Motion In The House

THE Communist Party of Nepal ( Maoists) has registered a eight point motion in the legislature parliament calling, among others, for the declaration of republicanism from the parliament itself. Moreover, the Maoist legislators presented a collection of over one million signatures to the Speaker of the Parliament to build the strong case in favour of republicanism and also press for declaring the country a republic. While presenting the collection of signatures, Maoist legislators pointed out that the country is making major strides towards republicanism and there is no point in keeping delays to declare Nepal a republican state. The stance of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) has always been to fight monarchy which it labels as a vestige of feudalism and create a republican state without monarchy or the institution of Kingship. The party fought the people's war over a decade with a view to smash feudalism and take the country to the era of republicanism. The party strategy defines the contradiction between feudalism and Nepalese people as the principal form of conflict and it can be resolved, according to it, with the establishment of republicanism in the country.

Not only the Maoists but other democratic party leaders have been talking time and again about what is said as the antithetical relationship between the monarchy and democracy in Nepal. It is argued that the monarchy has consistently maintained its hegemony in the political and social arena of the country and it cannot go together with democracy and human freedom. There may be several arguments for and against monarchy in the present context of Nepal and the national Parliament will definitely scrutinize the pros and cons of monarchy in this country since the motion to this effect has already been registered in the national parliament. What need not be overlooked is the fact that the interim constitution sets forth that the first meeting of the constituent assembly shall take decision with respect to monarchy. It would be prudent to wait till the election to the constituent assembly is held and let the first meeting of the constituent assembly decide about the destiny of monarchical institution. As it is a sensitive and delicate issue of a sovereign concern of the people, an elected and popularly mandated institution should take decision regarding this subject.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 15, 2007