After a long political tussle, the country finally got a new constitution, written for the first time by elected representatives. A few basic principles—republicanism, federalism, and secularism—have been established on paper by a clear majority of lawmakers.

The public now eagerly awaits the institutionalisation of the achievements addressing disgruntled voices and the implementation of fundamental rights, directive principles, state restructuring, and various provisions related to state, provincial and local governments.

However, the composition of the recently formed government has raised serious doubts over its capability to amicably solve the current impasse.

Being the leader of the second largest party, Prime Minister KP Oli was the natural successor to the coveted post. But the hasty manner in which the far-left forces came together with the extreme right ones, not to forget the Madhes-based party that was still not sure if it accepted the new statute until the very last minute, along with other fringe parties that have previously denounced federalism, gave us a clear indication that the coalition partners had their eyes glued only on state power, with no intention to move in consensus to establish the achievements of the new constitution.

Incompatible Cabinet

Oli baffled us all when he inducted a record six deputy prime ministers in his jumbo cabinet—none of them, however, have in action or in words helped to ease the current crisis.

Chitra Bahadur KC, to start with, the senior most member of the cabinet, has always been a staunch opponent of federalism, going as far as calling a bandha in the Capital protesting the country’s decision to decentralise power. He was also recently drawn into controversy with his remarks on how “India was conspiring to disintegrate Nepal”. We acknowledge the fact that this is his first time working in a government, but his advisers should be guiding him to refrain from making such sensitive comments, especially while a member of the cabinet. (Let me remind you, he is also the Minister for Poverty Alleviation.) We all have heard that the country plans to graduate from the LDCs by 2022, but what we would like to know are some concrete policies that he plans to take to reach the goal, rather than to continue with the government’s very vague slogan—“make the country self-reliant”.

This brings us to the veteran statesman and another deputy prime minister Kamal Thapa. Even though he won quite a few applauds for his speech at the recent Geneva Convention, he has failed, as a foreign minister, to find a diplomatic solution to end the unofficial blockade. Having personally met his Indian counterpart and also the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we had hoped he would be able to take advantage of his age-old relation with the Hindu nationalists of the south to soften the embargo in favour of Nepali citizens, but to no avail. Having been in charge of the talks with the agitating forces, Thapa has dismally failed to even gain the slightest trust of the Madhesi forces. Even though he claimed that “amendment to the charter will resolve the crisis” at Geneva, successive “decisive talks” with the disgruntled forces are yet to yield any concrete result.

Moreover, being a senior figure in the cabinet, his recent remarks on monarchy and secularism is just astonishing. Presenting his political document, he stated that his party is still in favour of reinstating a constitutional monarch and Hinduism as the country’s religion. How do we trust such leaders with the responsibility of institutionalising the achievements we have gained when his party still does not agree to the basic foundations on which the new constitution stands on? And we would like him to elaborate on his calls for an “all-party consensus” for local polls, when all the major political parties in their manifestos pledged to hold the local elections within a year of the last elections.

Next, we come to our self-proclaimed sole Madhes representative, Bijaya Gachhadar, who did not mind abruptly ending the demand of dividing the country into eight states with two specific ones in Tarai to align himself with the parties who have been rigid in addressing the demands of the southern belt for state power. At a time when a majority of his own party colleagues have heavily criticised him for his decision, and with some of his senior leaders also threatening to quit the party, Gachhadar has cut an increasingly isolated figure.

Let us not forget how CP Mainali was also scrutinised for claiming, “India is trying to annex Tarai”. At a time when the world is eagerly awaiting the recent standoff between the two neighbours to diffuse,  such statements coming from top government representatives amount to no less than diplomatic failures.

Go hand-in-hand

Even though Nepal’s politics is based on plum portfolios and not on ideologies and principles, the cabinet that Oli has managed to muster comprises of too many of the big wigs and big egos.With so much to still institutionalise and achieve, major forces for once should forget about their personal gains and focus on creating an environment for consensus. Only when every major force is compelled to become accountable towards the citizens, will a government foster a conducive scenario to resolve the current crisis.

Lest they forget, we are the ones who will ultimately vote them to the helm or obscurity the next time around.