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
