Preliminary draft statute not as per our sentiments – Madhesi, indigenous nationalities

Kathmandu, July 2: The indigenous nationalities and the Madhesi communities have rued over the preliminary draft of the new constitution not incorporating their aspirations as per their expectations. 

At a programme on the rights of the Madhesis and the Janajati communities in the preliminary draft of the new constitution organised by Nepal Law Society here today, the speakers commented that doubts have been created whether the parties were trying to hoodwink the Madhesi and the indigenous communities in the name of expediting the constitution writing through fast-track process. However, the constitution writing process is participatory in nature, they said. 

Stating there was contradiction due to the lack of harmonization between the draft formulation process and the procedure adopted now for that purpose also due to the political, ideological and practical aspects, they said there was the lack of an independent person even in the civil society who could give the right comments on the topic. 

President of the Development Committee under the Legislature-Parliament, Sherdhan Rai suggested that it would be better to express reaction over the preliminary draft of the new constitution only after thoroughly reading it from top to bottom rather than expressing views being based on the differing line alone. 

He added that since the provinces are based on identity and capability, it was a very positive aspect of the draft constitution. 

Former CA member Laxmi Pariyar pointed out the need of further discussions within the political parties on the issues of the proportional representation and inclusiveness as the political representation itself is the basis of these principles. 

CA member Baijnath Chaudhary stated that the constitution needed to be issued through the fast-track to address the sentiments of the people, urging the indigenous nationalities and the dalit communities to realize this compulsion. He said he fully disagrees to the views that the Hindi language should be recognized as the national lingua franca. 

Journalist Tanka Panta said the achievements of the People’s Movement might be in jeopardy if the constitution writing was further delayed due to getting bogged down in it. He stressed that all should realize the likelihood of the new constitution getting scuttled altogether if the constitution writing was lingered further. 

CA member Milan Rajbanshi said although all the political parties were agreed on the need of concluding the constitution writing task at the earliest, some parties were trying to rush through the process without adequate discussions giving rise to skepticism. 

CA member Narsingh Chaudhary, presenting a working paper on the occasion, argued that issuing a constitution without mentioning the names and the boundaries of the federal provinces would be against the spirit of the Supreme Court’s order. 

Secretary of the Constituent Assembly (CA)’s Constitution Drafting Committee Rabi Aryal said that since the discussions on the preliminary draft of the new constitution would start in the full meeting of the CA from today only, he suggested the CA members to raise their concerns in the deliberations in the CA. 

Advocate Surendra Mahato had put forth his views focusing on the reasons as to why the preamble, the national symbols, citizenship provision, among other topics in the preliminary draft needed to be amended. 

Executive Director of Nepal Law Society Krishna Man Pradhan and political scientist Krishna Hachhethu had pointed out to the shortcomings and lacunae of the preliminary draft. They suggested adopting inclusive principles to take these issues to finalization. RSS