King Gyanendra Worrying to Protect ‘Sovereign-Nepal’

In 2001 when NC leader and then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba handed over the governance to the king, all political leaders had hoped to gain a position of PM by the King. Girija sent an emissary while Madhav Nepal wrote an application to the king. But, it was not possible that everyone could have been accommodated in the government. When the desires went unfulfilled politicians started accusing the king of dictatorship, which has developed into the current scenario.

What can be a bigger crime for politicians than to put all the blame on the king to hide their crimes?

They took advantage of the monarch’s compulsion to isolate him. The corrupt Panchas and royalists as Surya Bahadur Thapa, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Pashupati Shumsher, whom had become powerful during the king’s direct rule, but they also accepted the foreign support overnight to betray the palace. However, all Nepalese are not like such traitors. The Nepalese people must not forget that under king Prithvi Narayan Shah’s leadership 54 separate warring small states were annexed to form Nepal. Various castes and religious sects came together to form this holy land.

King Gyanendra
King Gyanendra

Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

The Indians reassure us that they will not intervene whenever their previous acts of intervention are revealed. They always have an antagonistic underlying attitude towards Nepal. A notorious anti-Nepal Indian leader S.D. Muni had visited Nepal in the first week of April. With Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s invitation he came to reassure the republicans of his support.

At the Reporters’ Club he expressed- ‘The royal institution will never revive in Nepal.’ Maoist leaders PM Baburam Bhattarai and Prachanda including leaders of Madhesi parties have openly lent their support to Nepal’s foreign enemies. Should king Gyanendra silently watch as Nepal drowns?

During his recent visit to western region king Gyanendra had spoken- ‘I had left the throne in the agreement with the political leaders but it was not implemented. I had left the throne for a purpose but it could not be fulfilled. Now what the people want will happen.’

The leaders of NC, UML and Maoist party have not only axed their own heads but dragged the country into crisis. These leaders do not have any moral to speak in national politics. But, UML leader, the culprit Madhav Nepal is threatening that the King to jail by the hint of anti-Nepal Indian scholar SD Muni who had pressured them to threaten the King and then they dismissed the Army security of the King also.

It is self understood that the royal institution is not king Gyanendra’s personal property but a common asset of all Nepalese people. As a sovereign Nepalese citizen king Gyanendra has full freedom to be concerned about the nation and give suggestions. If Nepal survives independently without royal institution then there is no need for anyone to worry about it.

There are many nations without royal institution. But, in the context of Nepal, it will be suicidal to speak or take decisions on subjects of monarchy, language, religion and ethnicity without thorough study on Nepal’s sensitivity.

After the overthrow of the royal institution in 1958, Iraq plunged into a civil war among the Kurdish, Sunni and Siya Muslims.

Thousands were killed in that holy land. What did Iraq gain? After Iran’s monarch -Reja Shah Pahalbi left his thrown in 1979, an Islamic revolution started during which thousands of Iranian people were killed. Iran fell into a religious dictatorship. In 1979 royal institution was removed in Afghanistan under Soviet pressure. Now the country is faced with a civil war and the Afghans are swimming in a pool of blood. In 1970 monarchy was removed in Cambodia, after which thousands of Cambodian people died under strict communist rule. In 1993 Cambodian people brought back their king Naroddam Simhanuk to the regime and peace prevailed.

In England monarchy was disposed in 1649 and reestablished in 1661. Spain’s monarch Alfonso III was disposed and Franco took the throne in 1969 after which Spain became stable. In many places monarchy has been reestablished after being disposed. The people’s major concern is to establish peace, good governance and independence in their nation. It is customary to impart a young prince lesson on subjects of nation’s independence, system of rule, and the interest of the people. Due to such lesson in childhood a king develops a special bond towards his royal duties.

A great Hindu scholar Chanakya has written before BC- ‘If we start to find people without faults we will not have any friends.’ So, it is wise for us to study the situation before pointing a finger at king Gyanendra.

Everyone is well aware that the new constitution will not be made from this controversial Constituent Assembly (CA). Nepal’s existence will be in peril if CA drafts a constitution. There are no other options for king Gyanendra to revive the 1990 constitution and take his throne with support of the people and organs of the state. He must protect the nation. And then it is accepted that the king must become more accessible and reach the people.

Nepal will not be stable in absence of the royal institution. B.P Koirala had a stance in regards royal institution- after 1976, ‘If there is no royal institution in Nepal, a nation named Nepal will also not remain in existence. Nepal’s existence is of utmost self-interest of the king. So the kings have saved the country. I want merger of king’s nationalist self-interest and people’s democratic interest.’ Let alone the talks of traitors like NC leader Girija-BP own brother, UML’s Madhav Nepal, Maoists Prachanda and Baburam, the former staunch royalists and Panchas like Surya Bahadur Thapa and Pashupati Shumsher today have become republicans and made everyone laugh. Nepal’s misfortune is the misdeeds of these brokers and traitors.

There was once a system to which we could appeal at times of distress- ‘the monarchy’. The people are orphaned as the king, out of compulsion, was forced to back off. In name of CA Nepal is being drowned. NC leader and former minister P.L Singh has analyzed the current scenario. He writes- ‘The political parties are pushing the nation towards destruction by singing hymns of CA and destroying democracy in name of democracy. The people had not thrown away the 1990 constitution.

The 1990 constitution is still appropriate for the people.’ The naive political leaders are keeping the Nepalese society in illusion with promises of constitutional monarchy, parliamentary system, and sometimes republic and People’s Republic. In this way they take power. Now NC, UML and the Maoists are becoming wary. The increasing popularity of the king has concerned Baburam Bhattarai, who became the PM with the Indian support. He wantonly tries to fuel the people against the king saying- ‘He is trying to obstruct.’

The country is a common property of all Nepalese people. It is our duty to save it. This land must be rid of traitors and foreign activity. A sovereign Nepal will not exist by disposing the monarchy. In Vietnam the people show their respect to king by bowing before his statue. The people of Laos, to parry dangers from Vietnam and Thailand, are showing that they had been a sovereign country from the ancient times with the monarch. They have found a picture of their late king and with it they are constructing a statue. In Thailand king is worshipped like a God.

The reasons are that these countries want to prove that they are sovereign and will continue to be in future. However, Nepal has been made a prisoner of indecision. Let us find a path of solution through 1990 constitution as a medium. History will never forgive anyone.

It is not in the interest of any Nepalese citizen to threaten king Gyanendra and haul accusations of trying to revive royal institution. Nepal is common of all our people. In absence of royal institution China and India will take advantage to intervene in pretext of security issue. If the royal institution exists it will provide security to Nepal and foreign intervention will not take place. So it is not a matter of worthless headache if royal institution is reinstated. Let us be proud of becoming sovereign due to the presence of the royal institution.

It is the demand of the people of Nepal today that the Nepalese are in need of the protection of the royal institution. The royal institution is the symbol Pillar of Nepal’s unity. Thus, we should learn from our mistakes. In order to increase the prestige of sovereign Nepal we must commit ourselves to save the nation by endorsing the 1990 constitution with the presence of the monarchy.

Dirgha Raj Prasai is a former Member of Parliament in Nepal, a political analyst who writes from Kathmandu.