Chaos in Kathmandu as Nepalis Bid to Bring Back Monarch
Ousted king wants throne back in what Le Monde calls ‘world champion of political instability’
By: Nava Thakuria
Nepal woke up to a political crisis on March 9 that shows little sign of abating. Nearly 10,000 supporters assembled at Tribhuvan International Airport to welcome former king Gyanendra Shah, who was returning to Kathmandu after visiting Hindu religious sites in western Nepal, and to demand that he be restored to the historic Narayanhiti palace, which is now a museum.
The country’s ruling coalition, including the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Nepali Congress, called for the former king’s arrest, triggering chaos in the parliament as pro-royalty forces protested.
The 78-year-old Gyanendra was dethroned in 2008 after seizing absolute power. But with Gyanendra or without him, the crisis has its roots in a debilitating power struggle by numerous parties with often-conflicting agendas, in particular the CPN-UML and the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist Center) that has intensified, leading to a split in the ruling coalition being watched closely by India and China, both of which have long had business and political interests in the country and both of which view the kingdom as strategic to their regional interests.
No government in Kathmandu has been able to complete its full five-year term in the 35 years since the onset of democracy in 1990, with 13 governments formed since the monarchy was abolished in 2008. There is little indication that the current coalition will endure. On March 28, frustrated by political gridlock, the agitators organized a massive demonstration that turned violent, with protestors targeting police as well as commercial buildings, including those belonging to political parties and media groups. Several were vandalized and set ablaze along with nearby government vehicles.
Inspired by Gyanendra’s declaration on the February 18 Democracy Day that he intended to play an active role in politics, the pro-monarchy agitators chanted slogans like “Come Back King, Save Nepal,” “Long Live Our Beloved King,” and “Abolish Federal Republican System, Reinstate Monarchy.”
The protest began in the Tinkune area of Kathmandu and resulted in the burning alive in a charred house of three persons, including Avenues TV journalist Suresh Rajak, 35. According to Kathmandu police, at least 128 individuals, including 77 security personnel, were injured in the melee. Police used batons, water cannons, and tear gas against the protesters, later arresting more than 130 people. An evening curfew had to be imposed in several Kathmandu districts. Demonstrators blamed police for the violence.
The protesters demanded the replacement of the 2015 Republican Constitution with one promulgated in 1990 by the then-monarch Birendra Bir Bikram Shah. Birendra and his entire family were massacred in the Narayanhiti palace under mysterious circumstances in 2001 by Crown Prince Dipendra, who then killed himself. After the massacre, the king’s brother Gyanendra Shah ascended the throne.
Gyanendra, initially popular, seized absolute power in 2005 after dissolving the Parliament and ordering the imprisonment of political leaders, activists, and journalists to deal with what he considered the growing menace from the ultra-Left rebels. But finally he was forced to relinquish power following widespread armed Maoist protest, reportedly supported by China, in 2006. Later, in 2008, the Parliament abolished the 240-year-old Hindu royal rule and endorsed a secular federal democratic republic.
Gyanendra left the palace, now converted into a museum, for private life in mid-2008, presumably waiting for an opportune moment and political instability, rampant corruption, and public suffering in daily life. In addition to the repeated failure of all political parties, Nepalis perceived the secular regime to be helping Christian and Muslim preachers to increase their followers.
Nepal emerged from the November 2022 elections with a hung Parliament in the 275-member House of Representatives. Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist-Leninist, runs a coalition government with the support from the Nepali Congress. Repeated changes of government (or the premiers) only promoted instability. The common impression grew that politicians were interested only in personal benefit as power rotated among them. Some 20.3 percent of the population live below the national poverty line, with large numbers depending on remittances from family members overseas, according to the Asian Development Bank.
Prime Minister Oli, occupying the post for the fourth time, and Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, waiting to occupy the PM post for the sixth time, are scheduled to rotate positions until the 2027 national elections. The pro-royalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) denounced all the political entities and continued pursuing a Hindu kingdom with Gyanendra back in the royal palace.
The nationalist RPP leaders have repeatedly denounced the former king’s unceremonious 2008 ouster, arguing that the monarchy ensures a sense of pride, stability, and unity for the Nepali people. Widespread public frustration over government gridlock is driving increasing influence in favor of the monarchy and a comprehensive Hindu identity.
The Oli government has responded by cutting the number of Ganendra’s security personnel from 25 to 15 at his home on the outskirts of Kathmandu. It has also planned to cancel his passport so that he can’t leave Nepal. Kathmandu metropolitan authorities also levied a cumulative penalty of Nepalese Rupees 793,000 (US$5,779) against the former monarch for the damage done to public properties during the last protest.
The opposition Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Center, led by three-time Nepal premier Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda, condemned the violence at the hands of the pro-monarch agitators. Prachanda, who led a decade-long armed insurgency to dethrone the monarchy from 1996 to 2006, in which more than 16,000 people died, warned that any attempt to dilute republican gains was unacceptable. Gyanendra, he charged, is promoting pro-Hindutva forces threatening Nepal’s secular fabric.
Prachanda echoed Nepali Congress chief Deuba and PM Oli that the former king is hatching a conspiracy to get back to the throne with foreign support. Oli also charged that Gyanendra is supported by India in general and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in particular to return him to the palace.
A hardcore Hindu nationalist, Adityanath has publicly supported the reinstatement of Nepal’s Hindu makeup. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader hosted many visits by Gyanendra Shah to the Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow. A politician always seen in saffron, he once addressed a public meeting in Kathmandu promoting Nepal’s Hindu identity. In some of last month’s protest, agitators carried Adityanath’s cutout along with the former king’s life-size photograph.