s war when NC members, teachers and many innocent people were brutally murdered?"
But the Maoists have been firm on their demand. "The words people´s war must be mentioned in some part of the statute if it is not practical to incorporate them in the preamble," Gurung said. He said the Maoists want to establish the words in the statute as other political parties had termed them as acceptable. "We had agreed to skip them while drafting the Interim Constitution and it was only later that other political parties started to describe them as unacceptable," Gurung said.
UML leader Bharatmohan Adhikari and Prem Bahadur Singh of Socialist People´s Party floated the idea of settling the point by mentioning the words in explanatory notes, but the NC leaders were opposed.
Pluralism
Politicians also failed to decide whether to mention the word ´pluralism´ in the preamble. NC leaders have said that it must be included while the Maoists have stood against.
"Pluralism should be the main spirit of the new constitution," NC leader Ram Chandra Paudel told reporters. But Gurung argued that if the term pluralism is included, the parties should be ready to include other isms as well.
Some members argued that the issue can be settled by skipping the word while ensuring the essence of pluralism in the new constitution as was the case in the constitution of 1990 and other democratic constitutions.
"But now it has become essential to mention it as a certain [Maoist] party has said that pluralism is not acceptable to it," said Paudel.
Right to self-determination
While the Maoists have been pushing to incorporate the right to self-determination, leader from other parties said it needs further explanation.
NC and other party leaders demanded further clarification of the concept as the preliminary draft reports prepared by three different thematic committees of the Constituent Assembly (CA) have defined it differently as per their own contexts. They said further explanation of the issue is also required because the concept is not uniformly defined at the international level either.
"We have to make it clear. What is it exactly? Is it the general public or communities or provinces that we want to ensure the right of self-determination to," Lekhak said.
Gurung said members from other parties, mainly the NC, worry that such a right might create the problem of disintegration of the country.
Related story
Wording of Govt-Raut deal, leaders’ comments cause confusion
