Editorial
Positive vote
Flexibility on both sides can translate the three-point agreement into constitution amendmentPushpa Kamal Dahal, chairperson of the Maoist Centre, was elected prime minister by Parliament yesterday. The Madhesi parties represented in the Sanghiya Gathabandhan were among those who voted for him. The Madhesi parties have relatively few seats in the House, and Dahal would likely have won a majority of votes even without them. Nonetheless, the fact that the Madhesi parties did vote for the Maoist chairman has major symbolic significance. For, this is the first concrete sign that relations between the Sanghiya Gathabandhan and the government will be better than it has been in the past, and will also possibly lead to a resolution of the crisis that began when the Madhesis rejected the new constitution and took to the streets in protest.
The Gathabandhan agreed to support Dahal’s candidacy after the Maoists and the Nepali Congress agreed to sign a commitment to pay heed to their demands. In a demonstration that the Maoists and the NC are indeed keen to reach an accommodation with the Madhesi parties, the pact was reached with relative ease.
In fact, although the pact was initially meant to include only three points, the negotiations seem to have gone well enough for the two sides to agree on four additional points. The first point in the pact states that the government will declare those who died in the Madhesi protests martyrs, will provide their families with compensation and grant the injured medical expenses.
While this is a preliminary agreement, it can help decrease the sense of alienation and anger among the Madhesi population that has deepened since the Madhes protests. The other points in the agreement state that the government is committed to addressing Madhesi grievances about the constitution, including on federalism, proportional representation and facilitating the provision of citizenship.
While the Madhesi parties voted for Dahal in Parliament, they are not yet ready to join his government. Instead, they have stated that they will join the government only when it tables an amendment to the constitution that incorporates Madhesi demands. A number of Madhesi leaders had been keen to join the government.
They seem to have done this in order to gain leverage against the ruling parties. We have noted repeatedly here, including in our discussion on outgoing Prime Minister Oli’s mixed legacy, that his biggest failure was his inability to take the minorities into confidence. We would also like to point out that the Madhesi parties have been at cross-purposes about their larger objectives and often seemed intent on settling their own political scores and motivated to get ministerial berths. Unsurprisingly, this in entirety has made them a difficult constituency to manage in cross-party negotiations.
What the minority groups, especially the Madhesi parties, should bear in mind is that both the NC and the Maoists seem keen to address their grievances, but it is important to understand that the two parties also need to take other parties into confidence to muster the number needed for amendments to the constitution. So some flexibility would only help the process.
Once this is done, the country can then move on to other crucial political issues such as holding elections.