September 6, 2007
Nepal King Loses his Biggest Prop By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu
With elections in 76 days when the people will for the first time
decide if they should still have a monarch, Nepal's King Gyanendra's
fortunes continue to plummet with his biggest support group - the
Nepali Congress headed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala -
deserting him.
Nepali Congress, the biggest party in the country, finally succumbed
to the growing demand for a republic, and announced that it would
fight the November election on a manifesto of a federal democratic
republic, snapping its old loyalty to constitutional monarchy.
The decision comes after prolonged debates between its pro-monarchy
and pro-republic groups during which Koirala at first tried to save
the monarchy.
The Nepali Congress' decision to go to the hustings under a
republican banner is now Koirala's move to appease both the Maoists
and the dissidents in his own party, who support a republic.
The party will hold a crucial meeting of senior members on Sep 23-24
when the manifesto will be officially endorsed.
Koirala had first proposed retaining a ceremonial monarch without
any real power. When Maoists opposed this proposal fiercely, he
advocated jettisoning King Gyanendra, who had become immensely
unpopular due to his attempt to rule the country through an
army-backed coup, and passing over Crown Prince Paras, also
unpopular due to his wild ways.
As a last-ditch effort to save Nepal's 238-year monarchy, Koirala
had suggested the appointment of a "baby king", meaning King
Gyanendra's seven-year-old grandson, prince Hridayendra.
However, all proposals triggered strong protests from the Maoists,
who warned they would quit the government and start a new "revolt"
for abolition of the monarchy.
While most of the parties in the eight-party ruling coalition have
made public their support for a federal republic, the Nepali
Congress, despite a decision by the party leaders two years ago to
support a republic, was still dragging its feet.
But now, with the Maoists issuing a fresh ultimatum that they would
quit the government by mid-September and call a series of strikes if
the government did not scrap monarchy, the Nepali Congress has been
forced to toe the republic line.
Besides his sympathy for the king, Koirala is also under intense
pressure from the international community to hold the constituent
assembly election in November as scheduled and let it decide the
fate of the king instead of abolishing the monarchy before elections
through a parliamentary proclamation.
Nepal's parliament has the power to abolish the crown if two-thirds
of the members agree. However, since the house was revived after an
uprising against the king and not chosen through a general election,
Nepal's major donors say such a decision would not reflect the true
aspiration of the people.
However, abandoning the king will still not be an easy job for the
Nepali Congress.
Already, Koirala's daughter Sujata, who is an MP from the party, has
taken up cudgels on behalf of the crown, advocating a baby king on
the ground that the fragile security situation was not conducive to
an immediate republic.
She has also been voicing distrust of the Maoists, saying the rebels
have still not given up violence. According to her, they are
exploiting the parties to remove the king and would welsh on the
peace pact once they got their way.
Boloji.com is owned and managed by Boloji Media Inc Privacy Policy |
Disclaimer
No part of this Internet site may
be reproduced without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
