Krishna Prasad Sitaula, General Secretary of Nepali Congress, served as a key interlocutor in Nepal’s peace and constitution-drafting process. Since the signing of the 12-point understanding, he has been closely involved in the peace and constitution-drafting process. He was a key confidant of then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. Sitaula spoke to Kamal Dev Bhattarai and Apekshya Shah Rana.

Nepal finally got a constitution after a hiatus of eight years. Who were the people behind this success?

This is a victory of the people. But many people helped us arrive at this stage.  After the failure of the first CA, then Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had declared the election to the second CA but it could not materialise. Then we had to bring the then Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi to lead the caretaker government to hold the elections. After reaching a political agreement, Bhattarai’s government endorsed the decision and recommended it to the President. The President then issued an ordinance and appointed Regmi as the executive head. Though it was not appropriate to give this new role to the chief justice and neither were there any constitutional provisions for it, we, the political parties, felt it necessary to do so to pave a way forward for the nation. So, I must thank the political parties who played a role in conducting the second CA elections, the then council of ministers headed by Regmi and President Ram Baran Yadav who agreed to do so. The lawmakers who acted as per the mandate of the people and the entire CA and its chairman also deserve appreciation.

I would also like to thank the late Girija Prasad Koirala who initiated the peace process. Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s role as the signatory of the peace agreement was also vital and so was the role of Baburam Bhattarai.

You have praised the President for his role but of late, he has come under criticism for not playing a constructive role.

I have never felt that the President has played a negative role. I met him several times unofficially and have held discussions with him at various critical junctures of the constitution-drafting process. I have always found him to be in favour of the timely promulgation of a federal, democratic and republican constitution. In addition, reports in the press about his refusal to promulgate the constitution are false. Even I was misinterpreted when I spoke in the House.

You have praised the role of India. But the Indian establishment has publicly expressed its displeasure over not addressing the issues of the Madhes and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent his special envoy to Kathmandu too. India seems to be unhappy that major parties disregarded the Madhesis in the constitution-drafting process.

Nepal is physically connected with India in the east, west and south and we have an open border. Any country is bound to be affected by the activities going on in its neighbourhood. So, the violence in the Tarai is likely to affect the Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal. So, we should take India’s interest as natural. But I have never felt that India has meddled with the constitution-drafting process in Nepal. Therefore, we should not take the arrival of the special Indian envoy in Nepal and his meeting with political leaders otherwise.

We have to be able to communicate our concerns to India and China through the government. The government is still working towards addressing the concerns of those who are not satisfied with the constitution and it will try to bring all of them on board.

The issues of federalism, secularism, proportional representation, inclusion and of the concerns of the Dalits and women continue to remain disputed issues in the constitution.

Secularism came under intense debate from both sides of the religious spectrum. We have clearly stated that the secular state will preserve ancient religions and cultures of the country and that there will be religious and cultural freedom. As for the pro-Hindus, we have made cow our national animal. Now, the animal has constitutional protection and cow slaughter has also been banned. This provision had been removed from the first CA but we brought it back. We have also made forced conversion punishable by law.

Hindus should understand the state has pledged to protect ancient religions and the followers of other religions should realise that they have complete freedom to practice their religion.

What about federal structure?

It is the second most debatable topic because it came up for the first time in the history of Nepal. We are yet to practise it. There are two arguments on federalism. First, all states should incorporate parts of the Tarai, the hills and the mountains. Second, the Tarai should not be joined with the hills and the mountains. The current seven-state model respects both these views. There is a state which exclusively includes only districts in the Tarai, others only include areas in the hills and the mountains and then there are those which combine the three regions.

Besides, we have a provision for the formation of a federal commission which will provide suggestions on federalism to the government which will be presented in Parliament. The new government will form this commission and address all discontents related to state delineation.

Federalists should keep in mind that federalism and the division of the government into three tiers—local, provincial and central—is a new concept for Nepal. There are many challenges to implementing this system. We need to formulate numerous laws and acts from Parliament, hold discussions there and move ahead. We can address the people’s dissatisfactions when they come up.

Despite the provision of a federal commission, the Madhesis have been protesting for over a month. There are serious concerns over the safety and security of the

people as more than 40 have already been killed.

We can always engage in peaceful demonstrations as they are an integral part of democracy. But violence cannot be acceptable in the name of protests. The state should quell violence to ensure the people’s right to live peacefully. Violence has erupted in the name of the movement and the state has been compelled to use force. We are sad over the deaths of the people because those who died are all Nepali citizens. We have requested the government to use as less force as possible while ensuring peace and  security at the same time. The government has been holding talks with the disgruntled groups and we can settle all differences through talks.

Some argue that the  agendas of women, Dalits and the marginalised have not been addressed.

We will give continuity to the provisions in the Interim Constitution to ensure the participation of all through the principle of proportional inclusion. We have expanded the article on social justice in the new constitution. Fifty-five percent of government jobs and public positions will now be open for all while there will be reservations for the rest as per the principle of proportional inclusion.

Likewise, an inclusive commission has been provisioned in the constitution to address the issues of women, Dalits, indigenous nationalities, Muslims, Madhesis, Tharus and other backward communities. The terms of inclusion will be revised every 10 years. We have also made provisions for special privileges to these groups. Therefore, the new constitution is more progressive then the Interim Constitution.

But the citizenship provisions in the constitution are not women friendly.

The preliminary draft created some confusion on this issue so we copied the provisions from the Interim Constitution exactly and added some more.