Today is the 60th birthday of King Gyanendra. Although the ‘loktantrik’ government has not arranged for any function and even announced that there will be no traditional national holiday, people have arranged for different functions. This is clear evidence that the age-old and cordial relations between the monarch and the people cannot be detached and cooled so easily. On this auspicious occasion this columnist expresses cordial felicitations for the long life and good health of the King.
There are some people, who may take monarchy as a liability but in fact it is an asset and monarchy for Nepal is not just to show off but it is a necessity for the country as well as for the people. Those who have even a little knowledge of history know very well the contributions made by the Shah dynasty and its kings.
The accounts from late King Prithvi Narayan Shah to the present date is there in the pages of history books and it will remain in the future. There should be no second opinion one of the biggest contributions of the Shah dynasty is to keep Nepal a sovereign and independent country despite being a ‘yam between two boulders’. This is as clear as the broad daylight.
King Gyanendra had to ascend to the throne not out of his interest but because of the compulsive situation. When Gyanendra became King, the country’s situation was much too fragile and too painful and even scary. In order to save the country from that situation, Gyanendra, who was just a prince, was made monarch of his country by Raj Parishad. It is the same body in which the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was an ex-officio member.
Everybody is aware that there has been change in the political spectrum of this country as an aftereffect of political changes in several other countries. No one denies that there is drastic political change in Nepal just two months ago in the name of people’s movement II.
Even in this political change, the King also sided with the King and accepted the people’s demand keeping the tradition of the Shah dynasty and the Kings before him. Had the King chosen to go against his own people, one cannot even imagine what this King would have become and what foreign troops would have marched into this country.
If one evaluates the short time after King Gyanendra became King of this country, one finds that there is nothing he had done against the interest of the country and the people. But there has been concerted attempts to misinterpret and malign every step the King took. This does not benefit the country. We, the people must ponder and come to a conclusion whether this country will remain as it is for our children and successors. We must do so because King Gyanendra is also the creation of this land and is not made up of alien soil or transplanted from abroad.
