Why Nepal failed to draft a Constitution yet again

Nepal's political parties have yet again failed to promulgate a Constitution within the stipulated time frame. The political parties had made a commitment last year that they would draft a Constitution within a year of the first seating of the second constituent assembly that convened on January 22, 2014. In fact, political parties are now engaged in working out a face saving formula where all political parties represented in Nepal's second constituent assembly will apologise to their countrymen on their inability to forge consensus to promulgate a new Constitution. However, ideological differences between principal political parties in Nepal remain wide. The three big issues that continue to divide political parties in Nepal are form of governance, electoral system and federalism. Therefore, while political parties may agree in principal that they remain united in their resolve to promulgate a new Constitution, the challenge for them is to work out a formula where they reach consensus on the contentious issues of Constitution writing. If not, any amount of commitment to the Nepalese people that the political parties will promulgate a new Constitution will remain futile.

This week has arguably been Nepal's worst showing for political parties. In an appalling disregard for the sanctimony of the constituent assembly, opposition lawmakers led by the Maoists broke chairs, hurled microphones at ruling parties' lawmakers followed by consistently obstructing the house for four consecutive days. Unidentified lawmakers had also hidden chilli powder packets under Parliament benches that added more spice to the drama. However, the ruling parties are also to be blamed for pushing the Maoists led alliance to a corner. For over a year, the ruling parties never took the Constitution drafting process seriously. In fact, it has only been a fortnight that the ruling parties and the opposition have sat in earnest to find a solution. The present political turmoil in Nepal is a reflection of how a student for a year neglects his studies and only in the last few days he tries to cram his exams and expects to ace them.

The net result of the political parties' failure to promulgate a Constitution is that the economy continues to slide downwards. In a recent article published by one of Nepal's largest English dailies, the government of Nepal has been accused of only being able to spend 12 per cent of its budget. Even more worrying is the plight of Nepalese who are leaving Nepal in droves per day in the hope of finding employment on foreign shores. Although Nepal boasts of a superior hydropower potential in the region, Nepalese live under the constant agony of having to suffer power cuts up to seventeen hours a day in the dry season. Behind the scenes of a shaky political environment and a faltering economy is an evolving political situation where radical political outfits on the right and left are slowly gaining momentum. Mainstream political parties would be ignorant to neglect these radical voices emerging at the grassroots. For instance, the call to reinstate Nepal as a Hindu nation is rapidly gaining traction. But on the other hand, the demand for the restoration of constitutional monarchy remains negligible.

The future of Nepal's economic development is dependent on the ability of political parties to come together. The ruling parties must be prepared to brace the socio-economic and political changes Nepal has gone through after the abolishment of monarchy and the start of Nepal's historic peace and Constitution drafting process. Equally important is that the Maoists and the Madheshi parties give up their stance on carving Nepal's new federal states along ethnic lines that could further disturb Nepal's social fabric. In the larger interest of the country, both the ruling parties and the opposition must be prepared to rise above party lines in order to give respite to the Nepalese people. The failure of the parties to rise above party lines will push Nepal towards a deeper political quagmire. In such a situation it is difficult to imagine how the political parties will be able to rescue themselves from the wrath of the Nepalese people.