Zenith Shrestha
Kelly Tharp
English 190
21st March, 2011 Downfall of Monarchy in Nepal
Once declared “The most peaceful country in the world”- Nepal, is now facing the extreme political crisis ever in its history. It dates back to the Maoist’s insurgency from 1996 to the Royal Massacre and ultimate downfall of monarchy from the country. Maoist, in the name of maintaining equality among the poor and the rich, started a digression of no reason, which resulted in the war among the Royal Nepal Army and the Maoist Army. Then after, it feels like somebody put an evil eye on our peace. When one thinks of the cause of this major disappointment, everybody laments on the day, June 1, 2001.
June 1, 2001 goes down to be the saddest day in the history of Nepalese politics. It was the day when the most loved, most respected personality in Nepal of all time, King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, was gunned down along with his family members. This day is the day that every Nepali remembers and weeps considering the political crisis that has been occurring in the past few years. During these 10 years after the massacre, there were some moments of hope of everlasting peace in Nepal. However, most of the times, Nepalese are being overshadowed by the danger of losing their identity in the world. The entire major crisis in Nepal began with the “Royal Massacre”. Moreover this is supposed to be the first and major step in the downfall of monarchy in Nepal.
It was June 1, 2001 at 9:15 p.m., when this horrific event occurred in the palace. The news channel and the newspapers had their headline explaining it as the saddest end to an outstanding era. That was the day which brought massive change in Nepal and Nepalese politics. Many people shaved their head and many people showed their condolence and mourned on the death of the beloved by staying without eating regular food for 13 days (A Nepali-Hindu way of expressing mourning the death of someone close, a relative). Monarchy was the one which united the people in Nepal. King Birendra was the one who always rescued Nepal and Nepalese from evil foreign eyes. In fact, Nepal had never been in the prosperous condition than in during the reign of King Birendra, and his fall can only be attributed to his being loyal to his country. There were several speculations made on the Royal Massacre. Majority of the people speculated the crown prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah to be the murderer. Furthermore, the international news channel and newspapers also highlighted the murderer to be the then prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah. Those who speculated Dipendra to be the murderer explained the incident as a matter of family fight. One of the documentaries on You Tube explains the plot of Royal Massacre as, “This is the story of a forbidden love affair: A family tragedy and a national nightmare. Crown Prince Dipendra carefully planned and cold bloodedly executed a royal massacre.” (YouTube) Similarly, the main international headline in ABC News read:
“Crown Prince Dipendra shot and killed nine members of his family and himself. His parents apparently objected to his plans to marry local aristocrat Devyani Rana. They had reportedly threatened to disinherit him if he did so and there have been speculation that this conflict between love and duty is what caused his rampage.” However, there is something not quite right in the agency reports regarding the mysterious deaths of the royal family of Nepal. First, there is the curious story that the crown prince, Dipendra, having massacred his entire family, then tried to kill himself. “He might have succeeded, except he contrived to shoot himself in the back of the head. This appears rather difficult to do, especially with an assault rifle. So then who shot him? And the latest story is that an Uzi assault rifle "exploded". Very strange, that an explosion should have precisely targeted all these people” (Rajiv Shrinivasan) writes Rajiv. It became clear that Dipendra was used as the major trump card to suppress the truth and his death would suddenly end the conflict too. Following this further, even majority of Nepalese are not in a state to believe that Dipendra was the murderer. They still respect the royal family and instead they have their own speculations saying either Maoist, who had almost taken the country to the situation of civil war, or Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, the younger brother of Birendra Bir Bikram Shah, to be the murderer (Wagle). Adding to this, there are some mysteries of foreign effect on the Royal Massacre. Whatever the speculations may be, the death of the Royal family is still a mystery. In the lament of people, there is a motif of contrast. There are several other incidents which caused the monarchy to end. Some of the causes are:

After the demise of the king, the Shah Dynasty had to be taken over by someone. There had to be a king to follow the democratic rule of the nation. Finally, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, who was speculated to be the murderer, was ascended to the throne. There was a tremendous transition during the reign of Gyanendra. Gyanendra was not the loved among the people and he never did anything impressive. He had a daunting task of leading the country that was reeling from the tragic incident that happened in the palace. He had even more to deal with- Maoist insurgency and the task of uniting the people in the country (Encyclopedia). But what happened was not at all accepted by the people and by the political parties. The country was going down on economy. The Maoist’s insurgency was reaching its extreme point. Blood was shed on the streets like a flowing river. Many innocents were killed and many children were made orphans. The existing government was unable to control all these stuffs. The country was on the verge of Civil War. In attempt to control the insurgency, he adopted measures which he thought to be authoritarian to the country. But ultimately became dangerous to the monarchy. He then, dissolved the parliament, took an absolute power and became more of an autocrat. Then in order to restore the autocratic monarchy, Gyanendra proclamated the State of Emergency and deployed the Royal Nepal Army. (Bajpei 58-59)
Reports mention that,- Gyanendra’s action was not loved by everyone. After he dissolved the government in February 1, 2005 and took all the powers, the things turned rather ironically. Instead of saving the monarchy, his move sealed its fate. The hopes of people were shattering. They were hoping for the better rule to the country and consequently a change in the country.

Consequently, the autocratic rule of government was plausible neither for the people nor the political parties. Everybody felt that downfall of monarchy can only be the way to get rid of the national problem. Mainstream political parties worked joint handedly with the rebellious Maoists and conducted a mass revolution. This mass revolution was meant for the abolishment of monarchy. All of a sudden, Nepalese, who shaved their heads, hit their chests on death of the king, were the one raising their hands against the monarchy. The people got mad on Gyanendra and continued the revolution for 13 days. Millions of national property was destroyed. Many people died, many were insurrected. The love and respect that Nepalese had towards the monarchy was dissolving. Finally, the king had to give up his throne and was compelled to hand over the executive power by reviving the erstwhile expired parliament. And monarchy finally ended on April 24, 2006. There were cheers all around the nation. The hope of ‘New Nepal’ could be felt in the air. Therefore, it can be concluded that, people in quest of searching their identity and living a smooth life, they thought of experimenting with the new parliamentary system, which eventually was against the monarchy and consequently with the mass revolution, ended 240 years old monarchy.
The inspection on the Royal massacre is still going on and there are many views on it. Everybody thought it to be either crown prince or Gyanendra who killed the royal family. But one of the articles written by Pushparaj Pradhan brings the twist in the tale. He mentions the foreign hand on Royal Massacre. Pradhan on his article mentions that India played a very decisive role in Royal Massacre. He explains Birendra always wanted to develop the rural part of the county. When the proposal of India to make Nepal under its umbrella, King denied the proposal and instead started governing country to development. He neglected the meeting with the Indian government. And for the revenge, India made an economic blockade to Nepal. However, the courage and spirit of late king Birendra, Nepal was able to face the economic blockade. And according to the article, every time India wanted to make Nepal another Bhutan, Nepal’s monarchy always came as a barrier to them. And he speculates it to be the cause of Royal Massacre. On his article he also mentions the hand of Western countries like USA, UK and many other Scandinavian countries. He states that, all this countries saw monarchy as an obstacle for fulfilling their interests in Nepal in developing her as a base for the anti China Campaign. In the mean time, he also explains India training the Maoist Army and providing security during their insurgency. (Pradhan 2009)
In addition to that, General Bibek Kumar Shah, a former senior officer of Nepal Army, who was principal military advisor first to the slain king and then to his successor King Gyanendra, writes in his book, “Maile Dekheko Darbar” which means the ‘The Palace I Saw’, that India could be the major influence in Nepal’s end of Monarchy. According to him, King Birendra due to some reason felt to pack the arsenal of Nepal with some sophisticated weapons. And he mentions the politics of weapon might have caused the royal massacre. Birendra wanted to modernize the outdated arsenal of Nepal Army. But India always rejected Nepal to have those sophisticated weapons. Moreover, he also adds, when Maoist was in verge of creating a Civil War in Nepal, Indian government trained the Maoist Army, which added kerosene to the fire. There are no reasons that India can’t create a plot in abolishing the Nepal’s monarchy. India always wanted to be imperialistic. It could be true that to expand the imperialism, India supported the Maoists and Maoist, in search of their identity in the nation set up a plot for the bloodbath in the palace. The medium of unity and sovereignty in Nepal, once destroyed could have caused much destruction in Nepal and the result is all in front of us. Nepal now is going on the roughest patch it could ever have gone. And ever since the massacre, Maoists are breathing a sigh of open air. India always pretended to threat Nepali Maoists but many investigations have proved that they had trained Maoist Army to help in their insurgency. So the imperialistic nature of India resulted in the Royal Massacre also make sense to me. And ever since the end of monarchy it seems that India has been able to bring Nepal into its imperialistic umbrella.
As discussed above, Royal Massacre is taken as the beginning of an end to the monarchy. However, there is a mystery to be solved- the mystery of Royal Massacre. There are plenty of speculations made on the murderer but still there is no distinct proof of it. In light of unprecedented bloodshed in the palace, it seems reasonable to reflect on the role of Maoist and International motifs on creating such carnage. Taking to its logical conclusion, the personal motifs (of Maoists to fight against the monarchy) and matter of revenge could have caused in the downfall of monarchy in Nepal.
From the researchers done by the historians and the articles from the journalists, it not only reduces the chances of Dipendra to be the murderer but it also points on all the political motifs of Maoist and International Community. Antecedent and secondary reasons have been traced up to various earlier periods when bloodshed in palace occurred and when Gyanendra drew an absolute power, however Maoist also can’t be taken out of considerations, with regards that they also had been fighting against the monarchy for 15 years. Similarly, some scholars have also argued that here can be the external force which can cause a transition in the smaller countries and it’s seems it was pretty easy for India to bring transition in Nepal. Whatever may be the situations, monarchy once worshiped as a deity has now been swayed out from the country.
However, in consideration that Birendra Bir Bikram Shah, who democratized the country and who always lead country to development, it’s worth finding his murderer and punishing, whoever that is. Monarchy was the symbol of unity and peace, it’s still worth respecting and in the meantime where almost everyone is chanting “King Come Back”, now it’s a critical time to think about the efforts to make the dream of “New Nepal – a peaceful and a dignified Nepal”, come true.

Work Cited * I, Documentary On Royal Massacre of Nepal-Part. Youtube. 24 April 2006. 03 May 2011 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cop9fmSGxr0>. * Bajpei, Arunodaya. “Nepal: complicated transition”. Prtiyogota Darpan. Google Books. July 2008. (58-59) Web. March 13, 2011 * “Nepalese monarchy to be abolished”. “BBC News”. Monday, 24 December, 2007. Web. March 14, 2011.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7158670.stm * Pradhan, Pushparaj. “Demolishing Institute of Monarchy”. People’s Review. Thursday, August 27, 2009. Web. Thursday, March 3, 2011.www.people’sreview.com. * Rose, Loe E. "Gyanendra." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/861382/Gyanendra>.
* RSS. Timeline: The Nepal Royal Massacre.”ABC News/International”. June 15, 2001.Print. March 20, 2011. * Shah, General Bibek Kumar. “Maile Dekheko Darbar”. Kathmandu: Yeti Publication, 2010. Print. March 14,2011. * Srinivasan, Rajiv. “Who Killed Nepal’s Royal Family”. Orwell Today. June,4 2001. Web. March 20,2011. http://www.orwelltoday.com/nepalroyalmurder.shtml * Upadhyay, Samrat. “A Royal transformation”. Hunger Mountain. Web. March 20, 2011 http://www.hungermtn.org/a-royal-transformation/ * Wagle, Dinesh. “Fall of Monarchy in Nepal: Seven years of the Royal Massacre”. United we blog! For a Democratic Nepal”. June 1, 2008. Web. March 1, 2011 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2001/nepal_in_crisis/