Constitutional-political crisis: Incomplete revolution and incomplete constitution

Constitutional-political crisis: Incomplete revolution and incomplete constitution

Dr. Khimlal Devkota

 

Introduction:

Nepal's political history is surrounded by a cycle of revolution, transition, and crisis. Since the abolition of the monarchy and the declaration of a federal democratic republic on 15 Jestha 2065, the country has faced repeated governance deadlocks, unstable governments, and constitutional disputes.

Although Nepal issued its new constitution on 3 Asoj 2072 by the Constituent Assembly elected by the people after an almost decade-long peace process, this document has become a center of controversy as everyone compromised from their own positions, rather than through complete consensus and disagreements.

The most critical view of the constitution is that of the Maoist line, because it had to compromise on many issues of change and other state structures and governance reforms at the cost of declaring a republic.

The political crisis of Nepal is inextricably linked to the constitutional crisis. It appears as an expression of the incomplete transformation of Nepal's socio-political system. The Maoist perspective interprets these crises not only as institutional or legal problems but also as reflections of deep structural contradictions rooted in class, caste, ethnicity, and regional inequalities. It can also be understood as the consequences of not being able to properly address the causes of the conflict, even though they have not been identified.

This article attempts to analyze the dialectical relationship between political and constitutional crises in Nepal through a Maoist perspective.

How does the Maoist revolutionary ideology, participation in peace negotiations, and involvement in constitution-writing determine the nature of Nepal's state restructuring? In addition, this article attempts to discuss the causes and solutions to the challenges that have recently emerged.

Historical Background and Political Perspective:

The Maoist People's War began on 1 Falgun 2005 with the declared objective of ending the monarchy and destroying all feudal structures and establishing a 'new democratic republic'.

The revolutionary agenda included the abolition of the feudal absolute monarchy in the Maoist People's War, the replacement of the centralized monarchical state with a people's republic, the abolition of the unitary state and the establishment of ethnic and regional autonomy based on identity and strength through progressive restructuring of the state, the adoption of a federal system aimed at inclusive democracy, ensuring the representation of marginalized groups (Dalits, Janajati, Madhesi, women), land reform for economic transformation and the end of feudal land relations, and the vision of participatory democracy beyond the traditional parliamentary system to establish the sovereignty of the people.

The 2062.63 people's movement, supported by the Maoist-seven-party alliance, brought the monarchy to its knees, which led to a comprehensive peace agreement. This agreement promised Constituent Assembly elections and a new constitution, which fulfilled the Maoists' demand for a republic. However, it was not possible to translate these revolutionary land reforms and other agendas into a constitution.

Political Crisis:

Although the new constitution provided the framework for a federal democratic republican system, it failed to fully embody the transformative aspirations of the peace process. This is both a political and constitutional betrayal of the people’s struggle.

Nepal’s political crisis is fraught with instability, frequent changes of government, weak coalitions, and a crisis of public trust in political institutions. From the Maoist perspective, the political crisis is not just about weak governance, but also about the failure to implement the transformative agendas envisioned during the peace process.

Unstable governments:

Nepal has seen more than a dozen governments since 2065. Coalition politics, driven by the opportunity for position and power rather than ideology, had made long-term planning almost impossible. The Maoists argue that this parliamentary system will only bring instability, so let’s move to a directly elected executive presidency, which will bring stability and development. However, other parties could not agree to this.

After all, what the Maoists said was true. Today, the Gen Z generation, demanding the same, overthrew the government in 27 hours. What the Maoists could not do, Gen Z accomplished. The Maoists urged Gen Z to set fire to it. Now everyone is ready to accept it.

Leadership crisis:

The Maoists, who entered the peace process through a decade-long, very large armed struggle, are criticized by mainstream political parties and even the Maoist ranks, saying that the problem arose because they abandoned the revolutionary agenda and got involved in power-sharing politics, which has proven to be true today.

The political leadership became obsessed with getting a chair, not politics, as a result of which an extreme crisis arose in the political leadership. Not only this, the political leadership, which had come to borrow a feudal character while fighting feudalism, became the basis for another crisis. It is not difficult to say that the crisis in politics and leadership arose because of the leadership that created a situation where the future of the young generation could not be seen in the party, which is called Nepo-baby.

Incomplete revolution, incomplete peace process:

Nepali politics has always been a victim of the halal revolution. There has never been a complete revolution in Nepal. In 2007 BS, there was a revolution against the Rana, but Rana became the Prime Minister. In 2046 BS, against the King, there was a movement, but an agreement was reached with the king. Even though the people's war did not overthrow the monarchy through the movement itself, the people's movement of 2062/63 did not overthrow the king, but made arrangements for the king's daughter to succeed him. Similarly, the major commitments of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, transitional justice, and scientific land reform, along with progressive restructuring of the state, and economic and social transformation, remained incomplete. Based on which dissatisfaction was growing. Finally, the Gen Z movement found its footing.

Marginalization of leadership

Despite many promises and promises, the poor, marginalized, and rural people felt excluded from the decision-making process. Access to state power was limited to mere bargaining. This time, too, it was confirmed that the elite's control over politics continued.

Constitutional crisis:

The rest of the peace process remains to be done. Concrete work is needed for this. If transitional justice and promised reforms are ignored, the credibility of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement will be weakened. It is important to understand that Nepal will remain in a state of continuous transition without fulfilling this agenda.

The constitution promulgated in Asoj 2072 was hailed as a milestone of transformation, calling it a federal democratic republican constitution, but it could not completely end complex problems.

There was no consensus when the constitution was promulgated. Disputes were not resolved because everyone had put in a 'note of dissent'. Ultimately, the party and power that owned the constitution weakened. Since it was a document of an agreement, the constitution could not resolve the political crises that arose from time to time, and the country was plunged into a constitutional crisis. This is the current situation.

There is no coordination between the agreement and the government formed to meet the demands of the Gen Z movement. On the other hand, the parliament has been dissolved. The parliament is not the body to amend the constitution. This government is forced to hold elections under the same old electoral system and the old parliamentary system again.

This government was not formed according to the constitution. This government was formed by adhering to the spirit and spirit of the constitution and not by relying on the articles and letters of the constitution to avert the crisis at that time, applying the principle of necessity. The constitution and the court decisions also say that the parliament cannot be dissolved constitutionally, but the parliament has been dissolved. This parliament has been dissolved by the hands of the former Chief Justice who said that the dissolution of the parliament is wrong.

The connection between political and constitutional crises:

Nepal's political and constitutional crises are not separate events but are mutually interrelated. Political instability has arisen because the constitution has not fully institutionalized revolutionary changes. It can be said that this situation has arisen because the revolutionary political leadership has focused on gaining power, not transformation.

The compromise with the elite is another problem. The peace process was limited to negotiations between the revolutionaries and the elite, which resulted in the demands of the lower levels not being met. Since the entire society did not transform, this led to repeated street struggles. Serious questions were raised about the legitimacy of state structures.

Political parties were gripped by the psychology of giving slogans of federalization of the state structure, but their desire was to become a centralized state power, which deepened the political crisis. This crisis often manifested itself in the form of disputes between the federal and provincial governments. This exposed constitutional ambiguities. Unfulfilled promises created complete distrust in the leadership. Transitional justice, land reform and inclusion are constitutional commitments on paper but have been politically ignored in practice.

Thus, the political and constitutional crisis reflects an incomplete revolution. It was not surprising that movements such as Gen Z arose on the basis of this incompleteness.

What should be done to address the crisis?

The heroes of the people's war and people's movement became targets in the Gen Z movement. Physical attacks on the institutions, structures, parties, and leadership they had established became the form of the movement. Those agitators were no longer in a position to face these agitators.

Through constitutional amendment for a directly elected executive presidential system, mass mobilization, and recent political consensus, political parties must complete their incomplete revolution to resolve recurring crises. Only then will both political and constitutional crises be resolved.

When the Prime Minister tried to escape by helicopter, he had to hear that the helicopter would not be available unless he resigned. Finally, after resigning, he fled in the helicopter he received. The joint statement of the security chiefs, led by the Chief Secretary, urged everyone to remain calm and be ready for talks since the Prime Minister's resignation had come.

Why did the situation arise where former Prime Ministers could not even escape by helicopter? It is necessary to seriously review this. Only based on the conclusions drawn from the review can the path be identified as to what to do next. Based on this, at least the issues that were asked to be done yesterday during the constitution-making process but were not done need to be addressed now. For this, the demand at this time is for an immediately directly elected executive presidential system, a fully proportional parliament, and a system that prevents MPs from becoming ministers.

In addition, as an issue that has not been raised much now but will definitely be raised in the future, the process of amending the constitution must be taken forward to strengthen federalism, inclusion, and social justice on the basis of identity and strength. In recent times, coalition politics has been used a lot to contest elections and seize power, but never to transform the state.