Skip to main content

Reject or not to reject: CPN-UML in a Hamletian dilemma over federalism


 

It seems that the agenda of federalism has become a burden which the main Opposition CPN-UML is no longer interested to keep carrying. UML Chairman and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has, once again, said that federalism was not the original agenda of his party and that his party accepted the agenda of federalism hoping that it would solve the country’s problems.

Speaking to journalists including editors of broadsheet dailies on Sunday evening, Oli said, “Federalism was not the demand of any of the people’s movements. It became a mainstream political agenda without being properly discussed and debated among the parties. We had accepted it back then hoping that it would solve the country’s problems.”

Referring to one of the speeches of the incumbent Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal in parliament where he said that federalism was not the agenda of UML, Oli said, “It was not appropriate to stand up and say something while he (Dahal) was speaking but later on I had told him to keep repeating this statement [that federalism was not the agenda of UML].”  

Oli’s anti-federalism remarks have come at a time when a constitution amendment bill has been registered in parliament in a bid to resolve problems which are mainly related to the implementation of federalism in the country.  Especially, the government’s proposal in the amendment bill to remove the hilly districts from Province Number 5 has come under fire, triggering protests in several districts of the province.

In the interaction with the journalists, Oli also claimed that the then USSR had fragmented because of federalism. “Now, attempts are being made to destroy the country in the name of federalism. The country is not like a cake which can be cut into pieces and distributed.” This is not the first time, however, that the UML supremo has spoken out against the concept of federalism. On several occasions in the past, he has vented out his ire against federalism, making it clear that his party was being dragged by the Maoists and Madhes-based parties to accept the agenda of federalism.

When the second People’s Movement was going on, Oli had also said that “to bring republicanism in Nepal is like reaching the US on a pull-cart.” Though Oli has been speaking against federalism in Nepal from time to time, his party officially accepted the Interim Constitution as well as the current constitution which had/have envisaged federalism as a means to politically restructure the country. Meanwhile, protests have soared in different districts of Province 5 after the government filed the constitution amendment bill so as to take out all the hill districts from the province. Even the cadres of the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Center) have come out on the streets, burning tyres to protest against the bill.

Similarly, the Madhes-based parties to fulfill whose demands the current government wants to amend the constitution are not happy with the amendment bill which is silent on their demand to include three eastern districts – Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari – in Province Number 2 (Madhes province) and include two far-western district – Kailali and Kanchanpur – in Province Number 6 (Tharuhat province).

As things stand at present, it is unlikely that the constitution amendment bill registered by the Dahal-led government will be endorsed by parliament. An acceptable-to-all deal on federalism has been illusive so far despite myriad attempts by the Nepali politicians to hammer out such a deal. As a result, implementing federalism in Nepal has proved to be a very hard nut to crack.  

MyRepublica

06-12-2016

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bhattarai stresses on rebuilding Nepal-India ties

- Kamal Dev Bhattarai Former Prime Minister and Coordinator of Naya Shakti Nepal Baburam Bhattarai has said that there is a lack of ‘proper understanding’ in India about Nepal. Speaking to Post before concluding his visit to India on Tuesday, leader Bhattarai said mainly young generation of India has some flawed understanding about Nepal and bilateral relations between the two countries. The former prime minister maintained that there is a need of dialogue, debate and discussions to rebuild the bilateral relations in the change political context Nepal and India. Bhattarai made such remark after extensive discussions with Indian intellectual and policy makers during his seven-day stay in New Delhi.  Bhattarai underlined the need for building a bilateral relation between two countries at the top political levels. Bhattarai was of the view that there has been a huge change in the political scenario of both countries and bilateral relation should be rebuilt accordingly. He ...

Reduce Poverty: Much Neglected

Dilli Raj Khanal A progressive distributional policy together with the suitable institutional setups and arrangements at the grassroots for ensuring exclusively the access of poor to social and physical infrastructure as well as financial services is also a necessity . As a part of global event, poverty eradication day was celebrated in Nepal recently with claims that Nepal is one of the best performers in this area. If estimated poverty trends are looked into, there are no grounds to refute such an assertion. According to official figures, in 20 year’s period poverty has reduced by more than 20 per cent, from 41.8 per cent in 1995/96 to 21.2 per cent in 2015/16. Compared to the average GDP growth rate of 3.7 per cent in that period, the poverty reduction rate was about 3.2 per cent per annum. The breakdown by different updated poverty estimated periods give an interesting pattern. For instance, the annual poverty reduction rate was sharpest at 3.7 per cent annually during ...

House panel has decided 3 % threshold provision

State Affairs Committee of the Parliament has decided to impose a threshold of three percent and at least one seat under the First-Past-the-Post electoral system to secure seats under the proportional representation system. The committee meeting on Wednesday took the decision to impose the threshold. Earlier, a sub committee formed by the committee decided to impose 3 percent threshold in the upcoming parliamentary election to become national political party. According to the subcommittee member Rameshwor Phuyal, the 27th meeting of the panel decided to provision three percent threshold after the rigorous discussion.  "Any political party must secure at least three percent seat under the Proportional Representation (PR) category and at least one seat under First-Past-the-Post category to become the national political party," said Phuyal.  He hailed the decision of the 11-member panel as historic. The sub-committee was failing to endorse the Bill Related to ...