The Nepalese Parliament’s historic decision to strip the monarchy of its powers is likely to set the Himalayan nation into a new and uncertain phase. The decision is in the form of a resolution from a Parliament which is clearly an interim one, and it has not satisfied the Maoists who want the complete abolition of monarchy. Yet, the right to make a final decision rests with the Nepalese people whose will can only be ascertained through fresh elections or a referendum. Nepal’s monarchy was no ordinary one. In the mid-18th century, Prithvi Narayan Shah united a number of hill principalities to form the kingdom of Nepal. The monarch was regarded as a living avtar of Vishnu and ruled with the doctrine that ‘the king can do no wrong’.
In modern times, however, these very attributes led to an overweening attitude and the monarchy proved unable to adjust to the times. In the Fifties, King Mahendra choked the democratic movement through a coup of sorts. It was only in 1990 that his successor, Birendra,
accepted the status of a constitutional monarch after a people’s movement. But the dénouement thereafter has been more shocking. On June 1, 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra murdered his father, King Birendra, his mother and seven other members of the royal household and committed suicide. This was followed by a more prolonged hara kiri of the successor, King Gyanendra. Instead of trying to bring the shocked nation, already wracked by a Maoist insurgency, together, he tried to take the clock back to the reign of Mahendra. It took a heroic struggle by the Nepalese people to defeat him and begin writing what now appears to be an epitaph of the monarchy.
But having achieved this goal, Nepal needs to tread carefully. Given the history of Maoist movements, it is unlikely that they will compromise on their ideology which is an anti-thesis of democracy. The Maoists control large parts of the countryside and will not hesitate to resume their guerrilla war should they see that things are not going their way. The challenge before the fragmented democratic forces is to ensure that Nepal doesn’t jump from the frying pan into the fire.
{{/usCountry}}But having achieved this goal, Nepal needs to tread carefully. Given the history of Maoist movements, it is unlikely that they will compromise on their ideology which is an anti-thesis of democracy. The Maoists control large parts of the countryside and will not hesitate to resume their guerrilla war should they see that things are not going their way. The challenge before the fragmented democratic forces is to ensure that Nepal doesn’t jump from the frying pan into the fire.
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