Nepali publisher Kanak Mani Dixit on Thursday said the full implementation of Nepal’s 2015 Constitution would be a significant achievement and hoped civil society would step in to ensure it happened. Mr. Dixit, founder of Himal Southasian magazine, was speaking at the Roja Muthiah Research Library on ‘Nepal turns the corner.’
Mr. Dixit prefaced his speech by addressing the inherent optimism of his topic. As a caveat, he said he had written about Nepal turning a corner in 2006 when the Maoist violence ended. “I have said ‘Nepal turns the corner’ a few times by now. You will have to take it with a pinch of salt,” he said.
The cause for his latest optimism was the 2015 Constitution, which, he said, “gives everything to everybody.” He also saw reason for cheer in the recent merger of the CPN-Maoist and CPN-UML, the two main Communist parties. For the first time in 20 years, Nepal may have a government that may have a minimum two-year term and possibly, five full years, Mr. Dixit said.
After a long period of turmoil, the country “landed feet first, due to the sheer sagacity of the people.” However, according to Mr. Dixit, progress can only be made if civil society stepped up to fulfil the promises of the Constitution and iron out its flaws.
