The date for the election of second Constituent Assembly has finally been declared, and as soon as the declaration was made, a group of us started our protests stating we will not let the elections be held; another group believes that even though the date has been announced the elections will not be held; while a third group has started canvassing the nation sure that there will be elections. No matter which group you belong to, one thing all of us must realize is that as a nation we are more fragmented today than we have ever been in our history. And if the divisions are so acute even before the election, just give a thought to the extent of possible fragmentation after second CA polls. [break]
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I still remember the energy and elation with which the nation went into the first Constituent Assembly election, all wanting change for the better, regardless of individual political beliefs. The results gave effective control over constitution writing to less than a dozen political parties. In effect, a small group of leaders needed to agree to move the process to a final conclusion. Many a year went by with a series of extensions and billions of rupees spent, before it all came to an inauspicious end in the middle of a dark night. With that rich experience behind us, we are yet again embarking on second election for the same elusive constitution, but this time with no cohesive uniting thought, only an array of divisive beliefs. This will most certainly result in a fragmented Constituent Assembly, with potentially more than two dozen ‘main players’.
Now let’s take a moment to reflect. If a small group of parties and leaders with large public mandate couldn’t sit in the halls of the Constituent Assembly to formulate and promulgate a constitution, what are the chances of 24 to 36 different polarized groups and parties being able to achieve this task in our second Constituent Assembly?
While I most sincerely hope that we get a constitution this time, my hopes are bleak at best. In fact, let alone the constitution, I doubt if we will be able to get a Prime Minister to head our government after the election. But I know we have to, and we will once again, go through this costly, time consuming and divisive exercise. And I fear that after the second CA meets the same fate as the first one in the middle of another cold dark night, we will then have to come up with another way to promulgate the Constitution of Nepal, and that I believe will come directly in the hands of the Nepali people.
Unless we have some divine intervention to change the thoughts and working ways of our political masters in the second Constituent Assembly, I believe we will come to a point when the main political thoughts and bodies will have to formulate their own Constitutions and take the same directly to the people for their mandate. In the first round, there could be dozens of prospective Constitutions on the ballot. If there is no clear mandate on one Constitution from the first round of elections, the Top 3 draft Constitutions would be allowed to be amended by the respective parties before going for another round of voting. This will lead to the promulgation of our new Constitution directly voted by the majority of the citizens of Nepal, keeping in mind that ‘Democracy’, our chosen system of governance, is a rule by majority, not a rule by consensus. This will be the Constitution that reflects not just the views and voices of the political parties, but also the aspirations and beliefs of the majority of Nepalis, right across the nation.
By following this process, the political leaders and parties will be forced to think outside the borders of their own political ideologies to determine what is it that the people of Nepal want and how best to address the same in the Constitution they put forth to the people. They will have to think not about what answers they want for the following critical questions (among others), but what answers the Nepali people want:
1. What type of national political structure (Republic, Federal Republic, Hindu Republic, People’s Republic, etc.) would the nation have?
2. What sort of national legislature do you support, how many Houses of Parliament with how many Honorable Members in each House?
3. What type of Executive Head of Government and nation would you support?
4. Do you support the demarcation of states on the basis of ethnicity or geography and how many states would you propose, with how many districts in each state?
5. What type of elected legislature would you propose in each state, with how many Members, Chief Ministers, State Ministers, Bureaucrats, etc.?
6. What structure of taxation will you propose for the movement of goods and services between states and within the respective states?
7. Would you promote reservation and quotas to enhance inclusion and uplift of socially and economically backward people?
8. What safeguards would you include to protect basic human rights of all citizens of Nepal and to end impunity?
9. Would you support the most severe of punishments, including death penalty for crimes against individuals and the nation like murder, rape, human trafficking, terrorism and corruption?
10. What type of economic framework would you support: free market, government controlled or a mix?
11. What would you stipulate for the development of natural resources, hydro, cement, minerals, etc? Should it be done privately, by the government, or a mix?
12. What is your view of private property in terms of protection, ceiling/limitations, transfer etc.?
Again, getting the people to vote directly for the Constitution would make all political leaders and parties think, not of what answer they would like, but what answer the majority of Nepali people want for the above questions, and formulate their respective draft Constitutions accordingly.
Like I did the first time around, I most sincerely hope that our second Constituent Assembly will be able to formulate and promulgate a new Constitution. But having learnt from past experience, I think we need to have a contingency plan in place, just in case! And while I for one wish we could just skip straight to the direct voting on our Constitution, being the patient, understanding people we Nepalis are, I think we will have to go through Constituent Assembly Part 2, before we get to the point where we the people take on the task of directly promulgating a Constitution. I hope that day does not come, but deep down I fear it will.
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