Nepalese nationals are marching against the government as they want the Hindu Rashtra back. According the local reports the protests are being organized by Rastriya Prajatantra Party which has been quite vocal supporter of monarchy in the country. However, there is more than the support for the Nepal’s king as the country over the one decade’s time of federal republic status has gone from bad to worse in all spheres. It has not just become hotbed for Chinese operatives who are meddling in the national affairs but also political instability has caused huge economic damage. The only leading industry was tourism; however, due to protracted local chaos it too has been damaged to great extent.

Public rallies against the incompetent government(1)

Nepal has seen what many countries see in their hundred years of democracy and elections. The lack of quality leadership has sent the country to dogs and the major sufferers or casualty have been the majority of Hindus who have a great history of sovereignty and self-respect. Since majority of the Hindus have faith in the King for their own reasons they are now protesting to restore monarchy. The Rastriya Prajatantra Party says that it is going to launch a movement for the restoration of the monarchy and for that its members would do rallies in cities like Hetauda, Jhapa, and the capital, Kathmandu.

It appears that average Nepali national is fed up with the regular political infighting, treachery and inner games being played by the politicians to remain in power. Although the monarchy was abolished in 2008, there has always been a section of Nepal’s population that favored its restoration. Even Yogi Adityanath had once in 2015 asked the Nepal government to declare itself a Hindu Rashtra and ban cow slaughter.(2)

With democracy came political instability and improbity

Just 12 years ago Nepal became Federal Democratic Republic and there have been 11 Prime Ministerial changes that is, almost every year one Prime Minister has been sitting in the revolving chair. Almost all top political leaders of Nepal have become prime minister and all political parties have had a stint at the government.  

Prime Ministers of Nepal since 2008

  1. Girija Prasad Koirala of Nepali Congress
  2. Prachanda of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
  3. Madhav Kumar Nepal of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist)
  4. Jhala Nath Khanal of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist)
  5. Baburam Bhattarai of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
  6. Khil Raj Regmi Independent
  7. Sushil Koirala of Nepali Congress
  8. KP Sharma Oli Nepal of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist)
  9. Prachand of Communist party of Nepal (Maoist Center)
  10. Sher Bahadur Deuba of Nepali Congress
  11. KP Sharma Oli of Nepal Communist Party

Going through the above list of the prime minister it appears the experiment to democratize Nepalese politics has not been a successful one. The multiparty democracy has just deepened the political instability and proven the former king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah right. When the pro-democracy agitations were happening in Nepal in 1970s, he had held a referendum in 1980 and convinced the Nepalese to have non-party Panchayat system.

The communists with all their Marxist, Leninist and Maoist tags have been running for the power once elections were held in Nepal as it became a federal republic. Except for Nepali Congress of GP Koirala all other parties have seen split and division for opportunistic reasons. The people who were promising to protect people and their interest seem to have been fighting for political power. The Communist Party of Nepal, Maoist (CPN, Maoist) has been a major political party that has caused economic damage to Nepal and forced the country to despair.

Earlier it was in war against the King and the democratic government where it killed thousands of Nepalese in the name of Class Struggle and later when it was able to control the government but failed to offer stable government. Now, one doubts whether it were the Nepalese who were in control of CPN, Maoists or some other powers, especially China that controlled the actions. Though there have always been denials on the part of the CPN Maoists on their links with China, there is little doubt that they were not endorsed by the Mao’s country.

Plato’s Kyklos

What Nepal is going through appears to be typical Kyklos. The Greek philosopher and political scientist Plato described his version of the Kyklos or Cycle in his work Republic where he distinguished 5 forms of government e.g. aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny. His theory is based on the fact that governments devolve respectively in this order from aristocracy into tyranny. Nepalese have got tired with experiment of democracy by Communist parties, now they seem to be looking for the Philosopher King, the one they always liked but were misled by Communist propaganda.

Sources:

  1. https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Nepal-nationwide-protests-to-call-for-restoration-of-monarchy
  2. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Nepal-must-declare-itself-a-Hindu-rashtra-Adityanath/articleshow/48194975.cms

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