And as the Constituent Assembly still awaits its completion, Nepali political sphere is more polarized than ever.
Issue 1: Constitution
As the major powers of the previous constituent assembly are restricted (mostly due to their own misdeeds); the agendas they advocated vocally have largely been sidelined. Ideas which seemed to be universal and unanimous like that of Secularism and Federalism now rarely find a sympathizer in the mainstream of new sociopolitical course shaping up.
The freedom with which the debates of the socio-political reconstruction was carried out is virtually non-existent and rather an environment of aggressive name-slinging against the debaters is surfacing. The criticisms of Sarita Giri's 'New Name' or CK Lal's 'New Identity' are some examples, not that I exactly support what they think but I do not like the way they are not free to speak out on issues they really feel are genuine.
Issue 2: Peace Process
At present, with the apparent demise of the 'revolutionary' strength and the upper hand of the 'traditional' parties; a sense of revenge against the previous revolutionary 'bullying' seems greater than the national reconciliation.
As parties procrastinate to form an unbiased 'Truth and Reconciliation Committee' in the greed of dominating their political opponents while in power, the issues of the Peace Process get more distorted and more complex as time matures. The earlier the instances of the political and criminal issues are defined and each such instance classified, the better. The ongoing issue of the Adhikari Couple's fast-onto-death and thousands of others can not be solved with real justice until an accord is reached between the major players of the decade-long civil unrest. Real criminals will roam at large and those merely following 'higher' orders will be tried if early concerted efforts are not made.
Roots of the Division
Strangely this division is not based on principles but rather fueled by petty interests.
With regards to federalism, there is not an iota of doubt in anyone's mind and heart that there should be federalism based on nationality, history and culture, economic status and potentials and the states thus created should be inclusive and non-discriminatory.
We should be a secular nation, no doubt. Yes, economically driven conversions should be actively discouraged by the state by bringing tougher laws and forced conversions banned. Religious fanaticism like political fanaticism is unnecessary.
As the transition deepens and denies to pass soon, the direct effect is seen on the lives of millions of 'we, the people'. Impunity plagues nearly every sector as the corrupt and criminal ally themselves to one party or another and the parties welcome any goon (remember any Don in any party), any criminal (take for example the convicts of murders, bombings), or even foreign nationals (one person carrying passports of three different nations was made a minister, another foreign national who lost in local elections in his native country is now our lawmaker) just for the money they can give to the party.
National Consensus and Rule of Law
The one and only solution to the present state of misery is mutual respect. This should be both bottom-up and top-down. Those who genuinely fought for the people (be it against the state and those who defended it) must sit together so that 'leeches in the middle(the goons in the party and society)' or the 'leeches around us(foreign interests)' do not get a chance to suck life out of our already miserable being. Only then we can forge the national consensus which seems so elusive till this moment. Only then can we establish the Rule of Law.
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