NEPAL: King Depressed or Scheming?

By Marty Logan Reprint | | Print |

Marty Logan

KATHMANDU, Jul 21 2006 (IPS) - Four months ago he was the one figure in Nepal everyone turned to for a solution to political deadlock. Today King Gyanendra is reduced to a shadow, although a persistent one, hovering over a delicate peace process being carried out by the government and Maoist rebels.

Completely stripped of all legal powers by the parliament he revived after three weeks of massive street protests in April and widely believed to be the last of his line before a republic is declared in this South Asian nation, the king is a rare figure in the capital these days. All of which frequently provokes the question: what will he do next?

Some suggest he will commit suicide. “How could this man who considered himself to be Lord Vishnu live with the humiliation of being summoned before a royal commission (investigating violence against April’s “people’s movement”) or being made to go to the tax department to pay his taxes?” asked the head of an inter-governmental organisation at dinner recently.

“I heard that he used to do a ceremony where he would make a fire of dried chillies, believing that the smoke would give him super-human powers,” he added.

“The king has been made completely ceremonial and has no power,” says constitutional lawyer Bhimarjun Acharya. When he surrendered to the hundreds of thousands of people marching against his direct rule in April, he “categorically and explicitly said that the power rests with the people”, Acharya told IPS.

Since then, members of parliament (MPs) removed the king as “supreme commander” of the army, cut all legal links between the monarch and parliament, declared the royal family’s property taxable, and renamed “His Majesty’s Government” the “Government of Nepal”.

That is not all. This week MPs removed the king as the patron of Kathmandu’s Pashupatinath Temple, one of the holiest sites for the world’s Hindus, assigning that position to the prime minister. The culture, information and tourism minister is to take over the queen’s role as chair of the temple trust.

Earlier this month, the parliament decided that the king’s Jul. 7 birthday would no longer be a national holiday. But that did not stop a few thousand people from gathering at Narayanhiti Palace in the capital’s centre, among them Hindu priests, Buddhist monks, members of the monarch’s former administration – and Chief of Army Staff General Pyar Jung Thapa.

Some saw Thapa’s visit as a snub of parliament’s decision to not mark the king’s 59th birthday and a sign of foreboding. “The army is completely loyal to the king,” said Acharya. “Some people are guessing there might be another coup.”

The political situation is far from stable. Peace talks between leaders of the Maoists, who claim to have 36,000 fighters, and the alliance of political parties (SPA) that organised April’s movement continue but the rebels remain armed and are said to be actively recruiting and soliciting “donations”.

Maoist leaders accuse politicians of being insincere in agreeing to the rebels’ longstanding demand to dissolve the House of Representatives and call elections to a constituent assembly that would represent all sectors of Nepali society. That assembly would draft a new constitution, spelling out the future of the monarchy.

Former high-ranking civil servant Yadav Kant Silwal points out that some influential nations would prefer to see monarchy in Nepal, arguing that without the institution a vacuum would be created that could be filled by the Maoists, who have been warring against the state for a decade.

“US Ambassador Moriarty and even the Indians wouldn’t mind if the monarchy continues…monarchists and some in the army brass must be looking for an opportunity” for the king to regain power, added Silwal in an interview.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has also argued that the door must be left open for the monarchy to play a role in the new Nepal or there could be a backlash from “regressive” forces.

Leading civil society figure Devendra Raj Panday rejects any future role for the monarchy. “Just because something is old doesn’t mean it’s cherishable…We’re trying to recreate Nepal, based on new values and in tune with the demands of the time…we cannot carry baggage of history that might be detrimental to this cause.”

The people’s demands “could have been addressed and harmony built and maintained (but) the monarchy became very partisan towards feudalism and elites at the expense of vast sections of the population”, added Panday in an interview.

Parliament’s public accounts committee said earlier this month that it will investigate the royal family’s wealth. King Gyanendra owns a number of expensive royal properties and businesses, which include a large stake in the Soaltee Group, the third-largest business group in Nepal with estimated net assets of 100 million US dollars.

After the royal massacre in 2001, the king acquired all the assets of his late brother, King Birendra, and his family and it is rumoured that he has deposited hundreds of millions of dollars in a Swiss bank and taken nearly nine tons of gold out of the country.

It was also rumoured that the king would provoke a bloodbath before giving up power. “If it really meant shooting hundreds of civilians, he wouldn’t blink.,” one long-time Nepal observer told IPS during April’s movement. But while 21 protesters were killed, the monarch did not order security forces to suppress demonstrations, a former minister testified earlier this month.

“He’s a very unpredictable person,” said Silwal, who worked with Gyanendra before he ascended to the throne. “Sometimes I wonder if he even has common sense. He could have done two or three things that would have made him popular among the people, like use some of his money to set up a trust – but he did nothing.”