Although proceeding at a glacial pace, there are some indications of progress in negotiations between the major parties and the Madhesi Morcha. The ruling parties now seem to be in some kind of agreement that the constitution amendment proposal, which deals with two Madhesi demands regarding constituency delineation and proportional representation, should be passed by Parliament. The issue that remains is the delineation of boundaries between provinces, which has always been the most difficult and complicated one. On this matter too, there appears to have been some progress. The major parties, especially the ruling CPN-UML, had long been opposed to making

any change to the federal map. Now, they at leastappear to have informally decided to reshape boundaries

so as to create a Tharu-dominated province from Nawalparasi to Bardiya. However, they have not come up with any proposal for the other disputed districts: Morang, Sunsari and Kailali. According to some leaders of the major parties, these districts should be dealt with by a new mechanism that will be formed sometime in the future.

For their part, the Madhesi parties have long been demanding that the boundary delineation issue should be tackled immediately through political negotiations, and should not be left for determination by a commission or other mechanism to be formed in the future. More recently, however, there has been a slight change in the Morcha’s position too. It now states that it is willing to leave provincial delineation for the future, if the major parties agree that there will be only two provinces in the Madhes. This position is likely to appear problematic to the major parties. Nonetheless, it is essential that the parties continue with negotiations and take all steps to prevent it from falling apart, as has happened a number of times in the recent past. In this regard, the Nepali Congress’ decision to adopt maximum flexibility in the negotiation process is a positive sign, assuming that it remains committed to what it says.

Given the deepening polarisation, both the major parties and Madhesi stakeholders (including its civil society leaders) would do well not to look for a one-shot magic formula that will resolve all the problems at once. Both sides should in fact immediately engage in formal and informal multi-layered confidence-building measures that will first lessen the dangerous level of polarisation. That done, the two amendments put forward in Parliament by the previous government could be expedited, with some rewording and, as importantly, political ownership from all four major stakeholders—the fourth one being the Madhes-based parties. As negotiations begin to make progress, and some level of confidence is regained, the delineation issue—the most contentious one of them all—could be dealt politically. But it would perhaps be wiser to approach the issue when the political temperature has fallen, so that the major parties and Madhesi parties are more likely to be able to ‘sell’ the deal to their respective constituencies.