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By P Kharel

An intriguing and deafening silence from the national political parties has gripped the Nepalese political landscape. Two months ago, Jana Aastha weekly, carried as its main story attributed to former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.

The Jana Aastha story has not been denied by Madhav Nepal, now of the newly Nepali Communist Party that includes former Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other fringe communist outfits. Nor have Nepali Congress or the CPN (UML) leaders, including five-time former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and three-time former Prime Minister KP Oli, commented on the sensational revelation. 

Noted editor Yuvaraj Ghimire’s Deshsanchar online news outlet promptly lifted the Jana Aastha story verbatim with due credit to the paper edited by former Press Council Nepal’s chairman Kishor Shrestha. That added to the credence of public speculation.

GROWING SUPPORT: Even as Nepali Congress Chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife Arzoo were on their highly speculated trip to Singapore in autumn, one of Deuba’s trusted lieutenants, Gopal Man Shrestha, hastily called a press conference to call for an all-faceted conference and discuss democracy with monarchy. No credible voice from either NC or any other organisation known for vociferously championing Nepal as a republic reacted. 

Former NC parliamentarians Shankar Bhandari and Chandra Bhandari, and leaders of NC’s splinter groups like Haribol Bhattarai and Bipin Koirala have joined hands for course correction in the political firmament of constant unrest and disarray in virtually every sector amidst rampant corruption and impunity.

Former NC Minister Laxman Ghimire and another long-time Congress member Lokesh Dhakal publicly uphold monarchy’s vitality in the stability of democratic order. For that matter, the subject entered the NC general council, Mahasamiti.

The pro-monarchist lobby has grown louder by the day, more so after the Gen Z movement. It emphasises the country’s first elected Prime Minister BP Koirala’s two-pillar policy, based on democracy and monarchy as essential elements. Koirala maintained the position until his very end.

During his dying weeks, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Girija Prasad Koirala’s senior as party chairman and prime minister, made a written appeal for retaining monarchy for national interest.

CPN (UML) President KP Oli was known to have harboured a soft corner for monarchy until his first stint as prime minister. Towards the end of his second run as premier, however, he dismissed monarchy’s return as delusional. He maintained the stance during his latest year-long premiership before being compelled to resign at the height of the Gen Z event in September.

Oli’s silence on monarchy’s prospects sounds intriguing. Bidya Devi Bhandari championed a role for monarchy even before she became president for two terms. At a seminar organised by a Germany agency, she saw space for monarchy.

NC’s former parliamentarian and multiple times minister, Dilendra Badu regretted that his party did not go for the restoration of Hindu kingdom as the main plank of its election manifesto in 2022. He believes the strategy would have fetched the party a two-thirds majority.

Former Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka, also of NC, had written an article for the Kantipur daily in November 2024 assessing that youth would rebel against the ongoing disarray. He had been privately telling his colleagues that monarchy could be reestablished “within a year or so”.

One of the senior-most Congress members and multiple times legislator-cum-minister, Arjun Narsingh KC is said to have seriously advised Deuba two years ago to review the organisation’s stand on monarchy. He cited the large congregations at pro-monarchy programmes, especially when the former king made an address. Confidants of Shekhar Koirala are also reported to serve as go-betweens for communicating with Nirmal Niwas.

FOREIGN GESTURES: China’s PresidentXi Jinping met with former King Gyanendra in Beijing after two earlier visits the communist country hosted and arranged for meetings with central committee and politburo members of the Communist Party. Former Crown Princess Himani accompanied him on all three occasions. The trips triggered a barrage of speculations.

Japan’s Royal Household regularly contributes to the Himani Trust. Japanese embassy in Kathmandu accords the Trust chair a pride of place at its big events.

At a time when British monarchy’s popularity is steadily declining, King Charles, who visited Nepal twice as Crown prince, might be nostalgic about the Himalayan kingdom’s monarchy. Do birds of same feather fly together? Charles should know the answer better by now.

Out of the blue in October 2024, Bhutan’s King Jigme Keshar Namgyal Wangchuck invited former King Gyanendra and his spouse Komal for a visit to Thimpu. The invite could not have come without New Delhi’s nudge.

MESSAGE: On his return home, the former king told his close ones that the retreat was refreshingly fruitful. One suspects his satisfaction was not merely over the red-carpet welcome befitting any visiting head of state. The VVIPs from Nepal must have decoded its political message.

The Bhutanese King was born at a Maharajgunj house in Kathmandu, which was taken on rent by Bir Hospital exclusively for looking after Bhutan’s then pregnant Queen and her and post-natal care. The whole thing was kept a closely guarded secret during King Birendra’s reign in Nepal. In 2004, the Crown Prince Jigme Keshar Namgyal Wangchuck ascended to the throne after his father resigned.

At the 2010 Shanghai World Exhibition, the young King Jigme Keshar was elated at the sight of the Nepal Pavilion. Speaking in Nepali and addressing the pavilion’s director as “dai” (elder brother), he profusely appreciated the pride Nepal took in its art and culture. “We should work like this, and preserve our heritage.” His sense of proximity to Nepal echoed when he informed the baffled director: “I was born in Nepal, at Bir Hospital.”

The detail of the fast-evolving change in the Nepalese political landscape will be known only when the major powers throw open the Nepal monarchy files for public perusal 20 to 30 years hence. Meanwhile, as facts stand, something does seem to be cooking ripe and fresh.