"The party has been standing for delineating provinces by striking a balance between capability [economic viability] and the identities of Nepali society which is multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural," said UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal, while replying on behalf of the party to the party´s dissidents. [break]"Our party still firmly stands on the convictions."
Khanal offered a nine-page explanation of the party´s position on state restructuring and reinstatement of dissolved Constituent Assembly (CA), among other issues, as a group of dissidents led by UML Vice-Chairman Ashok Rai demanded that the party make its position clear on the issues in writing. Rai, on behalf of the dissidents, had some months ago submitted a nine-point demand to the party establishment.
Citing the recent central committee´s decision to propose a seven-province model based on multi-ethnic identities, Khanal said that the provinces in a federal set up should be multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural and should reflect the reality of Nepali society.
The seven provinces proposed by the UML´s central committee are-- Kirant-Limbuwan-Koshi, Mithila-Bhojpura-Janakpur, Tamsaling-Newa-Bagmati, Magrat-Tamuwan-Gandaki, Tharuhat-Abadh-Lumbini, Bheri-Karnali and Seti-Mahakali.
While the dissidents have been pressing the party leadership to stand for delineation and nomenclature of provinces based on single-ethnic identity, the party has turned down the demand.
"There can´t be single-ethnic nomenclature when the provinces are multiethnic in nature and the provinces can´t be named after a single language when they are multilingual," said Khanal arguing that such a move wouldn´t represent the concerned province´s realities appropriately.
The party establishment, however, showed flexibility on the issue of CA´s revival, which is another major demand of the dissident group. "Our party is ready for reinstating the dissolved CA by fixing a certain timeframe only for the purpose of promulgating a new constitution provided that major political parties reach an agreement on settling the unresolved disputes in constitution writing beforehand," said Khanal in the paper obtained by Republica. However, Khanal said the UML is for fresh polls if the parties fail to settle disputes in constitution.
Parallel activities unacceptable
Khanal made it clear that the party wouldn´t take any action against party members just for registering their differing views against the party´s official position. "But it can´t be acceptable if any members are involved in any activities that run parallel to the party´s official events, forming a third-force and blaming the party and the leadership with serious allegations in public," said the chairman in his paper.
However he clarified that this time the party wouldn´t take any action against the dissidents on the ground of their past activities if they return to the party system and activities.
The party had some months ago relieved the dissidents from their positions. "The recent decision to assign other comrades to their position is just a temporary arrangement and those [dissidents] who are away from the party work can resume in their previous position when they want to," read the document.
The party establishment has taken a strong exception to the dissidents for holding UML responsible for the CA´s failure despite it becoming clear that the CA was dissolved without promulgating new constitution mainly because of UCPN (Maoist) and Madhes-based parties´ front, said Khanal.
Khanal also criticized the dissidents for describing UML as anti-federalist and a party against CA in public. He said that their accusations against UML came at a time when all the party rank and file needed to concentrate their efforts to expose the activities of UCPN (Maoist) for the latter´s "attempt to impose totalitarian system in the country by pushing the country into a trap of constitutional as well as political crisis".
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