The top three parties have once again predictably failed to stick to another deadline of forging consensus on the contentious issues. The constitutional council had given until March 11 to resolve all outstanding disputes on major issues like forms of governance, state restructuring, electoral system and power of judiciary, to come to table with a mutually accommodative positions. But the rigid posture adopted by the parties, particularly Nepali Congress and the Maoists, who have pitted one against the other and are holding on to their position, is threatening to pull the nation into a constitutional void.
The bitterness among the parties heightened in Sunday’s Constitutional Council’s meeting where PM Bhattarai, lost his temper at NC and UML leaders and said although they may not support his effort to end the peace process and to draft constitution, history will judge his efforts. The opposition leaders however, flagged Bhattarai’s remarks and said the Maoists must first complete the integration.
UML leader Madhav Nepal came out of Monday’s meeting of dispute resolving sub-committee and remarked, “This committee cannot make any decisions as long as the integration is not completed. We are waiting for tomorrow’s special committee meeting to decide on integration, and until then we will not cooperate on constitution drafting.” Similarly, we asked NC leader Ram Chandra Poudel on Monday evening, whether the parties have reached a give and take agreement on the integration issue, but his blunt reply was : “ There is no possibility of reconsidering on NA’s standard norms, we have not shown any flexibility. The Maoists should hand over the integration to the NA and let them deal with it. "
It is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between party’s official position and their rhetorical outbursts. Although they keep harping about consensus and cooperation, there is serious conflict of interest that has taken the parties down the collision course. It is not too difficult to understand the Maoist anxiety to see through the peace process. The cantonments have become a political liability the party and they just want a dignified integration of their fellow comrades into the army. The leadership seems ready to take a step back but is nervous they may find themselves against the wall. Even the hardliners have, for a change, decided to call it a truce against Bhattarai and let the integration take its course. They dislike Bhattarai but understand well, they can’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
Mohan Baidya has admitted in an interview last week, there will be no armed insurrection or revolt anymore and getting the constitution drafted as soon as possible is the only way to institutionalize the achievements made so far. The NC and UML, on the other hand are worried about the Maoist ambitions. Their unwillingness to give up Westminster system, to enter into a new system is understandable. They know once the peace process is complete, the Maoists will be more assertive on constitution drafting. In a new system, they are not sure whether they will be able to stop them, incase the erstwhile rebels decide to ‘capture the State’. But this is only half true. The parties are also worried that the Maoist and Madhesi government will overshadow their contributions and this may impact their electoral performance in future.
So, the decision by the three top leaders to divide up the work among themselves was not such a bad idea. But the parties are still using the work division to blackmail each-other rather than expediting the process. The Maoists stalled the integration because they wanted top position in directorate, the Maoist led government's move to grant mass amnesty in war time cases nas prompted NC’s tough stance on TRC and disappearing committee bill and UML has refused to budge on constitution unless the peace process is completed.
The deadline for constitution drafting is awfully close and the parties must realise this is no time to play petty politics. This time there will be no extension and if the constitution is not made on time, the nation will be trapped into an uncertainty and void. They must first unite to save the common turf before fighting for a space in it.
Anurag Acharya