HM's Constitution day message is loud and clear

The nation celebrated the tenth anniversary of the promulgation of the constitution now in force in a visibly unwilling manner. For the common men, neither the system now in place nor the celebrations of the anniversary of the constitution itself have remained captivating. So it would be better to write that a small section of the privileged few celebrated the event for obvious reasons. Those who celebrated understandably were those who one way or the other have benefited from both, that is the system and the constitution as well. For the rest it was simply an affair, which had no meaning and significance, to put it mildly. It had no meaning in the sense that the common men have not yet been given to understand that the constitution too had come for them. The pious declarations contained therein the preamble and different clauses of the constitution were in essence never brought in favor of the people or say in favor of those who continue to remain marginalized in the truest sense of the term from being a participant in the overall process of the system for which this section in fact sacrificed their lives at time of the last popular movement. Secondly, the constitution has loosed its significance in the sense that many a times the political parties and their leaders have mercilessly violated the norms and the provisions of the ‘body of laws’ in a manner that have suited to their political interests. Thank some responsible leaders or say the actors in the country’s political scene have admitted this hard fact. So if the men manning the system bypass and grossly neglect the stipulations of the constitution then there remains little to expect a total observance of the same by the section which has yet to mix itself into the national mainstream. The calamity had been that a section has felt that the constitution that is for them was not more than a piece of paper. This notorious feeling has killed the very beauty and the pious motives of the national document. In this regard what would be relevant to note is that the national document has shielded the national level criminals from being penalized instead conversely it has remained very rough and tough to penalize the local level burglars and thieves. If the laws of the land are left at the mercy of the interpretations of those who run the system then only Almighty is the savior. In fact it is this biases, which has rendered the constitution and the laws flowing from it totally nonessential. This situation, if continues for long, will every minute belittle the importance and the significance of the constitution which is unfortunate.

Voices of effecting certain amendments in the constitution are heard these days. Albeit we are not the experts in this regard. However, if the present constitution lacked some important elements that could take greater care of the "parentless and the guardianless" nation and her citizens, it would then be advisable to the concerned sector to think on these lines. It is our belief that the constitution must be made dynamic in every sense of the term. The document must not be loaded with inertia. The national document too should fit into the changing times. After all it was a selected heads of the people who framed this constitution whose sole aim was to benefit from that document in so many ways.

Above all, the document that we call the constitution perhaps is not that bad as we have been given to understand by a selected section of the people. To recall, the constitution of the erstwhile regime too claimed itself as a democratic one. The present one also claims to be a Jeffersonian one. But then why both of the constitutions have been severely criticized. In our opinion, the implementing agents and the agencies that are again the men manning the system perhaps remained weak then and now even. It is not the fault of the constitution which is voiceless and abstract too, rather the men who have been chosen to implement it in letter and spirit have made it a piece of waste paper which in essence it is not.

Given the sorry state of the nation in all the possible sectors; given the nonchalance currently being exhibited by the dirt poor section of the Nepali society towards the system and the total apathy towards the ruling government for obvious reasons; given the ever increasing graph of corruption at the highest political levels and their remaining untouched by the laws of the land; given the vertebral-column breaking prices of the consumer goods; given the ever deteriorating law and order situation in the country; given the never ending conflicts in the political sector for grabbing power; given the poor rating of the donors of our democratic system and more so of the governance that stands today; given the imbalances seen in the foreign policy conducts of the nation; given the utter negligence towards the national document by the political sector perhaps all put together prompted the Constitutional Monarch King Birendra to sound His Concern towards the people and the nation which His Majesty chose to air through the Constitution Day message this time. An in-depth analysis of King Birendra’s subtle communication perhaps contains some warning loaded hints for the men manning the system. This is our analysis not necessarily to be accepted by those who were at the helm of state affairs today and had become blind as it usually happens with those who wield power. However, His Majesty’s message must be given due attention more so by today’s rulers, as it is for the "first time" that Nepal’s Constitutional Monarch has said that "we" had offered the constitution some ten years back to the people.

The messages in between the lines are loud and clear.

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