BIKRAM RAI
SAFFRON RAINBOW: Demonstrators demanding that Nepal be declared a Hindu state are doused by water cannon in Kathmandu on Monday, as police fire tear-gas at protesters trying to set fire to government buildings in Kalaiya of Bara district.
Despite the deepening deadlock and violence, the disagreements on the constitution aren’t intractable. The demands for changing boundaries of future federal provinces should not be impossible to resolve. All it needs are cool heads, statesmanship to forge compromises, and the ability to look beyond partisan pastimes at the larger national interest. Amendments that address some of the demands of the agitators may be filed by the Saturday deadline, and further changes can be made as we go along. But prolonging the uncertainty is not a good idea in the present volatile situation.