Kathmandu, November 25
The Prachanda government has decided not to register its Constitution amendment proposal in Parliament on Friday.
The government was preparing to register the proposal at the Parliament Secretariat by Friday evening. For discussing the nitty-gritty, the ruling CPN-Maoist Centre had called a meeting of the party headquarters at 1 pm. At 3 pm, a meeting of the Council of Ministers was scheduled to take place.
Earlier on Friday morning, PM Prachanda held a meeting with top Maoist and Nepali Congress leaders in Baluwatar. The meeting decided to hold discussions with Madheshi Morcha (United Democratic Madheshi Front) before registering the proposal, a leader said.
The Cabinet meeting and the Maoist HQ meeting are on hold now. Maoist Spokesperson Pampha Bhusal told Onlinekhabar that the Maoist HQ meeting will take place at 8 am on Saturday.
Prachanda’s government is giving finishing touches to the draft bill to amend four key provisions of the constitution related to citizenship, delineation of federal boundaries, representation in the national assembly and the use of local languages. While matters related to representation in the national assembly and use of local languages are issues that are relatively easy to sort out, that of citizenship and delineation of provincial boundaries are not so easy to settle, especially when political parties are already looking for their agenda in the next election.
The stakes are high because when the elections happen, the people will be choosing their representatives at all levels, and political parties understand going against the popular sentiment of their electorate could translate to being locked out of power for years to come.
If Prachanda’s amendment touches upon the issue of provincial boundaries, local people in provinces concerned may resort to protests, and the UML might back them. Protests and riots have already been observed in various districts as officials prepare local reports for the local bodies’ commission. Just a few days ago, UML leader KP Pli was in Province No 5, one of the two provinces whose borders are likely to be affected by the proposed amendment. Oli met senior party members there and instructed them to remain alert. Similar is the case with Province No 3, where the UML is on standby mode.
The UML is also learnt to have been in touch with Maoist leaders from the provinces, and they too might join the agitation. The UML will be able to mobilise the masses in other provinces as well when it comes to the issue of citizenship. The UML wants to project itself as a ‘nationalist’ party, and it wants to do so by standing firmly against any move to allow naturalised citizens to be elected or nominated to top positions of the state.
With the position of the Madheshi Morcha, for whom the government wants to amend the new constitution, unclear, the government cannot rest assured that the the alliance will support its proposal. At least one faction of the Morcha is likely to protest the amendment, after it is tabled, and convert the issue into its electoral agenda. With the UML firmly opposed to the amendment, the government proposal cannot sail through Parliament without the full support of all Morcha MPs.
