Quick update to Amardeep’s post on the Maoist victory in Nepal last month. Delegates from Nepal’s political parties convened a special assembly yesterday and voted 597 to 4 to abolish the 239-year-old Shah dynasty:
The government has told unpopular King Gyanendra to vacate his pink pagoda-roofed palace in the capital Kathmandu within a fortnight, or be forced out… It has been a dramatic decline and fall for a king once waited upon by thousands of retainers. Many Nepalis revered the monarch in majority-Hindu Nepal as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the god of protection.
Now, his portrait has been wiped off bank notes and his name has disappeared from the national anthem. He has been asked to pay his own electricity bills.
Nepalis say much of the mystique of the royal family was destroyed by the 2001 palace massacre in which popular King Birendra and eight other royals were killed by then Crown Prince Dipendra, who then turned a gun on himself. The royal image was further tarnished after Gyanendra fired the government and assumed absolute powers in 2005, only to be humbled by weeks of anti-king protests a year later.
Political parties and Maoists say a new president will step into the king’s place as a head of state after the end of the monarchy. link
And thus the world welcomes its newest republic. The palace is to become a historical museum after the king departs, but no word yet on where the new president will reside. Especially since the new president has not been selected/elected yet:
There is a common assumption that it will be the current prime minister, the wily 84-year-old Girija Prasad Koirala, whose dynastic family is Nepal’s answer to the Gandhis or the Bhuttos…
But Yubaraj Ghimire of Samay weekly newspaper says many in the Nepali Congress party and outside it are fed up with Mr Koirala, whom he describes as “overrated by the international community” and still driven by ambition despite his age. He predicts powerful voices in favour of Bishwanath Upadhyay, a former chief justice, or Ram Raja Prasad Singh, a veteran and militant pro-republican. link
Now that the monarchy has been abolished, no one is certain what comes next. The country remains technically without head of state, its three major political parties have clashed in the past, one of those parties (the Maoist) faces internal factionalism, and the Maoist army remains to be integrated into a Nepalese Army that fought it for almost a decade.
The assembly has two years to create a constitution, but I suspect outside observers will find it difficult to ascertain the country’s new direction for some time. I can’t even get a clear sense of how many delegates are on the assembly since Reuters and Bloomberg pegged it at 564 and the BBC and CNN Asia say 601. I’m running with the latter for now.
Militant pro-Hindu and pro-royal factions appear to be engaging in petty acts of violence, but on the whole, everyday Nepalese appear to be pleased by today’s ouster:
“I think it is good that the king is going,” said taxi driver Niranjan Shrestha, 36. “He hasn’t done anything for the people except amassing money for himself and his family. link
interesting how quickly cultural mores can change, huh? who would have thought that this would have happened in 2000?
Back in 2000 the US was a very different place too. And so was Iraq.
Not a supporter of monarchy and kingdoms and the corrupt king but this is a big Chinese conspiracy. And India did nothing to help the situation too….well the UPA government is controlled by commies, who are sympathetic to commies.
http://www.janes.com/news/security/countryrisk/jir/jir080520_1_n.shtml
Not a supporter of monarchy and kingdoms and the corrupt king but this is a big Chinese conspiracy. And India did nothing to help the situation too….well the UPA government is controlled by commies, who are sympathetic to commies.
not to be overly skeptical, but you do note that the article you linked to doesn’t mention nepal, right? and if the anti-monarchist sentiment was limited to leftists i wouldn’t have gotten anywhere, right? republicanism is pretty significant in places like australia, but since there isn’t overwhelming support they haven’t gotten there.
picture yourself in a pakoda roofed palace
with tamarind trees
and tapenade skies.
Someone calls you and you answer quite slowly
a girl with magarmatch eyes.
Cellophane chumchums in yellow and green
Towering OVer yur head
Look for the gainda with flowers in her nose
and then she’s gone.
Too much Mao, not enough Burke. They’ll be back, though!
6 · rob said
Amazing-amazing book that features Burke in a totally differently light (especially wrt to India and the East India Company): ‘Liberalism and Empire.’ Of interest to those people who are into the following disciplines: economic history, conservatism, foundations of international law, treatment of multinational corporations under particular jurisdictions, moral basis of political rights etc etc. This beautifully written book made me respect Burke for his intellectual honesty, consistency, and (relatively) non-prejudiced view of India.
5 · khoofia said
glassy-eyed, a true femme fatale, cold-blooded, a wily reptile lesser men can’t, muster the gall couldn’t survive, those vicious wiles. takes an Odysseus to survive a siren call a fierce pair, you, and this voodoo chile
“I can’t even get a clear sense of how many delegates are on the assembly”
Not to mention: A full one-third (33%) of seats are held by women. Similarly, 34 percent belongs to Madhesi representatives, 33 percent to Janajatis, 8 to Dalits and 34 percent to others out of 575 representatives. Dont mistake the number with this inclusive body within the Assembly, I dont see such inclusiveness north-south-east-west of the border.
Not a happy ending, this is exactly what England and US wanted, no comparison with Buckingham Palace or Charles, no wonder they wiped out or brought and killed all Raja’s and Kings, there shall be one King and Queen, and guess what celebration time for Charles and Eliza, finally they made it.
The people are obviously fed up. I do not think their preference for Marxists can be pegged on Chinese manipulation. People in Nepal are tired and they want change. This was perhaps the most visible way for them to signal the kind of change that is coming down the pipeline.
I’m surprised to see so many negative comments here abolishment of the monarchy. What has the royal family ever done for the Nepalese – besides ignoring their needs both before and after the 2001 shootings? That’s partly why the Maoist party was able to take the majority during the elections. Voting out the monarchy is the first step to democratic rule, so if Nepal has to put up with unsavory communists for a while, so be it. The people will eventually figure it out.
Agreed that democracy is long over due and the royal family was a scourge
But what if the commie interregnum looks like Cambodia circa 1975?
13 · louiecypher said
I’m hoping that won’t happen. I know there are lots of differences between the two, but maybe things in Nepal will be more like Cold War-era eastern Europe. I do wish that the other, more democratically-inclined political parties had done more to endear themselves to poor, rural voters though.
Hi, I dont mind going away of monarchy so long it goes by itself, US playing key role in many small countries politics should be major point of concern. it’s getting difficult for US and its allies to get support from major countries like India, china or brazil and now they are playing cheap politics by meddling in small politics, had it gone fair and clean i am sure not many would have objected, secondly India and China played big role in pre-colonial era and if things keep going the way they are right now, I am sure and certain India and china will soon be playing key role in world business and guess what, next war will be won by brain not by tank.
I can’t even get a clear sense of how many delegates are on the assembly since Reuters and Bloomberg pegged it at 564 and the BBC and CNN Asia say 601. I’m running with the latter for now.
Maoist chairman Prachanda, expected to lead the next government in Nepal, has warned the media against criticising his party, saying that “we will no longer tolerate criticism as we have already been elected by the people”.
This won’t be the first time a Hindu monarchy gave way to a totalitarian thug – Narodom “Narottam” Sihanouk gave way to the Khmer Rouge and we witnessed the horror of the Killing Fields. Looks like Prachanda doesn’t even have a veneer of civility. Old hat, commie thugs do everything in the name of the people, this thug is no different. Don’t expect Prachanda’s fawning toadies in India led by deep intellects like Sid Varadarajan to report this. Leading a party that has won 30% of the popular, vote Prachanda, sure carries a lot of pomp. Just in case Prachanda forgets, he could be like a tail trying to wag the dog, the people of Nepal in whose name he claims to act might just throw him out just as they did the king. So you pompous commie clown, Prachanda, rememer what Garuda told the snake coiled around Pashupathinath’s neck, “yaarum irukkum idathil irundhuvanhal, ellam sowkkiyame.”, i.e., if we stay grounded we should be OK.
This is a good moment. Upper caste, largely hindu, groups have long controlled Nepal at the expense of the majority of the population. Even if you disagree with the Maoist plan, this is a move toward a more egalitarian and participatory democracy. Disposing of the King may be symbolism, but that transformation might be necessary so that the people are assured that the foundations of democracy will be stable and no monarchist coups will reoccur.
Finally, in response to those casting aspersions on the ultimate motives of the Maoists, certainly there would have been easier ways to achieve radical power than to join in creating a new parliament and constitution and to abandon their armed struggle.
People are celebrating in the streets for a reason, and the lack of comprehension on this page perhaps displays better the failure of liberal values than the lack of comprehension of the Nepali people.
Give me a break. When has any Maoist or Communist take-over gone well? Prachanda is reading out some dumb 19th-century European handbook, and it’s going to be hell to pay for the Nepalis (and, neighboring states in India).
18 · Neal said
The Maoist movement is an upper “caste” elitist movement, and is having trouble winning over many other groups, chiefly the Madhesis and the Dalits, that have fought the Nepali autocracy for decades. The core of the Maoists are a bunch of ill-read, rabid totalitarian minded commies, while the rear is brought up by scores of ruffians and killers for hire. Not at all different from the KErala and Waste Bengal models. In Kerala for instance the CPI(M) has traditionally relied upon the support of the depressed and oppressed communities of yore such as the Ezhavas. Althought reformers notably Sri Narayana Guru or Mannathu Padmanabhana and many others had already opened the doors of opportunity and respectability for the depressed communities, the Commies took the credit and lived off its rents for decades. This coalition is slowly cracking up. In Nepal the 50 years of the Kerala model is going through a fast-forward.
E.g., from Pankaj Mishra, who is hardly some sort of right-winger:
Maoists are coming and Nepal is finished…….ethnic fissures are too strong now.northern mongoloids and southern indids are gonna break off……hehehehe i love it.
Prachanda is Prabhakaran in a pyjama/kurta.
There are two countries in the world with clear Hindu majorities. They have both opted for secularism.
Hindus don’t get enough credit in the ABCD nation.
22 · nawang said
This is probably inevitable. Similarly the “mongoloids” of northeastern India will break away too. They can see how much better their racial compatriots are doing in countries in which they are the overwhelming majority, such as Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore etc.
24 · brownman said
The question you need to answer is this: why are the two hindu majority nations in the world both ranked near the bottom in Human Development Indices? You sure you want credit for that from ABCDs?
26 · Valmiki said
Prema, surely you can link to your previous comments where you posted these stats?
this is not a good ending. the maoists are very very pro china..they’re gonna make life terrible for the thousands of ethnic and tibetan refugees in nepal. better to be undwer india’s influence than china’s.
26 · Valmiki said
Valmiki aka Prema aka post-then-think aka post-never-think – you can replace that word Hindu with Muslim/Christian/Buddhist and it would still make awesome sense. But ou wouldn’t know that would you? So I will do the heavy lifting for you,
The question you need to answer is this: why are the [fill in number here] Muslim/Christian/Buddhist majority nations in the world … ranked near the bottom in Human Development Indices? Now beta, go do some reading, before you shoot off your mouth.
29 · jyotsana said
Actually its you who is the ignorant one. Inexcusably so, There are many christian, buddhist and muslim nations ranked higher than the two hindu majority nations. Even communist Cuba is ranked way higher than India and Nepal.
30 · Valmiki said
. Valmiki, I trust you aren’t simply a typing bot and can also read. Check out the HDI list before you eat your words. If you find it hard, add a dash of olive oil and some cracked peppers. And make it a habit to get your facts right and also keep some of the OO and pepper, I will serve you some crow next time.
valmiki, are you the chinese shashi kapoor?
“mere paas paisa hai, bangla hai, gaadi hai. tumhare paas kya hai?” “mere paas mao hai!”
31 · jyotsana said
Facts cannot enlighten people as pathologically deluded as you. You will keep your eyes closed and continue shouting: “India Shining”, and making a complete fool of yourself. Here is the Human Development Index, India is ranked #128 and Nepal is #137. Of the 127 nations ranked above Hindu and Democratic India are communist nations like China and Cuba; muslim nations like Egypt, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Turkemenistan, Turkey, Tunisia, Malaysia and Libya among others (even the palestinian West Bank is ranked higher); Buddhist nations like Japan and Thailand; and numerous christian nations.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_hum_dev_ind-economy-human-development-index
i agree. the first step to rooting out substandard characters is to categorize them by their salient characteristics. it makes it much easier to work on weeding them out if you know why they are the way they are – hindu and democratic, are of course, the first things that come to mind. it has taken a 100 years but i am glad i am finally finding supporters for negative eugenics. after all, the only thing better than one child each for the poor and inferior is no children.
34 · galton said
Another sepia genius. He actually thinks that hindu and democratic are genetic characteristics!
thank you. that is exactly how i want other brown people to be considered too.
31 · jyotsana said
snap!
Valmiki,
Now that you have shown us you can read let’s see what your numeracy is like. Can you count beyond 128? OK I get the idea. Those words must be hard to swallow, even with the OO. But go easy with the salt, if you must. You will need a lot for the hot crow next time. Reading through the HDI and a few minutes with wikipedia will do you a world of good. And go easy with the abuse too. We know how angry and incoherent (most of the time) you get when your posts are taken apart here (every time). Cheers!
sensible commentary from a respected indian human rights worker:
Mount Neverest
my own take on this – Nepal = West Bengal of the 70s, plus bihar-isstyle ethnic chaos, not much stability but progress over the retrograde and hopeless royal rule..
We Hindus may be poor, but we are very tolerant of other religions. There is much that a wealthy very high up in the human development index country like the ABCD nation can learn from the impoverished hindus. A hindu majority has elected a woman, a sikh for Prime Minister. Our constitution was written by a dalit. The most loved President of all time is Muslim. Suck on that, ABCD nation, still struggling to elect a black man as President.
The question is – is there something in Hindu beliefs that make them more tolerant of diversity? The answer is YES. Hinduism itself is an umbrella term for such a wide variety of beliefs and philosophies that Hinduism is intrinsically not genetically more tolerant.
Hey Valmiki, even people Buddhist nations look to India for answers. Buddhist monks learn Sanskrit if you didn’t know. It’s sad the monarchy turned out like this. Nepal’s early kings fought off oppressive invaders and preserved our identity. I wonder what will happen to Gorkha culture due to the Maoist takeover. RIP Nepal
40 · brownman said
Like how to ruthlessly demean and ostracize each other based on the highly tolerant hindu caste system?
40 · brownman said
You forgot to mention the Gujarat genocide of Muslims in 2002 supposedly by the most fundamentalist of all the “Hindus”