By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : With less than 100 days remaining for the promulgation of a new constitution that will decide whether Nepal should be a secular republic or revert to a Hindu kingdom, the only openly royalist party has called a shutdown of Kathmandu valley Monday to press for the restoration of the crown.
“We want the government to hold a referendum on three issues of national interest,” said Rajaram Shrestha, former mayor of Kathmandu and a top leader of the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-Nepal), the only parliamentary party supporting monarchy.
“These are monarchy, a Hindu state and federalism.”
Two years ago, Nepal held a historic constituent assembly election and the assembly members voted overwhelmingly to abolish monarchy and restructure the country into autonomous states. Prior to that, an anti-monarchy campaign triggered by Nepal’s last king Gyanendra’s attempt to rule the kingdom directly with the help of the army had seen the abolition of Hinduism as the state religion.
However, the monarchist party refuses to accept the constituent assembly decision, saying the body was chosen to write a new constitution and not decide issues of national interest.
RPP-Nepal last year launched a signature campaign that has seen over 2 million people demand a referendum to take a final call on the three issues that once gave Nepal its unique identity as the only Hindu kingdom in the world.
“Even the major parties want a referendum,” Shrestha said. “However, they are keeping silent due to pressure.”
The Maoists, Nepal’s biggest party that returned to mainstream politics after waging a 10-year battle against Nepal’s royal family, are the biggest opponents of the restoration of monarchy and Hinduism as the state religion.
Kamal Thapa, who was home minister in king Gyanendra’s ousted government and heads RPP-Nepal, says if the referendum is not held before the new constitution comes into force, people may refuse to accept it.
Though Thapa says his party will continue protests in support of a referendum peacefully and in a democratic manner, there are fears that peace and stability will continue to elude Nepal even after the promulgation of the new statute, which is to be the clinching step in the peace negotiations.
Flexing its muscles, RPP-Nepal, which has four MPs in the 601-member constituent assembly, has called a general strike in the capital and its adjoining Lalitpur and Bhaktapur cities Monday.
On Tuesday, the party has called for encircling Singha Durbar, the heart of the government where the prime minister’s office and key ministries are located, to bring the administrative machinery to a standstill.
Thapa says his party is seeking the restoration of the crown, not the comeback of deposed king Gyanendra.
“We want the institution that held Nepal together to be restored, not any individual,” he said.