“We believe that the adoption of the new constitution has now opened the path for development of the country”, Yadav told the assembly. While setting off celebrations in the capital, Kathmandu, the moment was marred by deadly clashes that killed one person and raised fears of ethnic conflict in the country.
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President Ram Baran Yadav signed the document in Kathmandu on Sunday.
Top politicians of the country’s three mainstream parties hailed the document, saying it meets the aspirations of the people.
Schools and offices were closed as Sunday and Monday were declared public holidays to celebrate the constitution, Nepal’s first complete political framework since monarchy was abolished in 2006. Although the internal borders were newly-defined for “for administrative purposes”, the Madhesi and Tharu peoples are disturbed – as the new boundaries will divide their homeland. The civil war cost the lives of an estimated 16,000 people, and brought down the country’s centuries-old Hindu monarchy.
So far, the three main parties have made no such efforts to reach out to Madhesi leaders, despite an call for more dialogue from Sushma Swaraj, India’s external affairs minister, on September 14 and several comments by the Indian ambassador to Nepal, Ranjit Ray.
The key part of the constitution, passed on Wednesday after a decade of bickering and violent protests, sets the country up as a secular federation of seven states, each with a legislature and chief minister.
On Tuesday – as Nepal’s lawmakers voted through each of the constitution’s more than 300 clauses – police fired into a crowd of demonstrators who had attacked police vehicles in the southern district of Rupandehi, killing four people.
Critics say the new charter does too little to empower minorities, and many took to Twitter to voice their disapproval under the hashtag #notmyconstitution.
“India has always been strongly supporting the Constitution-making process in Nepal and we would like its completion to be an occasion of joy and satisfaction, not agitation and violence”, Jaishankar had said on Saturday.
Nepal has adopted its constitution today, after 67 years of democratic struggle. “It must be amended”.
According to them, until the concerns of Madhesis and Tharus agitating for revised federal boundaries, inclusion and political representation are addressed, Nepal will have no stability in future.
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They feel power has been concentrated in the hands of the hill people. “Our freight companies and transporters have also voiced complaints about the difficulties they are facing in movement within Nepal and their security concerns, due to the prevailing unrest”, MEA said in a statement.
