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Smooth Running of CA Session
By KTM Metro Reporter in Kathmandu
On January 07, 2009, in order to smoothly run the sessions of the Constituent Assembly (CA) the Nepali Congress members of the CA have been disrupting since December 18, 2008 and to meet the demands of the opposition Nepali Congress party, Prime Minister Prachanda addressed the CA and explained the decisions made by his government on enforcing the nine-point agreement the government had reached with the Nepali Congress, returning the property, revoking the decision made by the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) and accepting the resignations of the priests working at the Pashupati shrine, and honoring the stay order of the Supreme Court of Nepal on the appointment of new priests at the Pashupati shrine, on the assault on the Himal Media House, and the provision for scholarships made on a new Bill on Scholarship.
Political analysts said that probably the Prime Minister’s address to the CA session would please the Nepali Congress leaders that had been spearheading the movement against the appointment of the Nepalese priests to the vacant positions of priests caused by the Indian priests at the Pashupati shrine. However, the movement spearheaded by the Nepali Congress leaders have encouraged the leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party to put pressure on the Nepalese Prime Minster to annul the decision on the appointment of Nepalese priests in place of the South Indian priests interfering the internal affairs of Nepal. Political analysts said that thus the Nepali Congress leaders had assisted the Indian leaders in assaulting on the sovereignty of Nepal.
Prime Minister in his address also said that he as the patron of the Pashupati Area Development Trust accepted the resignations tendered by the Indian priests. Political analysts said that this had kept room for appointing Nepalese priests to the vacant positions of priests after the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal at the same time honoring the stay order of the apex court.
Concerning the return of the property to the former owners, the Prime Minister has simply repeated his previous commitments to return the private and public property within three months and would pay compensation for the property not returned within this period. So, this is not the first-time commitment the Prime Minister has made to return the property grabbed by the Maoists during the insurgency and to enforce the nine-point agreement the government had reached with the Nepali Congress.
Concerning the scholarships, explaining to the CA members belonging to the dalit community that also have been obstructing the CA sessions demanding the rightful scholarships to the dalit students, the Prime Minister said that he found the scholarships allocated to the dalit students on the Bill submitted at the CA was based on the Civil Service Act so the percentage of scholarship had reduced to nine percent from the fifteen percent previously allocated to the dalit students. He assured the dalit members of the CA of making it fifteen percent again and also explained to them if the Bill on Scholarship was not passed on time then the students would suffer from it as the date of admission of students at the educational institutions would soon expired.
Regarding the assault on the Himal Media House, the Prime Minister assured the CA members of taking strong actions against the culprits and not allowing repeating such actions in the future.
Political analysts said that the Nepalese political parties are self-centered and have been always looking out how to benefit their political cadres. So, the political parties have been obstructing the smooth functioning of the CA putting their demands above the national interest and thus hindering the main task of crafting a new constitution. In fact, the Nepali Congress had set the tradition of benefiting the political cadres in the late 1950s ignoring the interest of and benefit to the nation. The boycotting of the CA session by the NC leaders demanding the return of the property seized by the Maoists is the good example of the self-centered nature of the Nepali Congress, the political analysts said.
Because of the self-centered nature of the political parties, they never stress the need for following the rule of law rather they often deviate from the rule of law to achieve their objectives, political analysts said.
