Conspiracy! Conspiracy! Indian conspiracy! Royal conspiracy! Probably these were (may be are) the slogans that were/are most frequently used by communist parties (both by moderate communist like CPN-UML and radical communist CPN-Maoist) and left-wing media and some socialist/capitalists/centrists (including Nepali Congress supremo GPK persistent utterance- ?the grand design?) too. The obvious nature of ?conspiracy theory? has made everybody (most importantly the myopic political leaders) to relate and believe in conspiracy theory. It has been an established tool for them that anything that bad happens to nation and its democracy is due to conspiracy. More importantly anything that does not go according to wishes of some of the corrupt leaders is due to conspiracy and nation and democracy are under threat. I guess this theory is also borrowed from our ?big brother?-India. Anything that happens in India is done by ISI of Pakistan (?Pakistani conspiracy?) as if India was totally a chaos-less and peaceful country before the inception of ISI! Conspiracy theory has helped authorities and political leaders to conceal their incompetence both in India and Nepal. Wait!! Wait!! Having said this, can we totally negate the conspiracy theory? I guess not, we can not totally abandon this theory. When one ponders the last 237 years of Nepalese history (after the unification of Nepal) a significant number of conspiracies (power tussle between Bhandhur Saha and his Bhauju, assassination of Mathwarsingh thapa, defeat with East India company, unfortunate and disgraceful ?Sugauli ko sandhi? agaist the will of brave Amarshingh/Bhakti thapa, assassination of Ranabhadhur saha by his own brother?, conspiracies by the wives of king to nominate their own son as a crown prince ?the list goes on) and massacres in and around the vicinity of palace (such as Kotparwa/Bhandarkhal?.and the most recent one the massacre of king Birandra and his family?. a few to be remembered by many). It is self-evident that these conspiracies (massacres) were hatched against each other by those in and around the power/palace. If you see the events after the 2007 movement, you can come up with a number of examples of conspiracies hatched both by the palace and the Indians. The three party Delhi agreement was for the election of constitutional assembly and drafting and formulating a new democratic constitution through this elected body not by the hand picked individuals. It may be due to inability or unwillingness of political leaders within NC to understand the palace conspiracy they accepted the constitution where People of Nepal were denied their sovereignty (King is considered to have sovereignty of the nation). If you look at the period from 2007 to 2017, Palace had never tried to strengthen democracy. Palace was more concerned with acquiring absolute power through different measures and means. The palace had always tried to weaken NC and communists by infiltrating some royalist into it or by enticing (or probably by threatening too). NC lost some of its best leaders such as T. Giri, Parsunarayan Chaudhari (BP considered him as a candidate for next PM). Communist turned royalists like Keshar jung Rayamajhi and the most recent examples are the RK mainali, Devi Ojha and a lot more. King Mahendra also tried to strengthen communist to weaken NC. Palace has always conspired to use one against another. Some people believe that Maoists were initially groomed by ?Sital Newas? to conspire against people?s democracy. Some people do not get surprised to see some royalists and pro-indian in Maoist too. The recent acquisition against Prachanda by Baburam when the later was accused by some including Prachanda being pro-indian strengthen one who believes in Royal and Indian Conspiracy theory. Similarly, it is no other than KP Bhattrai who believes that there are several Nepalese leaders who take grace and money from India and that makes no one in surprise to see how ?Tanakpur treaty? was passed with overwhelming 2/3 majority (such thing is considered rare to see in Nepalese parliament!!). Many people think that Maoist problem (just the violence part, I am not talking about the causes what they claim as fight against feudal oppressor) is an artificial one and the Royal and the Indian conspiracy has some elements and certainly has its contribution (may not be as an absolute contributor but may be as a stake holder) in it. I feel answerless when those who believe in this theory points out that how this particular movement (the Maoist movement) acquired an unprecedented success in terms of military success in relatively short period of time (this is not the first time that Nepal has experienced an armed struggle) without some short of tactical support/grace from some elements within Palace and India. At last, some people believe that until and unless leaders acquire ability to perceive conspiracy and also develop strategies to counteract such conspiracies, you will be able to bring democracy back only for certain period of time and next generation will also have to spend their time fighting for democracy. We have also experienced the fate of some leaders like Madan Bhandari who tried to speak (many people believe that he had ability to do some thing different than the leaders we have now, some people believe that he was the victim of conspiracy against competent leaders-?leadership annihilation?) against palace and India conspiracies. Similarly, recently we have seen the fate of clean, honest and popular leaders like Narahari Achrya, Lilamani Pokhrel, Pari Thapa, Sankher Pokhrel, Ram Chandra Paudel, Gagan Thapa, Rup Narayana shresth and some human rights activists like Tika parahi are being punished for their genuine concerned about democracy and their voices against autocracy. We have also seen how the corrupt and dishonest leaders (K.P Oli and so many, read about Oli in this week?s Nepal Magazine by Kusang kaka) were released from the custody in relatively short period of time. Our grandfather fought for democracy in 2007 and our parents did same thing over a long period of time and now our generation is again fighting for it. So, the most important question is how long we want to keep alive these conspirators who are always waiting for an opportunity to snatch your freedom and democracy? Give a thought. Love to see healthy comments and suggestions. Nut