Thursday, May 18, 2006

Nepal King- Dug his own grave

The Nepal Parliament passed a legislation to become a Secular state and stripped the King of all his powers. And renamed the government from “His Majesty’s Government” to simply “Nepal Government”. And the army is renamed from “Royal Nepal Army” to “Nepalies Army”. The king is stripped of his powers and made his title just that. A title. Here onwards he will have no immunity from Law, have to pay tax and will have to adhere to the law of the Land.
This is an astounding victory for democracy and the people of Nepal. There was no way the King could have continued in his dictatorship. Six months he has ruled the Himalayan kingdom with an iron fist and now the table is turned. His erstwhile government’s office bearers are facing charges of the atrocities they committed against the people’s movement against the kingdom. Some of them will surely spend a few years behind the bar.
What a contrast between the last king and present one. King Birendra was loved by every one and mild mannered. This one was arrogant and loved by no one. The circumstances in which he got to power are highly suspicious. The Shah dynasty, which was established in 17th century, may die an unceremonious death with this patriarch. Poor Paras, his dream of becoming the king has badly mangled.

5 comments:

hope and love said...

hmm.. true..
its high time..

dhruv said...

heh...weird nepalese people! Dont understand why did they have a king in the first place :)

Shinu Mathew said...

It was in later half of 17th century that the Shah Dynasty got established in Nepal. Ever since, Nepalese believe the King is reincarnaton of Vishnu. It wasn't their choice, but born with.
Now it's all over. The reckless son of the present king, Paras, is reportedly furious over the rescent developments. It was his dream to rule the kingdom.

dhruv said...

heh...kings have no place in todays world :)

Sirensongs: Indologist At Large said...

Sure, kings have a place, like in UK, Thailand, Bhutan, Brunei and Monaco. For pomp, ceremony, tradition, national pride - and they are very, very good for tourism. (Imagine England without the Queen... no one would go!). There is a lot of romance in having a Kingdom, and it should stay on the level of romance - not political reality.

Nepalis used to love their king as a father figure. Finally they rose up as all abused children should against their abusive patriarch.

Prince Paras would have been, if anything, even worse than Gyanendra. There is a legend that the Shah dynasty had a curse preventing it from lasting more than 12 generations and Gyan. was the 12th. Thank the gods and the brave people that we'll never see King Paras.