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With a lot of wild drama, the term of the Constituent Assembly (CA) was extended by one year with the promise that the new constitution would be ready by the extended time. The basic component of the promise was the doctrine of consensus among at least the three major political parties that have dominated the politics in the aftermath of the CA. Pending the resolution of the ongoing issues between the Maoists on the one hand and the Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML on the other, the purported consensus was said to include resignation of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and formation of a national consensus government soon afterwards. But the very next day of the promise, the doctrine of consensus was challenged by the major parties with the previous claims and contests intact. Was the so-called consensus only a ploy to extend the perks and privileges of the CA members?
Why was the CA unable to formulate the constitution in the given two years’ time? There could be several answers. But the main reason was the abandonment of the doctrine of consensus soon after the formation of the CA. The Interim Constitution was framed with the spirit of consensus. But it was immediately amended by substituting the doctrine of majority for the doctrine of consensus. After that substitution, the spirit of consensus was completely abandoned. The Maoist-led nine-month-long coalition government had a comfortable two-thirds majority with which it could have finalised a new constitution by the deadline. But it paid least attention to the function of constitution making and indulged in a series of acts of high-handedness, forgetting even the necessity of having to maintain unity among the components of the coalition. That led to their own demise.
The second coalition government led by the UML had only the barest majority to transact the government’s day-to-day activities, but lacked a two-thirds majority. In appearance, it was a unique coalition with the support of 22 out of the total of 25 political parties. But it lacked the minimum numerical support to finalise the constitution without the support of the Maoists. A strategic need was the support of the Maoists. But the coalition did not initiate credible efforts to get Maoist support. In contrast, it spent all its energy in opposing all the Maoist moves. There was no serious move or initiative to revive the doctrine of consensus. Given the vehement government effort to isolate the Maoists, the latter naturally behaved like a sworn enemy. The resulting polarisation led to the failure to draft the constitution. The agreement to extend the tenure of the CA by one year is supposed to have revived the spirit of consensus.
What would be the minimum precondition for finalisation of the constitution? As argued in the foregoing paragraphs, the spirit of consensus is the number one condition without which not a single article of the constitution will be finalised, except perhaps the provision of the republic replacing the institution of the monarchy, because it was already done before the division of the CA into opposing poles. The number two condition is that the political leaders should take up the constitution making work most seriously. During the past two years, this job was not given due importance by the party leaders. Attendance of the leaders in the constitution drafting committees was deplorably low.
The third condition is following the prescribed procedure in a systematic order. The provision of the formation of the State Restructuring Commission was stalled during the whole period of two years and a suggestion to form it was talked about towards the end of the deadline. The SRC is not only a formality, but a practical necessity with technical expertise. Dividing the unitary state into several federal units is a very complicated task that cannot be handled by political activists alone. Apart from the socio-ethnic considerations in breaking the nation into different units, there is the more serious consideration of the identification and potential distribution of the various resources that would be needed to sustain the units after they are formed. The SRC will facilitate formulation of the constitution by suggesting practical necessities to sustain the state.
Other aspects of restructuring are also very important that need more than political motivation to break. Creation of cohesiveness to maintain the integrity of the nation after dividing it into smaller units is a very delicate issue. Viability of smaller units is another big issue. Determining the appropriateness of the form of government is another big issue. Experts can be hired or consulted for these purposes. These things will go hand in hand with the work of the SRC. Drafting the constitution will be simplified by these means.
Another most important precondition is the resolution of conflict. Past experience has been very bitter with the two parties of the peace process standing on divergent planks. The Maoists being part of the conflict, their inclusion was indispensable in the resolution of the conflict. But the polarisation pushed the Maoists away from the process of resolution. The coalition and the Maoists never sat together with a common purpose. In the given new condition, with the major parties being on a common panel, conclusion of the peace process will be more simplified. Instead of two divergent approaches, there will have to be one agenda.
What will be the role of the government? The minimum role of a government anywhere is maintenance of law and order internally and defence of the country externally. The last coalitions did not provide even the guarantee of security to the citizens. Supposing a national consensus government is formed, the role of the government will be that of a facilitator. The making of the constitution is not the direct role of the government, but it cannot remain isolated from the process. Both past experiences have been sad. The Maoist-led government did not give priority to writing the constitution. Instead, it went about behaving as if it was the sole political authority of the country and it was free to plant its own breed of socialism. That led to extreme polarisation, resulting in the formation of a second coalition. That coalition was so weak that it spent all its energy defending itself. The national unity government will be spared this need of self-defence. It will have more energy to facilitate the constitution writing process if the spirit of unity is maintained.
However, the coveted national consensus has been elusive. May I suggest a prescription to that effect? The Chaudhary Group has created a wonderful jingle of unity behind their product Wai Wai. It claims that Wai Wai promotes unity among all the divergent geographically and culturally heterogeneous communities. The owner of Wai Wai, Binod Chaudhary, is luckily an honourable member of the CA. What I suggest is that he can be a pioneer to foster unity among the heterogeneous members of the CA by distributing one packet of Wai Wai per day to each of them during deliberations on constitutional provisions.
I know that the CA will consume a considerable quantity of Wai Wai whose cost will be very high. But it will be the best advertisement for the Chaudhary Group if it fosters the coveted unity in the CA. Wai Wai will be world famous for its unity generating properties!
knsad1@gmail.com
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