Kathamndu, Aug 22: Nepali Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa said during the constitution drafting process, it had felt as though federalism was imposed on parties like the Nepali Congress and UML. He added that at that time, the Maoist Centre was more focused on issues of provincial names, boundaries, and powers. Thapa argued that the main reason for the dissolution of the first Constituent Assembly was the dispute over provinces.
“The first Constituent Assembly collapsed and we went for the second one. The main reason for the first collapse was provinces,” Thapa said, recalling an agreement reached at Baluwatar with Baburam Bhattarai. “Based on that agreement, we were in Speaker Subas Nembang’s room, preparing to head towards the Assembly. If we had gone ahead that day, there would have been 11 provinces, with local governments under the provinces.”
He also mentioned that the governance model was supposed to follow the French system, but the process fell apart at the last stage, leading to the Assembly’s dissolution. Thapa said provincial issues again dominated the second Constituent Assembly. He noted he had pushed for excise duty and remuneration tax to remain under the federal government instead of the provinces. “Constitution amendment is risky but necessary,” Thapa said. “We must proceed carefully.”
UML leader Mahesh Bartola said although the government’s main objective was to amend laws to implement federalism, this had not been achieved. “Our focus is on getting elected again and preparing for the next election. Even lawmakers prioritize election campaigns over legislative duties, which has created problems,” Bartola, the chief whip of UML, said. He claimed the current government’s central goal is to streamline laws as per the constitution.
Congress chief whip Shyam Ghimire said that in ten years, the expected progress on federal implementation has not been made. He admitted that while drafting the constitution, parties had inserted too many provisions out of enthusiasm, some of which turned out to be impractical. “Those constitutional provisions have added complications. Now we are starting to worry,” Ghimire said. He acknowledged that while there is talk of amending the constitution, it is a complex matter. According to him, even within a year, parties have not been able to decide which provisions should be amended.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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