Cart before the horse

The Himalayan Times

9 July 2015

Cart before the horse

This is with reference to the news story “CA in hurry to resolve row over federalism (THT, 7 July 2015). Despite the Supreme Court’s interim order to halt the drafting process of the new constitution, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) continued drafting it and presented it to the CA for deliberation. Many CA members strongly suggested naming and demarcating the boundaries of federal units before finalizing the draft constitution. Now, the draft copy will be sent to the general public for feedback. Protesting the 16-point-deal reached among the four major political forces, four Madhes based parties boycotted the CA deliberations and have even threatened to quit the CA if their demands are not addressed while preparing the final draft of the new constitution.

Undermining the importance of CA role, four major political forces had signed 16-point-deal on June 8 in order to facilitate the drafting process of new statute. The first CA could not fulfil its mandated job because of the major political parties’ failure to agree on the number of federal units. The recent devastating earthquake forced them to act swiftly in order to save their faces for not being able to handle the post quake situation. The people of the affected areas and the other general public were furious with the political leaders for their sluggishness and irresponsiveness.

Time has come for all to extensively deliberate on the draft constitution and exert positive pressure on the CA members to incorporate all the relevant elements in the final draft constitution to make it a document of compromises. A high level commission for naming and demarking of federal states should be immediately formed in order to complete the process of demarcating the Pradeshes before promulgating the new constitution. Going by the experience of the first failed CA, the feedback being collected from the people will just be a formality.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj