In early March this year, a massive gathering of some 10,000 royalist supporters gathered to greet Nepal's former king, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, as he returned to the capital Kathmandu from the city of Pokhara. The rally had political observers in Kathmandu wonder about the possibility of a return to monarchy in Nepal.

On Friday, 28 March, a similar pro-royalist rally in Kathmandu turned violent. Pro-monarchy protesters destroyed vehicles, looted a department store and attacked the offices of two political parties. Two people were killed that day. One was a driver who, by all accounts, was a bystander shot by security forces as he tried to flee the scene. Another was a TV journalist who died after being trapped inside a building that was torched.

Some Nepali commentators see the pro-monarchy movement and that day’s violence as a sign of the people’s discontent with Nepal political establishment and the country’s stuttering economy. But they also point out that the country is doing much better than it was under the Shah monarchy. The journalist and political commentator Pranaya Rana spoke to many young people who were at the pro-monarchy rally who did not profess a deep desire for the monarchy. Instead, their complaints were against Nepal’s three main political parties.

In this episode of State of Southasia, Rana speaks to Nayantara Narayanan about the resurgence of the royalist movement in Nepal, who the key actors in the movement are and the what people from different sections of Nepal really want.

This episode is also available on:

🎧 YouTube: https://youtu.be/q_Gu8vzXb40

🎧 Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/3YtCi3a

🎧 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4j16Rpc

🎧 Website: https://bit.ly/3EoobFz

Episode notes:

Pranaya Rana’s recommendations:

- The Bloodstained Throne: Struggles for Power in Nepal – Baburam Acharya (non-fiction)

- The Nepal Nexus: An Inside Account of the Maoists, the Durbar and New Delhi – Sudheer Sharma (non-fiction)

- Rajagunj: Pooja, Sir – Deepak Rounier (film)

Further reading from Himal’s archives:

- The incomplete end of Nepal’s Hindu monarchy (https://www.himalmag.com/politics/nepal-monarchy-protests-hindutva-india-rss)

- The saga of C K Raut and the Madhesh’s struggle for justice in Nepal (https://www.himalmag.com/politics/ck-raut-madhesh-janamat-aim-independent-federalism-nepal)

- Federalism is the most significant ideological divide in Nepali politics (https://www.himalmag.com/comment/federalism-elections-lamichhane-resham-chaudhary-ck-raut-ideological-divide-nepali-politics)

- Trekking while Nepali: A writer reckons with mortality, nationality and a changing Nepal (https://www.himalmag.com/culture/manjushree-thapa-trekking-while-nepali-writer-mortality-nationality)

- A plot twist makes Pushpa Kamal Dahal prime minister of Nepal (https://www.himalmag.com/politics/nepal-election-pushpa-kamal-dahal-prime-minister-2022)

- Nepal’s economic alarm bells (https://www.himalmag.com/politics/himal-briefs-nepals-economic-alarm-bells-2022)

- Weena Pun on the invisibility of women in Nepal’s society and literature: Southasia Review of Books podcast #15 (https://www.himalmag.com/podcast/weena-pun-kanchhi-women-rural-nepal-literature)

Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional news and analysis magazine. Stretching from Afghanistan to Burma, from Tibet to the Maldives, this region of more than 1.4 billion people shares great swathes of interlocking geography, culture and history. Yet today neighbouring countries can barely talk to one another, much less speak in a common voice. For three decades, Himal Southasian has strived to define, nurture, and amplify that voice.

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