Predictable!

The news conveyed in the President's and the PM's address to the nation tonight was entirely predictable, and probably unavoidable.

The choice was between going to the Constituent Assembly with a draft that would have been opposed by  pro-government representatives making consensus. or even majority decisions, unlikely, or going back to the drawing board. Government legal people will now look at the draft, retaining its indisputable good features and removing those features unacceptable to Government, to come up with a new draft for debate  by the Constituent Assembly at the end of the month.  

The people will still have a say. The Ghai draft and the new draft will be available for discussion but the more divisive recommendations will have been removed.  It is probably not very  helpful to ask who caused this but one must ask who, realistically, would have expected anything different.  Had the Ghai draft been more realistic, and not so obviously intent on sidelining the military, more of its recommendations would have been accepted. Now, it looks as though some of those recommendations, that could have been retained, will be lost.

In politics, as in life, it is often necessary to work for the best possible outcomes and not overreach oneself expecting the ideal but the impossible.

If you have not already done so, I urge you to read Part II of my article on the Constituent Assembly. It spells out the major obstacles that led to the withdrawal of the draft constitution.