The crux of his message was that he was willing to go back to the 1990 constitution based on multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy.
DNA Analysis
NEW DELHI: Nepal’s beleaguered King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev on Friday took a small step forward to stop the swirling pro-democracy movement from stripping him off his royal mandate by offering a olive branch to the political parties. But his strategy of conceding just a little ground, has come too late.
The crux of his message was that he was willing to go back to the 1990 constitution based on multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy.
In short, the King offered to go back to the time before he seized absolute power on February 1, 2005. Perhaps if he had offered this two weeks ago, there was a chance he could have pulled it off. But his subjects are no longer willing to take dictation from their King.
The mood in Nepal is now for a Republic or at best if the King has to remain, he has to reconcile himself to reduce his role to that of figure head — a ceremonial monarch in line with the British Royal family.
The question now is what next? The failure of the King to satisfy the political parties means the situation in Nepal will continue to slide. For India it is a dangerous turn.
And it is now apparent that this drift may continue unless the King is willing to concede to the demand for a Constituent Assembly. India is afraid that the Maoists would take full advantage of the current mass upsurge to push their agenda forward.
Though New Delhi had been growing more and more impatient with the King, the fear of the Maoists had prompted India not to completely marginalise the palace.
The experience with Nepal’s squabbling political parties in the past, has shown that personal ambitions often came on the way of providing stability to the country. In fact, it was this which had prompted King Gyanendra in the first place to take over power fourteen months ago.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury , a member of the Nepal Democracy Solidarity Committee India, a group of political parties working closely with the seven party alliance, had warned that India had no business to prop up the King as the mood in Nepal was now for a Republic.
The Nepali political leaders, now working closely with the Maoists had told Yechury that the Maobadis could be persuaded to accept a ceremonial role for King Gyanendra. There was even talk of them being part of an interim government.
Former ambassador to Nepal Arvind Deo said : “This was the time when not a clever move but a sagacious one was required of the King. The King has given too little too late and the political parties as well as the common man who have been out in the street risking his life is likely to see this for what it is worth.
In any case the King has no real power to give at a time when the people appear poised to snatch it away.’’
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