Two Communist Parties are fighting each other on Citizenship
issue
By Subhankar Gupta
With less than two months left before the national elections in Nepal, the refusal of the
President of Nepal, Vidya Devi Bhandari, to approve the Citizenship Amendment Bill even
after the passage of the proposed enactment by both houses of the parliament has thrown
the Himalayan state into a vortex of political crisis. It will make children whose parents'
whereabouts were not known eligible to citizenship. Under the amendments, children born to a Nepali mother but whose father is unknown could get citizenship document after the
mother makes a declaration.
The amendment to Citizenship Act 2007 makes foreigners married to Nepalis entitled to
citizenship. Nepalis who are citizens of foreign nations to do business and conduct economic
activities in the country will be entitled to citizenship documents.
If the amendment is inked, more than 500,000 people will be eligible to citizenship
certificates and voting rights thereof. This seems to unnerve the top brass of Communist
Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist), whose chairman is Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli.
President Bhandari too was elected to the National Assembly, the lower house of the
parliament as a candidate of the CPN(UML). President is refusing to authenticate the
amendment bill.
According to Article 113 (3) of the Constitution of Nepal 2015, the President has the authority
to send the Bills other than those related to finances within 15 days for reconsideration, but it
does not allow the President to return the bill or not certify it for the second time. Article 113
(4) specifies that it shall be verified within 15 days after the passage of the bill by the
federal parliament with amendments or in the same form. The President disregards all this
and has thus triggered a constitutional crisis,
However, President Bhandari, who was dissatisfied with the Citizenship Bill, appears to have
neglected the provisions of the Constitution. The President is not allowed to stop the
certification of any Bill passed by both the houses of federal parliament for the second time.
Five top leaders of the political parties comprising the ruling centre-left alliance accused the
President of trying to deprive many Nepalis of their right to citizenship by refusing to approve
the bill."The unconstitutional move of the president has seriously insulted and devalued the
federal parliament elected by the people," they said in a joint statement. Balaram K. C., a
retired judge of the Supreme Court described the refusal of the President to sign the
amendment as a serious and grave violation of the constitution by a ceremonial head of
state.
Taking a pot shot at CPN(UML) supremo, CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal
Dahal a k a Prachanda at Bharatpur Airport said that the controversy around the Citizenship
Bill is motivated. “When KP Oli was the Prime Minister, the Citizenship Bill was introduced
as an ordinance. Now when this bill is presented to the parliament, they are calling it anti-
national. Nothing can be more dishonest and immoral than this,” he quipped.
However, the credibility of once media-hyped underground Maoist leader of Nepal has been
on the decline among the people of Nepal. The CPN (Maoist Center) boss visited India a
few months back and called on the Bharatiya Janata Party president Jagat Prasad Nadda.
And the two leaders in a joint communiqué stated that his party and the BJP had different
ideologies but a common objective to uplift the poor section of society. He praised India for
buying power from Nepal and extending support to his country during the earthquake and
the Covid pandemic.
. Several legal experts are of the opinion that the President should either resign as president
or somebody should file a case against her in the Supreme Court The President has pushed her into the crossfire of controversy by addressing the Global
Security Initiative conference organised by the Communist Party of China. Nepal's ministry
of foreign affairs took an exception to this reminding that the President Bhandari went
beyond her jurisdiction by addressing the GSI conference against Nepal's foreign policyThis
is a violation of the non-aligned foreign policy that Nepal has been following, the MoFA
observed in a statement. When President Bhandari was requested to participate in the
conference, the government advised her not to attend the event as it was linked to the
Chinese security umbrella and would be detrimental to Nepal's foreign policy. But she
ignored the advice.
Ms Bhandari erred on two counts. First is her lack of adherence to protocol which is
mandatory for the head of state by refusing to sign the amendment bill as a custodian of the
Constitution of Nepal. Second, she seems ill-advised to keep Chinese communist
bureaucrats in good humour, maybe to remain in the good book of Oli. The CPN(UML) is
opposed to India, especially due to its ideological opposition to the BJP-in-power ‘a Fascist
threat' to neighbouring states like Nepal, stated by a top leader of the party at a meeting of
cadres.
The latest deadlock over President's behaviour is going to have its impact on the national
elections by yearend. The two co0mmunist parties re fighting each other and that is
giving a bad name to the communists in general. The left supports in Nepal are worried
at the continuous disunity in the communist movement in the country.
