By Our Reporter Nepal’s new constitution is likely to become dysfunctional because of the anti-people provisions inserted into it. People have strongly opposed the provisions of republicanism, federalism and secularism, which were never their demands. It was evident from the protests launched by the people against the constitution amendment bill seeking demarcation of Province No 5. By stating that the borders of Province No 5 should not be changed, the masses in several districts showed their ire against federalism Even the leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress and Maoist Centre participated in the rally in Province No 5. Indeed, republicanism, federalism and secularism were not the demands of the Nepalese people. The people who participated in the mass rallies during the political movement of 2006 had not demanded secularism and federalism. Even most participants of the mass rallies had not chanted the slogan against the monarchy. Still the country was declared a secular federal republic at the suggestion of the foreign forces. Nepali Congress senior leader K B Gurung in his write-up in The Rising Nepal a few months ago revealed how the leaders prevented him from taking the issue of monarchy and secularism to public before announcing Nepal as a secular republic. “I was the Speaker of the reinstated parliament when the parliament took these controversial decisions. When I told the party leaders to have an extensive debate before taking any decision on these issues, almost all of them opposed my demand stating that there was no need to debate the issues. When I let four MPs including Chandra Bahadur Gurung to express their views on the issue of monarchy by using my prerogative, they were hooted from the floor. Finally, the House abolished the monarchy and declared Nepal a secular state without receiving people’s consent. They did these all when the interests of the leaders of the political parties matched,” Gurung said. When NC leader Gurung, who chaired the first meeting of the first Constituent Assembly that decided to abolish monarchy, was coerced to declare Nepal a republic state, one can easily guess the tactics applied by our so-called democratic leaders to abolish monarchy and turn a Hindu kingdom into secular republic. Still many leaders in NC are against the party decision to accept republicanism and secularism. When senior leaders like Gurung have not accepted the provisions of secularism, republican set-up and federalism, it looks unlikely that the constitution will be functional. Only the corrupt and power hungry leaders who have been working to fulfill the interest of the foreign forces have adopted these controversial provisions, and one day when the people reject then in elections, the constitution will surely become dysfunctional.