Efforts On An Amendment To Constitution

Efforts On An Amendment To Constitution

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Recently, the Nepalese media have been so noisy with the reports on amending or not amending the constitution to meet the demand of the Indian establishment rather than a few so-called Madheshi leaders that have no self-confidence in acting as leaders, and no shame in going to the neighboring former Indian Bihar State chief minister later a central railway minister asking him for help to fight against the Nepalese establishment, and no shame in asking an amendment to the Constitution they did not accept and have no shame in committing the crime to burn the constitution more than 90% of the people’s representatives have promulgated. The current need is not an amendment to the Constitution but to hold elections for the local bodies and then for the State and federal units. The CPN-UML leaders need to understand the political situation of the country and need to go along with the NC and other political parties to resolve the contentious issues whether they are an amendment to the constitution or holding the elections.

Prime Minister Prachanda has been nothing but the puppet of President of NC Sher Bahadur Deuba. For example, going against the common folks’ aspirations for not giving any money to the leaders for medical treatment or for any other purposes as they have accumulated huge assets when they were in power, Prachanda gave NPR 5 million to the NC leader also former Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala for treating her ailment on the phone call Deuba made. Now, Prachanda has been pretending that he has been spending sleepless nights to amend the constitution on the order of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sher Bahadur Deuba received. It was a clear chess game Mr. Modi loved to play moving the so-called few Madheshi leaders the pawns on the political chessboard of the South Asian politics.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been playing the role of Jung Bahadur Rana that went with a huge Nepalese army to suppress the uprising of the Indian people and save the British East India Company from collapse in 1857. Jung Bahadur did so to secure a perpetual favor of the company government in India believing that his administration would not survive without the support of the company government, as Jung had no popular support in Nepal.

Today, Prime Minister Modi is not doing as did Jung Bahadur almost a century and a half ago to save his administration but to keep on the so-called Madheshi leaders surviving in Nepal, as they have no people’s support, and to keep Nepal in the sphere of influence of his administration. Modi has been taking the position of the Nepalese prime minister a hostage with the help of the NC demanding to make the Nepalese Constitution inclusive only to accommodate the demands of the so-called Madheshi leaders that have been Nepalese citizens thanks to the quarter of a century of the NC rule in Nepal.

A few shrewd Madheshis became the leaders and pretended to represent the whole Terai area ignoring the indigenous people such as Tharus, Santals, Kumal, Domes, and hill people residing in Terai and so on. On the contrary to what the Madheshi leaders have been claiming that they are not in the majority in Terai. So, they have no rights to rule over the majority of the Terai people. Some of the so-called Madheshi people became Nepalese only after the NC administration distributed the Nepalese citizenships indiscriminately.

When the Rana rulers cleared off the Terai forest for cultivation they needed laborers to work in their land. So, they imported some laborers from the adjoining Indian villages the British East India Company had ruled over. Currently, they comprise a significant number of so-called Madheshi Nepalese but the Terai has many other indigenous Nepalese people larger than the number of so-called Madheshi people.

From whom the Madheshi leaders derived the rights to burn down the constitution passed by more than 90% of the people’s representatives? How could they mark the day of the promulgation of the constitution as the black day and at the same time they demand to amend the constitution? If they want to live in the democratic system they need to go to the people and ask for the mandate to amend the constitution apologizing to the people for their misdeeds of burning the so venerable constitution and for marking the day of its birth as a black day.

With the help of the Indian establishment, a few so-called Madheshi leaders have been forcing the leaders of the largest party in the parliament to amend the constitution going against the people’s aspirations for holding elections to different level of the federal units. Not knowing the reality but believing that they would not be able to remain in power without the support of the Indian establishment, the NC leaders have been manipulating Prime Minster Prachanda to amend the constitution unnecessarily rather than taking him to hold the elections as soon as possible.

Indian Prime Minister Modi believes that he can keep Nepal in the sphere of the Indian influence helping the Madheshi leaders to have their major say in the Nepalese politics even though they are in a minority. Modi knows that if the Nepalese constitution is amended following the demands of the Madheshi leaders then India can have an upper hand in the Nepalese politics.

Nepalese are not ready to give in to the Indian establishment’s attempt on forcing the Nepalese leaders into the Indians’ will has been amply proved by the Nepalese people’s determination to stand up against the blockade Indian Prime Minister Modi had imposed on the 30 million people for five months. If Nepalese could stand up against the deadly blockade they would be able to live with any challenge posed by the Indian establishment and the Madheshi leaders.

However, some Nepalese leaders could not dare to stand up to the Indian pressure. Even though Nepalese had suffered from the blockade, which was the criminal act according to the international law, the then Prime minister KP Oli happily went to India and shook the hand with Modi that had made 30 million Nepalese to suffer from the acute shortage of daily needs, and made even some to die. Oli even did not have guts to demand the public apology from the Indian prime minister for what he had done to the Nepalese people.

The then Prime Minister Oli needed to open up the second transit route via China rather than happily going to India and forgetting the sufferings Nepalese had undergone from the Indian blockade for five months causing tremendous shortage of everything in Nepal. During the five months of blockade the Prime Minister Oli did nothing to open up the transit route through China. He simply sat on his cozy prime ministerial seat and watched what would happen when every Nepalese fought for survival and fought against the blockade courageously.

Oli went to China only after visiting India and then started off the process for opening up the second route via China but it had been too late. Modi had already felt the pulses of Oli and found out that he could easily replace Oli with the support of the Nepalese leaders who were ready to be his puppets for holding power in Nepal. After the return from China Oli did not last long as a prime minister. The puppets Indian Prime Minister Modi has been playing with grabbed the power from him.

Honorable Prime Minister Modi has probably a criminal mindset otherwise he would not do anything that would hurt the millions of people. For example, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, he did not protect the Muslims from the onslaught of the Hindu fundamentalists at the Hindu-Muslim riot. Then, he imposed the blockade on Nepal in 2015 anticipating forcing the Nepalese leaders to surrender causing untold sufferings to millions of common folks but Modi himself needed to bow down to the determination of Nepalese to reject his showdown. Currently, Modi has made the high denomination banknotes legally invalid causing distress to billions of Indians and people of neighboring countries in the name of curbing the black money means money earned illegally without paying taxes. If voters don’t punish him, nature would punish him for his inhuman activities.

Nepalese are not ready to accept the activities of the Indian puppeteer, and Nepalese also are not for giving all the power to the so-called Madheshi leaders that have been Nepalese only not long ago. They have still the Indian blood flowing in their bodies so their minds have been with India. They went across the border as the guests of Honorable Modi to dine on the Indian side of the border only to come back for blocking all the vehicles coming from India to Nepal on the border. When they could not succeed in bending the Nepalese people to their will then they went to former Chief Minister of Bihar later a central Minister for Railway Laloo Prasad Yadav asking for his support for political movement in Nepal. Could any sincere Nepalese believe that such Madheshi leaders would have anything good on their minds for the Nepalese?

Those Madheshi leaders have created the man called CK Raut that has been preparing for an arm revolt against Nepal. Some of the Madheshi leaders have been even threatening to split Nepal into pieces. Could Nepalese accept the demand of such Madheshi leaders? Certainly not, Nepalese are ready to rise up to fight against any secessionist to keep Nepal intact.

Current Nepalese are not of the Nepalese of the time of Jung Bahadur but of the 21^st century and would not tolerate any despot and any despotic rule, too. Nepalese have shed a lot of blood to finish off the Rana and then the Shah rule, and Nepalese will take up whatever will be needed to again if some puppet leaders are to give in to the Indian establishment and the so-called Madheshi leaders.

So, Prime Minister Prachanda would be well off to forget about the amendment to the constitution for some time until he could convince the CPN-UML leaders of the need for amending the constitution and take up the business of holding elections seriously. Nepalese would support him whole-heartedly. Prachanda might lose the support of Sher Bahadur Deuba but he would win the support of the people if he were really for the people.

Prachanda squandered the people’s mandate he had received in the elections held in 2008. He did not work following the people’s aspirations but he thought that his party had won the elections and tried to go alone. So, he got a slap from the people in the next elections held in 2013.

The current Prachanda has been unrecognizable changing from the position of saving the country from the foreign influence and the fighter against the despot to the puppet of the NC leaders that have been clearly the puppets of the Indian establishment.

One example of NC leaders being the Indian puppets has been recently while in India President of NC Sher Bahadur Deuba meeting with the Dalai Lama and the officials of the Tibetan government in exile in India demonstrating China how far the Nepalese leaders could go. However, Deuba vehemently denied the meeting after China seriously expressed the concern over the meeting. Dr Ram Sharan Mahat attempted to cover up the Deuba’s misdeed saying the picture showing Deuba sitting in the same row as of the prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile was made up using the Photoshop.

Prachanda has done nothing to open up the second transit route via China so far despite the publicity his government has made the government has been doing something to this end, despite the fact that China is willing to open up a route to Nepal following its “One Belt And One Road” program. This might have something to do with the Modi’s reluctant to accept the Chinese “One Belt And One Road.”

If Prachanda is really serious about saving the country from the onslaught of the Madheshi leaders and certainly of the Modi, he needs to open up the transit route through China without delay; he needs to import petroleum products from China even if initially it is price disadvantage compared to importing from India. At least, Nepalese need to keep a survival kit in case the Indian hawks want to swallow Nepal.

If Prachanda could do at least a few of these things he would keep his name as a Prachanda and he would come out as a leader but his current activities have been showing that he has been turning from a fierce lion to a tiny mouse that has been caught up in the trap the Indian establishment and its puppets such as NC leaders have set up.

Nepalese need to save the country from the hands of the puppets and those working for the puppets. We have seen from the five-month blockade India had imposed and how Nepalese had fought against it and won the war with India but the poor Nepalese leaders including Oli had given in to the Indian establishment.

So, it would be better for Prachanda and for the country too to seriously engage in holding elections first for the local units and then for the States and the federation rather than muddling up an amendment to the Constitution. If he could not do so then better for him to quit the office and go to the people for another revolution for keeping the sovereignty of the people or preparing for the elections if anybody was willing to hold.

CPN-UML leaders particularly former Prime Minister KP Oli needs to appreciate the current political situation, and go along with the current coalition government for amending the constitution to create a political environment conducive to hold elections rather than confronting the government for a showdown. Mr. Oli needed to comprehend that the NC leaders had enjoyed the infighting between the two communist parties such as Maoists and CPN-UML in the past in 2009 supporting Madhav Nepal to become the prime minister going against the principles of democracy, as Madhav Nepal had lost the elections in two constituencies at that time. Currently, the NC leaders have been doing the same thing without considering the adverse results such fighting would bring to the nation. Mind it Mr. Oli if you have any love for the nation, then go along with the current government and support it for amending the constitution and for holding the elections.

November 28, 2016