Seven years back, Nepal began writing an inclusive constitution to institutionalize the gains of the peace process, which took off in November 2006. Finally, the new Constitution was promulgated on September 20, 2015. Unfortunately, nearly half of the Nepali population has branded the new Constitution as regressive and protested against it. The anti-draft protests in Nepal, especially in the southern plains, started on August 9, immediately after the constitution-making process was initiated.
Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government came to power in India in 2014, the nomenclature of policies has been either Sanskritised or Indianised. With a tech-savvy Prime Minister on the steering wheel, the government is communicating with the general public through catchy one-liners that are quite apt for character-restricted social media like Twitter. Latest in this catchy pronouncement is the Foreign Secretary’s 'SAARC Yatra', as he rounded up tours of four neighbouring countries in the first week of March.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal in August this year sparked a united political front in the Himalayan nation – a rare eventuality given the intra and inter-party rivalry in the country. The visit also occurred at a crucial juncture when Nepal faced major challenges in drafting a new constitution by the second constituent assembly (CA). The visit marked an important step towards strengthening the bilateral ties, marred by apathy and indecisiveness.
Over the years, Indian policy-makers 'taken-for-granted attitude' has distanced India from Nepal to such an extent that the contiguous border between the two countries seems unfathomable since the mid-1990s. It took a prime minister of India 17 years to dismantle the distance and reach out to the Nepalese youth.
With less than a fortnight left for the second Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, which are scheduled to be held on November 19, uncertainly looms large over their peaceful conduct and the framing of the Constitution. This has resulted in a lack of enthusiasm from people towards participation in the elections. People across the country also question the legitimacy of the elections, given the boycott of the CPN-Maoist-led 33-agitating political parties and their demand for holding the polls under a legitimate government.