KATHMANDU, APRIL 12
Lawmakers from parties opposed to the prime minister today cautioned him against trying to dissolve the House of Representatives again.
Nepali Congress lawmaker Pradeep Giri today told the HoR that if political parties were ready for elections, then they could form a consensus government and hold fresh elections, otherwise they should allow the HoR to have its full five-year term.
Taking special time in today's HoR meeting, Giri said the PM should rise to the occasion and should not try to dissolve the HoR again. Accusing the PM of being responsible for all the political mess, Giri alleged that the PM had been conspiring to dissolve the Lower House yet again.
He said the main question that the country faced at this stage was whether to move ahead by protecting the current constitution or let the constitution suffer the fate of the 1990 constitution.
He said there was a small group that opposed the 1990 constitution that ultimately led to its failure. "A similar situation exists now, as Madhesis, Janajatis, and Dalits are dissatisfied with the constitution," he added.
"Nepali Congress leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai described the 1990 constitution as a unique document and we all believed him, but that constitution eventually failed. The current constitution is different from the 1990 constitution. However, while some forces celebrated its promulgation, Madhes observed a blackout to oppose it. It depends on us whether we want to nurture it or not,"
Giri said. He added that those who framed the constitution should not fail it.
Giri said that a constitution that did not allow amendment was bound to fail as had happened in Nepal. The current constitution should not meet the same fate, he added. He quoted Benjamin Franklin, one of the framers of the American constitution, as saying that a constitution is a document of consensus.
CPN-MC lawmaker Shakti Bahadur Basnet said his party had not withdrawn support to the government, but that did not mean it was supporting the wrong and undemocratic moves of the government.
"Our party is only acting as per the will of the people who want to see the Parliament complete its full term," he added.
Basnet said Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's move dissolving the Lower House was an attempt to restore the past practice, something the framers of the current constitution had taken care to do away with. "As such, the prime minister's move dissolving the HoR was a regressive step," he added.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 13, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
