CA Election - A process of making people sovereign
Govinda Raj Joshi
The election for Constituent Assembly (CA) is a process, which will make Nepalese people sovereign. The CA election will not only decide what kind of political system our country should have, but also address other major political issues raised by the Madhesis, Dalits, Janajatis and women during their agitation. It will also settle the issue of inclusiveness in the decision making process of the state and restructuring the state paving the way for equal distribution of resources and opportunities. This is the mandate of April's People Uprising II.
As the date of the election is approaching, there is doubt whether election for the CA is going to be held on schedule on November 22 or not. Following the statement of Maoist chairman Prachanda, though he subsequently denied it, the suspicion is growing. Maoist leader Prachanda in his recent statement suggested postponing election arguing that sky will not fall even if the election is postponed for next April. He said that if the election is held in present circumstances in November, it will be not be much different than that of Panchayati election. He also charged that the election was postponed when his party was strong in June 2007. According to him, now his party is weak so all other political parties are in favor of holding the election.
At a time when all political parties have to go to villages to create conducive environment to hold the elections, Maoists forwarded 22-points demands along with program for street agitation. Under massive pressure from the people, Maoist leader Prachanda contradicted his earlier statement saying that it was misreported by the press. He claimed that Maoists are not against holding the election but he has not withdrawn his agitation program. We understand that all these contradictory statements are the result of some compulsions of the Maoist leaders. Whatever their compulsions may be and whoever may be behind them, one cannot change the fate of the country by rescheduling the date of election from November to April 2008.
The roadmap of the seven political parties during the people's movement 2006 -which were supported by the Maoists in the latter days - was the restoration of the dissolved parliament, peace treaty with the Maoists, formation of interim government including the Maoists, and the election for the CA. But, the course took other direction following the announcement of new interim constitution. From the twelve-point agreement to all other agreements signed between the Maoists and seven party alliance, it has been agreed that all the remaining issues will be settled through the election of CA. Suddenly, Maoists now want to decide everything from this interim parliament. Constituted under the provision of interim constitution, interim government, and interim parliament has no legitimate right to take vital decisions, which will curtail the sovereign right of the people. The interim government's sole duty is to hold the election for Constituent Assembly. Thus, the major task of all political parties is now to create the conducive environment to hold peaceful, free and fair election. From the fate of monarchy to form of government and form of the state, it is for the CA to decide. Nobody understands why Maoists have been pressing the need to declare Nepal republic through the present interim parliament. It is contradictory to their commitments. Under a written political compromise, eight political parties have already agreed that the first meeting of the elected constituent assembly will decide the fate of monarchy.
At a time when no major political parties have publicly declared that they will ask vote for monarchy, the results of first meeting of CA is quite obvious. If this situation remains, the first meeting of CA will remove monarchy. In this context, I wonder why the election of CA is not a priority especially to those parties like Maoists who claim to be a genuine follower of republic Nepal. They must realize that only the election of CA can fulfill their stand. Postponement of the election means extending the life of monarchy. Thus the demand to postpone the election is a matter of suspicion. For Nepali Congress, nationality, national integrity, and democracy with the sovereignty vested on the people are important questions now.
This phenomenon of Nepalese politics is very complicated. If Maoists had not disturbed the law and order and helped to create the environment in early days, the elections would have been held in June. When the date of the election came closer, Maoists did not permit the parliament to run and pass the necessary elections bill. The properties captured by the Maoists were not returned and displaced political workers were not allowed to return to their homes. In these circumstances, the election commission was compelled to postpone the election. The Maoists were responsible for the postponement of election though prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala – who was the only politician trying his best to hold the election on time – was blamed for it.
Even now similar situation is being created. The Maoists are going to create disturbances as they have already decided to launch the agitation from 18 September. They also announced physical action against political leaders and workers. Everybody knows what their physical action means. They have already disturbed a number of meetings of other political parties in different parts of the country showing that they are not in favor of the CA election. If it is postponed again, everybody will say that it is the conspiracy to extend the life of monarchy by the consensus of eight political parties. So the leaders of eight political parties have to think over it. They cannot shift the responsibility to others for the purpose of political gain.
Everybody has to understand that if Nepal remains as an independent country, only then will we have our own status and position. Nationalism, national integrity, independence of nation and democracy must be the main priority for us. There must be guarantee to the sovereign rights of the people. If sovereignty remains in the people, then only they will have the right to decide the fate of ruler and decide the kind of political system they want.
Our experiences of working with communists have not been good. It is always difficult to convince the communists and compel them to go to the election of constituent assembly without any prior conditions. The conditions of holding the elections should not be the monarchy Vs republic but it must be independence and sovereignty of the country and democratic rights of the people. It is very difficult to work with the communists and it is not easy to understand their behavior. When they are in crisis, they are very reasonable and honest. As soon as they are in powerful position, they never look at others. If we see their past history, communists are not trust worthy. King Mahendra used communists to wipe out Congress workers in 1964-65 directing Panchayat leaders to help communists against Congress. From DP Adhikari to Keshar Jung Rayamajhi, most of the communist leaders sided with Panchayat. After 1990, Palace followed the same policy by encouraging leftists to minimize Congress. Even CPN-UML voted Mohammad Mohasin, a hardliner and palace nominee, instead of Congress candidate Basu Dev Risal for the position of chairman of National Assembly. After the restoration of democracy, Monarchy used the communist force to contain the congress but the result came just opposite as communists are now demanding to uproot monarchy as the monarchy lies in deathbed. With all these lessons of the past, Congress, knowingly or unknowingly, has put communists on its shoulders in the name of bringing terrorists to the mainstream. The recent bitter result shows that it is next to impossible to bring the communists to the mainstream. This has made Congress helpless. If the current trend continues, the day is not far away when Nepali Congress is going to vanish.
Although Nepali Congress leaders including prime minister Koirala has been the target of communist ministers like Pradeep Nepal, Matrika Prasad Yadav and others, who have used all kinds of derogatory remarks against him, the reality is different. The communist ministers like Pradeep Nepal and Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara and others are giving trouble to the employees sympathetic to Nepali Congress. Even a Peon, who is a follower of Nepali Congress, is getting into trouble. This has forced Congress workers and leaders to think whether the joint front with the communists will be beneficial to the Congress, democracy and country.
Nepali Congress is in great crisis. As a leader of the people's revolution, prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala has to play the most responsible role. His responsibility is to hold the election for CA and make Nepalese people sovereign. Another duty is to safeguard Nepal's independence establishing permanent peace in the country. But the leaders of the ruling eight party alliance have become irresponsible day by day. It has become very difficult to create conducive environment for holding the election. But the election must be held on time. For this purpose, Nepali congress has to play its role. Only the election of constituent assembly can make the Nepalese people sovereign. Nepali people had not toppled the King's dictatorship only to establish other form of dictatorship in Nepal.
Debate On New Constitution
At a time when Nepalese intellectuals have been debating on off track issues
of new constitution, some prominent Indian constitutional lawyers and experts showed the way by bringing lessons from their long experience in India.
One of the positive aspects of the seminar is that it helped to clear many confused issues appearing in Nepal. From federalism to secularism and elections system, Indian scholars were able to explain. Yash Pal Ghai’s presentation on pluralism was another interesting paper where he talked about the poor Brahmin in the context of reservation for poor dalits.
Organized by BP Koirala India Nepal Foundation, participants from Nepal and India discussed various models of new constitution in four-days-long seminar on Nepal’s New Constitution.
Attended by eminent personalities like Dr. Abhishek Manu Sighvi, Dr. Subhas
Kasyap, Professor Rajeeve Bhargava, and Brij Kishore Sharma from India and
Professor Yash Pal Ghai, Kenyan, the discussions were lively.
Inaugurated by the Speaker of Parliament Subas Nemwang, professor Lok Raj
Baral, Krishna Hachhethu, professor Krishna Khanal, Bhimarjun Acharya and
Sudhindra Raj Sharma from Nepal also presented their papers.
As India and Nepal share many commonalities, Nepalese require more such
interactions with Indian scholars as they prepare to write new constitution.
