ESSAY FODDER—the hindu
THE NEPAL IMBROGLIO
Nepal is trying to write a
constitution for the second time, after the first Constituent Assembly (CA) of
four years collapsed in May 2012.
INDIA’S ROLE:
India has been a player on
the complex Nepal chessboard, recently leaning towards micromanagement of
internal affairs, and the best support it can provide is staying outside the laxman
rekha of
constitution writing.
ISSUES REIGNING:
3 MAIN ISSUES- secularism, electoral process and definition
of federalism.
1.
SECULARISM:
On secularism, there is a
rising undercurrent to redefine Nepal as a Hindu state, and a whole phalanx has
taken energy from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s electoral success in India.
PROBLEM:
such a definition would be
incompatible with the range and layers of Hindu belief and practice in Nepal,
plus the fact that 20 per cent of the population is non-Hindu.
The term “secularism”, on the
other hand, is imported from the Indian Constitution (as amended) and, translated
as “ dharma
nirpekchhata ”,
carries an exclusionary denotation that rankles many. All else remaining the
same, the framers can probably agree on declaring Nepal “ dharma
bahool” ( with
religious pluralism) or do away with mention of religion altogether, to respect
all and injure none.
2.
ELECTORAL SCHEME:
On the electoral scheme, the
tussle is between those favouring the first-past-the post system for effective
governance and others who maintain that only proportional representation can
reflect Nepal’s diversity of marginalised communities. The effort is on to find
the acceptable proportional-to-direct elections ratio, and a compromise will
probably be reached between half-half and 70:30.
3.
FEDERALISM:
Nepal was officially declared
a federal democratic republic in 2008, but the debate on federalism has yet to
mature to the level of allowing demarcation. There is a bewildering web of
positions and demands that the CA has failed to address; some have not even
made it to the table.
TWO DIVERGENT VIEWS: ONE OF
ECONOMY OTHER OF IDENTITY
At its core, the argument is
between those who believe (as does this writer) that provincial division should
follow the logic of economic geography, to bring prosperity to all communities
in a country of mixed habitation, and especially those of the plains where
there is a disproportionate volume and density of poverty. Others argue
forcefully for demarcation by identity, to make up for historical wrongs
committed by the Kathmandu-centric state.
In Nepal, there
are hurdles to the constitution drafting that have to be resolved urgently if
the radical leftists and the royalist right are not to blow away hard-won
freedoms.
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