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By Our Reporter

The massive crowd of people who reached the airport in Kathmandu to welcome former king Gyanendra upon his arrival from Pokhara on Sunday, and the rally all the way from the airport to Nirmal Niwas, the residence of the former king, with people flirting the flags of Nepal and shouting the high decibel slogans demanding restoration of Hindu kingdom and eradication of cancer of corruption signalled the demise of the present ‘loktantra’ is not far away.

The human sea that gathered at the airport and reached Nirmal Niwas taking the former king reminded many of the movements of 2006 in which similar rallies used to take place around the Ring Road of the Kathmandu Valley chanting slogans for democracy and republicanism.  On Sunday, 19 years after the 19-day movement backed by foreign powers, on the basis of which the monarchy was abolished 2008, the people saw the reversal of the political drama. Nineteen years ago, the people rallied for the parties and against the king and on Sunday they rallied for the king and against the political parties. This was also reflected by Nepali Congress general secretary Gagan Thapa’s address to the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Thapa said the same people who were with the parties 19 years ago were now supporting the king because the parties failed to win the trust of people.

In 19 years after 2006, corruption, mismanagement and poor governance flourished. The party chiefs think themselves as kings and worked for themselves and their family members and close aides. As a result, the country could not see any progress. Frustrated by the activities of the political leaders, the youth have deserted the country, many flew overseas as migrant workers and others as students. Those who left the country in the name of obtaining higher studies have not returned to Nepal, in instead, they obtained the citizenship of the destination country and stayed permanently there. Many are in line to become the citizens of USA, Australia and other countries.  While the country is losing its workforce every day, no effort has been made to open industries within the country to retain the youth. The national debt is ever-swelling, leaders and their men are becoming richer, corruption is thriving, and the country’s presence in the international arena has been weakened. Moreover, the leadership after 2006 has weakened the national sovereignty.

The people who have seen these drawbacks over the years have been greatly frustrated. And this growing frustration was clearly reflected on Sunday.

Above all, Sunday’s rally was free from violence unlike that of the 2006, which was staged after the killings of 17,000 Nepalis.

Although the pro-king parties—the two RPPs—and the pro-king groups like the one led by Durga Prasai had organised the rally, it saw the presence of people who were not associated with any party or organistaion. In a sense, it was a demonstration of the people who were fed up with bad governance, mismanagement and corruption.  The rally on Sunday was also covered well by international media.