On the morning of Ram Navami, the spring festival celebrating the birth of Lord Rama, hundreds of Nepalese Hindus flocked to Kathmandu’s temples to pay their respects. “We’re here to celebrate the king! When the king returns, Nepal’s fortunes will turn,” said a 56-year-old man, while a group of people around him cheered. They weren’t talking about Rama, the model king and symbol of righteous, moral duty in Hinduism. They were talking about the former king of Nepal, Gyanendra Shah, who relinquished his throne in 2008.
In 2006, after the decade-long civil war between Maoist rebels and the monarch-led government ended, Nepal transitioned from a constitutional monarchy into a democratic republic. Today, however, Nepal is once again facing a familiar crossroads — the choice between a republic and a monarchy. After nearly 20 years, 13 governments and multiple economic shocks, including the devastating earthquake of April 2015 and the COVID-19 pandemic, a considerable section of the Nepalese people are calling for the return of royalty.
While this demand may seem dated and out of place, it shows a latent undercurrent finally coming to the fore: A dissatisfied nation is expressing its frustration with the political elite that has been in power for two decades. A litany of scams and corrupt deals has eroded public trust in the government, creating a serious crisis of impunity and political legitimacy.
K.P. Sharma Oli, who belongs to the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), known as the UML, was sworn in as the fifth prime minister in five years in 2024. This was after Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda, lost a parliamentary vote of no confidence. As he assumed office, Oli made a few radical promises — to review the constitution, ensure good governance and service delivery, and address corruption and impunity.
On April 8, however, five different groups were protesting against the government across the capital, Kathmandu. These included the pro-monarchists and the Nepal Teachers’ Federation, a union that has called for educators to go on strike to demand the immediate enactment of a new law to update the education system. There were also protests against the unfair and abrupt removal of Kulman Ghising, the executive director of the Nepal Electricity Authority, just months before his tenure was to end, alleging political interference in governance institutions. Another group was protesting against corruption in the aftermath of a banking scam. There was also a group of pro-government republicans on the streets, calling for stability in the country.
While the teachers’ union has been on the streets for months — launching their indefinite nationwide strike on April 7 — and ostensibly drew the largest crowds on the day, the most raucous turnout was at a pro-monarchist public gathering organized by the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), which supports a constitutional monarchy with the king as a figurehead.
“It’s the season of protest in Nepal,” shrugged Shekhar Koirala, a member of Parliament and leader of the Nepali Congress party, who hails from the influential Koirala family, which has supplied Nepal with four prime ministers. He dismissed the royalist clamour as not being significant enough to drown out the hundreds of thousands of Nepalese people who remember the authoritarian regime of the monarchy. For him, it was simply a catchall moment for the frustration coursing through Nepal. “This is, quite literally, the only window people get to make their protest heard before the rains begin. It is the right time to protest,” said Koirala, referring to the monsoon season that will start shortly and bring mudslides and landslides along with it.
“In this current moment, it seems that all kinds of different groups with different interests are coming together, with a leadership deficit across the board,” said Surendra Pandey, a former finance minister and vice chairperson of the UML. The RPP “has given the people a platform to express their voice, whether they’re speaking up against corruption, asking for democratic reform, protesting employment or asking for the monarchy,” he said.
What has complicated matters is a demand from a majority of the Hindu population that Nepal become a “Hindu Rashtra” or Hindu state. Nepal was the only Hindu kingdom in the world before it renounced both its Hindu identity and monarchy to become a secular republic — a move that did not receive a democratic stamp of approval, whether through a referendum or a public vote.
The desire to return to a Hindu state far outweighs the demand to restore the monarchy. Those who support monarchy, whether constitutional or absolute, automatically support a Hindu state. Yet a significant and silent majority would prefer the state to be a Hindu republic without a monarch. One Chinese scholar based in Kathmandu told New Lines that Nepalese people have found in Hindu nationalism “a rescue,” a rallying cry that captures the lost potential of the modern state.
With all that is happening, Kathmandu seems suspended in limbo as various factions hold their breath and wait to see what happens. The next general election is still two years away in 2027, and Parliament is not scheduled to meet again until May. Indian media have been hovering around Kathmandu, sensationalizing the royalist claims, stoking the belief that vested geopolitical interests from India and China are shaping Nepal’s politics.
The Himalayan country, sandwiched between India and China, is grappling with deep poverty and economic instability, with one-fifth of the population living below the poverty line and 10% unemployed. Heavily dependent on international aid and foreign investment, with remittances comprising the largest chunk of its GDP at 27%, or $11 billion in 2023, Nepal is also strategically important — something the public are acutely aware of.
Its two main political parties, the Nepali Congress and the UML, have become so simpatico that their leaderships have melted into one. Nepal’s three most prominent leaders — Prachanda, Oli and Sher Bahadur Deuba — have been taking turns as prime minister since 2015, despite belonging to different parties, and politicians have been accepting ministerial positions regardless of ideology or political considerations. Everyone agrees that Nepal’s government has been essentially running without an opposition.
In the absence of a strong opposition, the former king and monarchy have emerged as viable receptacles of the people’s faith. “The Nepali government is like a game of musical chairs — turn by turn, the same people take power,” said Dip Kumar Upadhyay, a former minister and ambassador to India. “Now we have to rethink as a state. The king went wrong, the government went wrong, the current leadership went wrong. If Nepal was developing well, who would think of the king and the crown? It’s a thing of the past. Now things are so bad that the people are considering going back to it.”
Even though former King Gyanendra Shah has long harbored hopes of returning to power and has spent the last two decades based in Nepal, he did not instigate these recent demands for the return of the monarchy. Even so, they began with a surprise speech that he made ahead of Nepal’s Democracy Day on Feb. 18.
In a rare public statement, the former king called on people to extend their support for the “prosperity and progress of the country.” Even though his speech was vague and he did not explicitly announce any plans, it was followed by a public outpouring that even he didn’t expect, according to sources close to him.
When the ousted king returned to Kathmandu in early March from a sojourn in the scenic city of Pokhara, thousands had lined the streets by the airport to receive him. He waved out of the sunroof of his car, which took nearly 2 1/2 hours to snake through the crowds and make its way to his private residence, only about 3 miles from the airport. The fact that he didn’t leave the country after being deposed has added to his credibility.
The spectacle took everyone by surprise, including the pro-monarchist and Hindu nationalist RPP, which quickly realized it could take advantage of the public sentiment and solidify its popular base to gain significance. The 35-year-old party has previously had only negligible popularity, with around 14 of the 275 seats in Nepal’s House of Representatives.
Yet the party is bitterly split over a leadership struggle. Senior RPP politicians, including the current party president, Rajendra Lingden, have joined the current government by accepting ministerial positions, despite differences with the UML, which is currently in power in a coalition with the Nepali Congress.
Since Gyanendra Shah’s triumphant return to Kathmandu, smaller rallies have been held by a “royal task force,” headed by some of the newer, louder, opportunistic voices within the RPP. However, when a rally on March 28 turned violent, leading to two deaths and vandalism, it gave the state an opportunity to crack down on the protest as police opened fire.
The government denounced the violence as antidemocratic and the monarchists as feudal and misguided. The leader of this task force, Durga Prasai — best described as a wealthy businessperson who has worked as a sort of political fixer — had rammed into police officers with his pickup truck. Prasai absconded and is believed to be hiding across the border in India, but a nationalist RPP politician and former journalist, Rabindra Mishra, was arrested for treason.
The former king said nothing about this until he broke his silence on April 13, making his second public statement since February. “We have consistently upheld the tradition of multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy, based on the will of the people,” he said, in a carefully tailored speech.
The world has moved on, while Nepal is still caught in a “cycle of political dogma,” he said. “Nepalis must not be divided by ideology or identity. The future of Nepal lies in the unity of its people.” The neutral statement neither dissuaded the royalists nor supported the republicans, as the king without a kingdom called for a united state.
This past weekend was also eventful for Nepali politics. The country’s top leaders — Oli, Prachanda and Deuba — met on April 19 to discuss how to maintain unity and “safeguard the existing political system,” according to a government press release. On the same day, the former king held a dinner party with seven leaders from the RPP, including Lingden, with the agenda being the restoration of the monarchy and how to streamline the messy political scene. Now, the RPP officially carries the former king’s stamp of approval for its cause.
Nepal’s transition from Hindu kingdom to democratic republic was never complete — political analysts say the transition was largely cosmetic. The 2015 constitution defines secularism as the “protection of Sanatan religion culture, as well as cultural and religious freedom” — leaving plenty of room to proclaim “secularism” while prioritizing Hinduism. (Sanatan is another name for Hinduism.) One parliamentarian, who drafted the first version of the constitution put before the constituent assembly in 2008, distinctly remembers referring to Nepal as a “Hindu republic.” He doesn’t know how or why the word “secular” replaced “Hindu.”
The resentment has been building over the past two decades, and is now rooted in what many call an “open secret” — that Nepal was unduly influenced by foreign, liberal powers to drop its Hindu character and instead transition to a secular republic. The Indian government at the time was supportive of this decision, as were many countries in the West, and the nascent Nepalese republic, heavily dependent on foreign aid, imports and remittances, toed the line.
It also opened up the country to Christian missionary work that arrived with international aid. The jury might be out on the monarchy, but there is a near-consensus that Hindu interests are being ignored by a government committed to secularism.
Census data shows that Nepal’s Christian community grew from 0.45% of the population in 2001 to 1.76% in 2021. Combined with a rise in church building and cow slaughter — the cow being holy for Hindus, and Nepal’s national animal — communal tensions have been on the rise. There have been multiple clashes in different parts of Nepal, most recently on April 12, in the town of Birgunj, bordering the Indian state of Bihar.
“Nepal was the only Hindu kingdom in the world. It was supposed to be the center of Vedic Sanatan — all the rishis (Hindu sages) who wrote the Vedas, the source of all knowledge, came here to the Himalayas. And we abandoned this legacy,” said Upadhyay, the former minister and ambassador to India.
Today, the demand for a Hindu state is an emotional issue, not a political one, according to Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) — the international arm of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent body of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is currently India’s ruling party.
“Nepal is not like Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. Its democratic nature is more like India,” said the journalist Gopal Khanal, who has also served as foreign affairs adviser to Oli. “Hindu identity is extremely strong here, but this isn’t the right time to raise the issue because it has fused with the demand for monarchy. And we cannot turn back time.”
Though Nepal and India share long cultural and civilizational ties and an open border, there has been no formal endorsement from the Indian government for a return either to the monarchy or to a Hindu state in Nepal.
The political undercurrent within Nepal, similarly, is soft on a return to a Hindu state, but hard in its stance against a full-blown absolute monarch. A constitutional monarchy with the king as a cultural figurehead could be a steppingstone on the way back to a Hindu state, but what is truly needed is a “new understanding” — a term that politicians across the spectrum have been using — among all political stakeholders, given public demand. Even mainstream politicians back this call, whether from the old political elite or the newer, liberal leadership.
For the youth of Nepal — those between the ages of 16 and 40 make up 41% of the population — the crown has now become a symbol of the prestige and pride they have never felt in their country. This is why the monarchy has become so deeply intertwined with Nepali nationalism, and not just Hindu nationalism.
In an increasingly unstable world, they are looking for a sense of identity, even if they don’t remember what it was like to live under an absolute monarchy. “The king is not a political figure. He doesn’t work for his own benefit, he works for Nepal’s benefit. Nepal was the only Hindu kingdom in the whole world. Can any other country say that?” asked a 23-year-old at an RPP rally.
There is also a sense that a monarchy will insulate Nepal from geopolitical influence. Many young people spoke of the kind of international reception Nepalese leaders receive: India might roll out the red carpet for prime ministers seen as pro-India, but will snub leaders seen as pro-China. A royal king, on the other hand, will receive a grand reception no matter where he goes. “If the king is back, Nepal will have more respect,” 18-year-old Aakash, who was attending an RPP rally with friends, told New Lines.
Not everyone is convinced, however. The royalist demand has largely been taken up by city dwellers and the elite. “At this point, I don’t care who’s in power. The very same people who had the king removed are now asking him to return — what sense does that make?” asked 22-year-old Pooja Yadav, a student in Kathmandu.
Gyanendra Shah succeeded his brother, King Birendra, after the royal massacre of 2001, when Crown Prince Dipendra killed nine members of the royal family, including his parents, in a mass shooting. He imposed direct rule in 2005, which sparked massive protests and unified both the Maoist rebels and the pro-democracy opposition. He was eventually forced to step down in 2006, and the Hindu monarchy was abolished two years later.
Now, despite a questionable track record, the 77-year-old Gyanendra Shah has emerged as the singular symbol on which the people’s hopes rest. His 53-year-old son is dismissed by the public as a “party boy” who has no interest in politics, while his eldest grandson, 22, is a recent graduate.
“Can a dead man come back to life?” asked one devotee ominously during Ram Navami celebrations, referring to the monarchy. “We have to wait and see.”
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