Today (September 20), Nepal gets a new Constitution. BUT it comes at the costs of at least 40 deaths of Nepalese, including children, women, elderlies and security personnel, and hundreds injured and arbitrarily detained at the hands of State security forces. Three political “leaders” pushed through the constitution with imposition of curfews in “riot-stricken zones”, accompanied by deployment of army, across the southern Terai/Madhes region while there have been peaceful protests and general strikes through out the country against the new constitution.

Rather than advancing on the commitments made with marginalized groups (women, indigenous peoples, Madhesi, Dalits and other excluded groups that had the greatest need for a just and progressive constitution), the new constitution reverses on the achievements made on their aspirations, such as proportional inclusion, positive discrimination, federalism and social justice. The constitution has been rushed through for the sake of the privileged old guard of politicians and their supportive elite groups, not “the people” and hence can likely again lead the country to conflict. Thus, as Nepali citizen, such constitution IS NOT and WILL NOT be my constitution.