Federal Nepal seems to have fully embraced the quintessential feature of Nepali politics: The making and breaking of governments. And if there is one primary reason why there is growing suspicion about the utility of provinces, it is the way politicians and political parties have used them as their puppets. Just as in the centre, the course of political instability out in the provinces is almost never over, which is evident in their failure to find stable governments, or fill their cabinets, six months after the November 2022 elections.

It’s the same show all over again: Coalition partners are bickering over the number of ministerial portfolios they should get in the provinces. In Bagmati, only six of the 11 portfolios are filled even as Chief Minister Shalikram Jammakattel holds three ministerial berths due to his failure to honour the wishes of the Nepali Congress and CPN (Unified Socialist). In Madhesh, the Congress, the Unified Socialist and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party are yet to join the government led by Chief Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav. In Sudurpaschim, four ministerial berths remain vacant as the Congress, the Maoist Centre and the Nagarik Unmukti Party tussle for more positions than Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah is willing to offer.

The instability let loose with the breakup of the UML-Maoist Centre alliance shows no sign of coming to a halt soon even as Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat prepares to present the federal budget in under two weeks. At this time, what the people expect from the provinces is to lobby for a greater say in policies and programmes and budget allocation. But all that they are doing is massaging the egos of the politicians from the provincial and federal levels. Having imported the political culture—or lack thereof—of Kathmandu, the provinces have failed to assure the people about their utility for affirmative politics and positive transformation.

This is not the kind of federalism people signed up for when they welcomed the new constitution in 2015. The idea was for the power of Singha Durbar to devolve to the provinces and the local levels so that there would be multiple avenues of addressing people’s concerns. However, six years after the first federal elections, the idea of stability in the provinces remains a pipe dream, just as in the federal centre. This series of instability began after the Nepal Communist Party, formed with the merger of the UML and the Maoist Centre, imploded due to ego- and power-tussles between KP Sharma Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal. As a result, governments in the provinces fell apart, too, in what was a cascading effect. If the disappointment of the first provincial governments after the adoption of federalism was not enough, the instability syndrome lingers on in their second term as well.

Although the idea of embracing federalism was to devolve power to provinces from the all-powerful centre, it seems as if all that has been devolved is the petty, power-centric politics of mainstream parties. On the outside, it may seem as if it is a time of great upheaval in the provinces, but the hullaballoo is nothing but a sign of diminishing spirit of federalism. There should be no surprise if the voices against federalism get more traction in the coming days if the season of instability does not change in the provinces.