Nepalese monarchy: reincarnation of lord Bishnu to a hated figure

Kathmandu, Apr 21 (UNI) 'Gyanendra leave the country,' demonstrators cry across the country defying 'shoot in sight' curfew order imposed in Kathmandu and other major parts of the Himalayan nation.

Monarchy was once a revered institution in the Himalayan nation.

Hindu Kings were considered to be the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu.

'People used to take the dust of King's step and put on forehead considering them as incarnation of God,'said Hindu priest Narahari Gautam.

King used to follow strictly the Hindu tradition and moral values, he said. That concept is gone now, he said. After the royal palace massacre, people thought that the kings are not the incarnation, he said.'How immoral it was to drink wine and resort to killing by Hindu monarch,'said the Hindu priest.

He was refering to the killing by then crown prince Dipendra, who is accused of murdering his entire family. 'From then, we realised that kings are not the reincarnation,' he said.

King Mahendra staged a coup and sacked the first popularly elected government and snatched the civil liberties in 1960, said Gagan Thapa, a vetaran student leader. ''Our fathers fought against King to establish democracy, we are fighting for the same cause against his son Gyanendra, he said. How can we accept a king, who suppresses peoples rights ' and sacks elected governments time and again,?'' said another student leader Rajendra Rai.

The behaviour of the royal family members and the way the monarchy involved in the suppression of people's rights make it irrelevant, the youths said. Constitutional monarchy was accepted when late king Birendra agreed to be a ceremonial king in 1990.

After the royal palace massacre of June 1, 2001, everything changed.

The Parliament was dissolved, Maoists were declared terrorists and full fledged war began and more than 13,000 people have been killed, most of them after 2001.

The king led government did not reciprocate the four month long cease-fire declared by Maoists rebels, did not hold dialogue with the mainstream political parties, who commanded absolute majority in the elected bodies including the House of Representatives.

The anger against the king is so intense that even the leaders of the seven parties cannot stop our demonstration, said Anil Shrestha, a demonstrator in Kalanki.''We want to make this a decisive movement so that we can involve in nation development,'' he said.

Not even one nationally recognised single party supports the king now, neither a single professional organisation nor any single employees' association.

The king angered the political parties by involving people of regressive nature in the cabinet and almost all of them were neither active in politics nor were elected any time in their lives. Some of them even lost their deposits in the elections.

The restraint maintained by the political parties was considered to be their weakness, said Ram Chandra Paudyal, general secretary of the Nepali Congress. ''Look at the sentiment of the people, how once revered institute is hated,'' he said.

Tens of thousands of people have been pouring into the streets defying curfews and demanding the end of autocratic rule of the king. The Himalayan nation is crying with one voice ''Gyanendra leave the country, we want democracy.'' People from all walks of life from Mechi to Mahakali to the government employees at Singhdurbar, the central secretariat, and Nepalese living in the USA to Japan have united with one voice: '' end autocracy for ever.'' The days ahead are very problematic for the king as monarchy could not understand the sentiments of the Nepalese people, who have become very much aware of their rights after the restoration of democracy in 1990.

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