माघ ४ गते, २०७२ मा प्रकाशितBy Harsh Vardhan Pandey
The day Nepal’s Constituent Assembly was dissolved for its failure to write and promulgate a new republican form of constitution, May 30th, 2012, the website for Nepal Monarchy appeared.The constituent assembly was tasked to write the constitution after the fall of Nepalese Monarchy. This news was reported in foreign media such as Hindustan Times, BBC and several Nepalese media such as the Himalayan Times. These media reported that the famous Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala was the person behind this stunt. She had posted in the blog of the Kingand the former prime minister of Nepal and a loyal supporter of monarchy Lokendra Bahadur Chand had replied to her. As it turned out, the man behind the scene was Ashutosh Shrivastav – a United States based tech entrepreneur who had argued that the future of Nepal’s monarchy depends on the verdict of the people of Nepal via a referendum.
As described by the people familiar with the matter, Manisha Koirala and Ashutosh Shrivastav have been good friends – both don’t believe that Nepal could handle republican form of government. To recall, Manisha Koirala’s father Prakash Koirala was the erstwhile minister in King Gyanendra’s cabinet after the King assumed the absolute power by dissolving the parliament and sacking Sher Bahadur Deuba – the then Prime Minister. Manisha is also the granddaughter of the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Nepal, BP Koirala whose two brothers also ruled Nepal as prime ministers.
It remains unknown why Ashutosh Shrivastav – a person with Madhesi background remained so close to the Nepalese Monarchy, especially with King Gyanendra. Post 2006 signing of the historical peace agreement that brought Maoists out of the jungles, Madhesi uprising began. Most Madhesi groups advocated for the removal of Monarchy. Some even to an extreme like the secessionist Chandra Kant Raut who advocated for the division of Nepal into two distinct countries – one for the people of mountains and second for the people of Madhesh. Sources tell that it was during a meeting in Spring 2012 when the deposed King Gyanendra met Ashutosh Shrivastav and assigned him the task of shaping a technology strategy for him. Ashutosh not only produced a personal blog for the King named after him www.gyanendrashah.com but also launched the Nepalese Monarchy website www.nepalroyal.com on the same day the Assembly failed to write the constitution. During this time, it was rumored that King Gyandendra would make a public speech at Cambridge University and Harvard University. Around the same time, the Association of Nepalese in America went on to invite King Gyanedra for their annual conference in United States as the chief guest. It is unclear why King Gyanendra did not participate in any of the events.
By the time of the meeting, Mr. Shrivastav was already a well known advocate for the return of Monarchy. He and a fellow American scholar John Kelleher who had a keen interest in South Asia and studied monarchies around the world very well had started an advocacy group called the United Nationalist Nepalese immediately after Nepal’s first elected constituent assembly declared Nepal an interim republic in 2008. The logo of the group clearly showed its inclination towards the monarchy. At a time when no one wanted to talk about then unpopular monarchy and King Gyanendra, the group caught media attention because of its support towards the King. Television personalities like Rama Singh and several prominent academicians of Nepali origin in the United States and around the world joined the group in leadership roles. As an advocate of Nepalese Monarchy, the group became a strong ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party, several world Sanatan Dharma groups and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, the only small party in the large constituent assembly supporting the return of monarchy. It is still unknown what transpired between meetings of Mr. Shrivastav and leaders such as Kamal Thapa and Indian BJP politicians to stage monarchy’s comeback. Several chairs have changed since these events. BJP emerged as the winner in the polls of 2014. Kamal Thapa’s party joined the coalition government along with other parties and he became the foreign minister.
Now that the constitution of Nepal has been officially promulgated although with a very low chance that it would be implemented fully, it remains mysterious whether KingGyanedra still has a chance to return to the throne of Nepal.Some are hoping that King would come back one day while the others are betting on his son prince Paras or grandson prince Hridayendra. The UNN group has ceased its activity. King Gyanendra still communicates to the public via his website and he does have a lot of followers. Common citizens follow him wherever he goes. With millions of people still revering him as God, he is not an ordinary citizen no matter what the politicians of Nepal say.
However, without the powerful lobby and India’s support, the chances of King Gyanendra returning to power remains very dim.
Harsh Vardhan Pandey is a freelance journalist and a lawyer based in Rajapur, Bardiya, Nepal.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Arghakhanchi.Com’s editorial policy.
Sun, 17 Jan, 2016
अन्य समाचारहरु
