Nepal king on comeback trail?

TNN, Sep 11, 2010, 04.02pm IST

KATHMANDU: Defying a demand by the Maoists to cancel his public

programme in eastern Nepal on Saturday, deposed king Gyanendra  Bir Bikram Shah reached Biratnagar, the home town of pro-democracy leader  Girija Prasad Koirala, to inaugurate a religious festival amidst tight security  and calls by royalists for the restoration of monarchy.

The 63-year-old's visit to the industrial town on the border with India to inaugurate  the Ganapati Chaturthi festival in honour of the elephant-headed god of success  had become controversial after the local Maoist
cadres opposed his participation and the Maoist mouthpiece Janadisha daily  reported earlier during the week that it had been called off.

Though the once all-powerful king became a commoner in 2008 and today, claims  his right to attend all the public programmes he wants to, the sudden spurt in these attendances has caused his former archenemy, the Maoists, wariness. Less  than a week earlier, on Monday, Gyanendra had inaugurated a Saptarisheshwar  Mahadev temple in Futung. Since March, when he attended a mahayajna on the  Pashupatinath temple grounds calling for the reinstatement of a Hindu state in  Nepal, the last king of Nepal has been especially heading for towns in the
southern plains, a region once neglected by his dynasty for generations but now  turning out to be the staunchest bastion of Hinduism.

Not just the former king, even his son Paras, who was a target of public  dislike during his days as a prince and crown prince, has also begun foraying in the Terai plains, inaugurating a temple, a school and even a community eye  hospital. Call it a coincidence or part of the new strategy, even Paras' wife,  the former crown princess Himani, last month inaugurated a drinking water  project in Dolakha in northern Nepal.


The frequency of these programmes is now worrying the Maoists, cornered by the  failure of their chief, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, to win the prime  ministerial race seven times in a row. Last month, the local Maoist cadre tried  to disrupt Himani's programme, calling it a ploy to campaign for the  restoration of monarchy.


Four years after his attempt to rule the country directly with the help of the  army misfired, people have begun to forget the atrocities committed by the royal regime, thanks to the failure of the deposed king's successors. The
political parties' inability to put selfish interests before national ones and  give people good governance has alienated them while the recurring failure to  elect a new prime minister has made them the butt of ridicule.

Though the parties had pledged to promulgate a new constitution in May, they  failed to keep their commitment and plunged the country into an unprecedented  crisis. While the crisis was averted for a year with parliament giving them  another 12 months to accomplish the deed, more than four months have elapsed  since then with the task of constitution-drafting coming to a standstill. The  failure to deliver a new constitution in May 2011 will bolster royalists, who  are already calling for a referendum to decide if monarchy should be given a  second chance.

Hindu nation sold on Rs. 20 million

http://www.reviewnepal.com/detail_news.php?id=656

July 26, 2010:

Kathmandu, Nepal -- With the drastic political change Nepal had  also been declared as the secular state instead of Hindu kingdom on May 18, 2006.  But what was the mystery behind it? Nobody suspects that the sole identity of
Nepal as the Hindu nation was sold on the sum of Rs. 20 million (Rs. 2 crore).

The accusation is made by Indian ‘Godman’ Kapil Advait,  popularly known as Pilot Baba. Visiting “Baba” revealed the mystery recently in  capital Kathmandu. An influential Nepali leader had taken Rs 2 crore to declare  Nepal a secular country, Baba had claimed.

“I am revealing it now that a sum of Rs. 20 million (Rs. 2  crore) was given to an influential Nepali leader for declaring Nepal a secular  country,” he said but not revealed about the leader. Nobody had asked about the
mystery even as influential personalities including vice president Paramananda  Jha had also presented on the program. To justify the accusation he said “I am saying this based on my  knowledge.” “The person who took the money has been an important citizen of  this country; he had hinted the political leader.” The declaration of Nepal as  a secular country was made by Speaker Subhash Nembang on May 18, 2006 when G P  Koirala was the PM.

I don’t make any distinctions between faiths, but selling off  religion and culture for money not only brings shame to society but also lose  the identity, the glorious spiritual personalities Baba also said at the  function.