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By Shashi P.B.B. Malla

As indicated in last week’s The People’s Review, the overall political situation has become quite conducive for restoring Constitutional Monarchy and the Hindu State.

Let us examine the double restoration from the point of view of two socio-political concepts: consensus and consent.

Max Weber defined consensus as existing when expectations about the behaviour of others are realistic because the others will usually accept these expectations as valid for themselves, even without an explicit agreement.

In our terrible, unstable times, the need for an elder statesman to consolidate the nation is the need of the hour. This is recognized by most thinking Nepalese.

Consent means acquiescence or agreement.

More elaborately, the attachment of an agent’s will to a proposal, action, or outcome, such that the agent accepts some share of the responsibility for the consequences and/or legitimizes an action or state of affairs which, in the absence of consent, would lack legitimacy or legality.

We have reached such a situation that even without a referendum, the majority of the Nepalese people would ‘consent’ to a radical, but necessary change at the top of the state.

There is the general, uneasy feeling that something is missing in the direction the nascent new state is taking.

The institution of Hindu Constitutional Monarchy is necessary to stabilize the political situation.

The current federal president’s tenure should shortened and the Himalayan Monarchy should take its place as the head-of-state.

If necessary and in the interim a member of the erstwhile royal family could be ‘acting head of state’. Since the intentions of the former monarch, HM King Gyanendra are not known, this role could be filled in the meantime by former Crown Princess, HRH Princess Himani.

The social activities of the Himani Trust could be accelerated and the young HRH Prince Hridayendra exposed more in the public domain.        

Woefully lacking is the overall ideology of the state.

There is no doubt that the old Himalayan Republic is dead. However, the last rites have still to be performed by its protagonists: the House of Representatives is suspended, but still not abolished – this is the sine qua non for holding fresh elections and for electing a new House.

This also applies to the still semi-valid Constitution which cannot exist in the new political situation. The current PM’s status is in limbo under the aegis of the Constitution.

The writer can be reached at: shashimalla125@gmail.com