India has urged Nepal to try for ‘broad consensus’ during the implementation process of its constitution which has been the cause of bilateral tension between the two neighbours. The comments came after Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, in his speech on Thursday, expressed hope to implement amendments to the constitution in future.
“Our position has been very clear and very consistent. Efforts should be made to take all sections of the society on board in constitution implementation process and in establishing Nepal as a federal democratic state. We feel that it will be helpful in that direction, if there is a broad consensus on this issue,” said Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar during a press briefing.
Formal statement
The Foreign Secretary’s statement came hours after the visiting Prime Minister addressed the same issue during his formal statement read out at the Hyderabad House and said, “There are some issues in our constitution which will be dealt with in the future. There is a need for amendments to deal with this issue but we need two third majority in parliament for this, but as we do not have that majority we cannot carry out the amendments now. But hopefully, in future we will get a constitution with the support of all sections of our society.”
Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar also assured that both sides would resolve all differences.
