Pro-Monarchy Rallies Roil Nepal

Nearly two decades after mass protests culminated in the abolition of the monarchy in Nepal, the Himalayan country is witnessing a wave of processions and rallies calling for the restoration of a constitutional monarchy and of Nepal’s status as a Hindu state.

On March 9, an estimated 10,000 royalist supporters led by the pro-monarchy Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) gathered at Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu to welcome former King Gyanendra on his return to the capital after touring western Nepal. “Come back, King! Save the nation!” the crowd chanted, calling for the restoration of the monarchy. In the following weeks, Nepal witnessed several pro-royalist processions, including one on March 28 that was violent and left at least two people dead and dozens of others injured.

Gyanendra came to the throne in 2001 after the assassination of his brother, King Birendra, and his entire family by then-Crown Prince Dipendra. Gyanendra quickly got down to amassing power. Meanwhile, public disillusionment with the monarchy was growing. The palace massacre had severely dented the image of the royals.

Besides, Gyanendra and his wayward son, Prince Paras, were deeply hated.

Then in February 2005, Gyanendra dismissed the democratically elected government, dissolved parliament, suspended the constitution and declared an emergency. The power grab set in motion a chain of developments that triggered a mass movement not just against his authoritarian rule but against the monarchy itself. Gyanendra was forced to step down, paving the way for the abolition of Nepal’s monarchy on May 28, 2008. That brought down the curtains on Nepal’s 240-year-old Shah dynasty.

So why are thousands of Nepalis now clamoring for a return to monarchy?

Nepali political analysts say it is not support for the monarchy, per se, that is driving the current protests. Rather, it is mounting public frustration with the political establishment, poor governance, and the corruption of politicians. It is widely believed that political parties have only brought political instability. Consider this: Nepal has seen 13 governments of various permutations and combinations come and go since 2008. Royalists are drawing on this mass frustration to paint the monarchy in a positive light.

They are also drawing on the religious sentiments of the Nepali people. Eighty percent of Nepal’s population is Hindu. When the monarchy was abolished in 2008, Nepal’s status as a Hindu state was also jettisoned. The secularization of Nepal, however, did not enjoy the kind of mass support that the abolition of monarchy did. “Nepal legally adopted secularism, but the Nepali public did not own it,” Nepali political analyst Santosh Sharma Poudel wrote in The Diplomat in September 2023. Consequently, the yearning for restoration of the Hindu state has persisted.

An important aspect of the Nepali monarchy is that the Shah dynasty identified itself with Hinduism, and the king was regarded as an incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu. Royalists are now drawing on this link to mobilize support for their pro-monarchy agenda. They are building on the groundswell of support for Hinduism to bring back the monarchy.

The call for reinstating a Hindu state could benefit the monarchist campaign. It could draw on the support of Hindutva proponents in India, who would be more than happy to see Nepal as a Hindu state. India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have long had close ties with the erstwhile Nepal royal family and with Nepali Hindu organizations. The Shah dynasty royals were followers of Guru Gorakhnath, the founder of the Gorakhnath mutt (a powerful Hindu monastery), which the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath now heads.

Adityanath has expressed support for Nepal’s status as a Hindu state in the past, and Gyanendra visits him. A poster of Adityanath alongside that of Gyanendra at a recent pro-monarchy rally in Nepal created a flutter, even prompting allegations of an “Indian hand” in the campaign to restore the monarchy in Nepal. Even if the Indian government does not officially support the return of monarchy in Nepal, Hindu nationalists in India will boost the energy and enthusiasm of their Nepali counterparts.

Support for the monarchy itself is still small in Nepal, if electoral support for the RPP, the standard bearer of Nepali royalists in the political arena, is any indication. The party secured just 5.58 percent of the votes and 14 of 275 seats in the 2022 elections to the lower house of parliament. To make up for their small presence in parliament, royalists are seeking to make an impact through street protests. Pro-monarchy protests have grown larger over the years and are more frequent.

Meanwhile, Nepal’s main political parties have criticized the pro-monarchy rallies. While they have sought to downplay the development, they seem rattled, as evident from the fact that leaders of the top three parties, including Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress, and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the opposition CPN-Maoist, who are otherwise conspiring against each other, in a rare show of unity, met on April 17 to discuss plans to protect Nepal’s republican and secular constitution.

The Oli-led coalition government has used force to quell the pro-monarchy demonstrations. This will only serve to fuel opposition to its rule. Rather, it needs to improve the quality of governance to restore public faith in the Nepali Republic.