Federalism talks take centrestage

KATHMANDU, JUN 05 - For the first time, there has been a significant rise in the number of Constituent Assembly (CA) members willing to speak on federalism in the full House. With over 130 CA members having spoken on autonomous state modality by Wednesday, around 270 more members are likely to put forth their views on one of the contentious issues of the constitution drafting. The discussion on federalism is expected to last for a week.

According to CA members, the constitution drafting process has relatively been more participatory than the previous assembly as the new members are seen “open-minded” towards suggestions. “The previous CA was dissolved due to the differences over federalism and it has again emerged as one of the thorny issues,” said Nepali Congress CA member Min Bahadur Biswokarma.

The CA has been deliberating on contentious issues of the new constitution for the last three weeks, and has conducted 31 meetings so far.

The House is due to deliberate two reports presented by the Committee to Study and Determine Constitutional Records and High-level State Restructuring Commission. On the issue of judiciary and distribution of natural resources, around 200 CA members had conveyed their views. “The issue is likely to take time considering its gravity,” said CPN-UML CA member Ram Hari Silwal.

Even when around 30 CA members express their views on a daily basis about federalism, only a small number of members have been attending the House. Top leaders of major parties have rarely attended the discussion on federalism. Dissatisfied CA members say “since top leaders will take the final decision on federalism, they should be attending discussions and pay heed to the suggestions.”

The lawmakers are presenting divergent views on federalism since parties have not given up their positions on the issue. Nepali Congress and CPN-UML are in favour of seven provinces on the basis of multiple identities, while the UCPN (Maoist) is campaigning for single identity-based federalism.

Observers say polar views in the CA could possibly derail the constitution drafting process. “Parties have failed to provide a format of federalism before discussions,” claimed political analyst Puranjan Acharya. He said parties should guide their lawmakers through the modality of federalism to narrow down the differences. The suggestions provided by the CA members will be forwarded to Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee.