1 June 2001

It has been 22 years since the royal massacre that decimated king Birendra’s immediate family. His brother Gyanendra ascended the throne and within seven years Nepal had abolished the monarchy and turned into a federal republic. Such was the love for king Birendra that many Nepalis believe the monarchy would have survived if he was still alive.

True decentralisation and devolution of power is still a mirage in Nepal, top leaders in the main political parties are unwilling as ever to let go of power. This has made it easy for anti-federalism sentiments to grow. In fact, the royal-right RPP is trying to bring Gyanendra back as a king for the third time. 

Excerpts from page 1 report 20 years ago this week on issue #147 30 May – 5 June 2003 on the second anniversary of the massacre:

A tragedy on such a scale will leave scars on the national psyche that will never completely heal. All we can do is try to deal with the legacy, learn its lessons. The single most significant consequence of June First was that King Gyanendra became king. 

Last year, in a candid television interview, the king told Durga Nath Sharma: "I am not like my brother, I can't sit idly by while the country sinks deeper into crisis." He appointed a cabinet of trusted political figures and technocrats, then got Col Narayan Singh Pun to forge a ceasefire with the Maoists. 

The five parliamentary parties first went into a deep sulk, but managed to launch a united street agitation. In reality, they felt left out of the peace process, and had dark misgivings about the country being dragged back to pre-1990 days. It is a measure of how low the stock of the political parties has fallen that there hasn't been a groundswell of public support for the anti-royal agitation. But surveys (Nepali Times, #140) have shown that the people overwhelmingly reject a return to absolute monarchy as well.

From archive material of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, site search: www.nepalitimes.com