Nepal Govt moves to amend the Constitution to face monarchists

Kathmandu [Nepal], May 2 (ANI): With growing royalist sentiment, the Nepal government has clarified that it will defend the incumbent system and constitution, expressing its intention to advance the amendment process.

Nepal's President Ram Chandra Paudel, while presenting the plans and policies of the KP Sharma Oli-led government, announced that the constitution amendment will be advanced further in the coming year.

Reading out the draft in the joint meeting of the Federal Parliament, President Paudel stated that the Constitution would be reviewed, and the amendment process would be initiated based on consensus to address existing weaknesses.

"This government is determined to protect the far-reaching achievements brought about by the sacrifices, struggles, and movements of the Nepali people by strengthening the federal democratic republic against those who exploit the negative thinking that emerges from time to time in society, spread rumors about the constitution and system, and create chaos," the President said, hinting at the resurging royalist movement.

"To strengthen the constitution and the federal democratic republican system of governance, to oppose any reactionary-resurgent anarchic activities against it. To review the constitution, strengthen its strengths, and correct the shortcomings seen during its implementation, to proceed with the process of amendment based on consensus," President Paudel added further.

Nepali capital Kathmandu on March 28 saw the bloodiest pro-monarch clash, which left two people dead, with arson and vandalism all across the capital. Since the overthrow of a two-century-old monarchy in 2006 with the reinstatement of Loktantra, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party has been waging the demand for the monarchy.

Police arrested over a dozen party leaders, cadres, and members following the deadly violence of March. Formed in the 1990s after the lifting of the ban on the formation of political parties by the monarchial system, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has since served as the force always supporting the Kingship. It has also been taking part in periodic elections and presenting its demands.

In 2008, right after the overthrow of the monarchy rule in Nepal, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) secured eight seats in the Constituent Assembly out of the 575-seat parliament. In the 2013 election, it was able to secure 13 seats. In 2017, it fell to 1 seat, but it bounced back in the 2022 election with 14 seats.

The party has been supporting the Hindu State and Kingship as interdependent in the tiny nation buffered between two giants, India and China. As per the census of 2022, the Himalayan Nation of Nepal has a population of 30.55 million and a Hindu population of 81.19 per cent.

The Monarch of the Himalayan Nation, which follows the lineage of the Shah dynasty, was revered as an incarnation of the Hindu God Bishnu. With the abolishment of the monarchy, it was limited to a very small group, which is now reemerging.

In 2005, the last monarch of the Himalayan Nation, Gyanendra Shah, staged a royal coup, taking over all the power, dissolving the parliament and cabinet, and ordering political leaders to be kept under house arrest.

A year later, following the mass uprising, Gyanendra, unable to face international pressure, had to step down from the post and reinstate the parliament. The successful movement that changed the political landscape of the Himalayan nation, sandwiched between India and China, is called the "People's Movement II."

Gyanendra, at the time, had tried to suppress the movement by deploying all levels of security forces, which resulted in the death of 18 people in 19 days and injuring more than 4000, mainly children, as per the record of Human Rights Watch of the year 2006.

Then, the insurgent CPN--Maoist came to mainstream politics in Nepal, ending a decade-long insurgency by signing a comprehensive peace accord on November 21, 2006.

Two years after abolishing nearly two and a half centuries-old monarchy, the Himalayan nation became a republic and a secular state on May 28, 2008. Within less than two decades of the new governance practice, the Himalayan nation is now divided into pro and anti-monarch factions. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)