After Myanmar and Bangladesh, India’s other immediate neighbour, Nepal, is on the verge of relentless civil unrest once again. The Hindu majority nation, sandwiched between democratic India and Communist China, has lately witnessed a surge in pro-monarch uprisings, where the protesters have raised demands to restore the former Nepal Nripati Gyanendra Shah in the historic Narayanhiti palace. Housing around 30 million peace-loving people, the tiny Himalayan republic shares a border of over 1,850 kilometres with Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim, where north-east (precisely Assam) supports a sizable Nepali-speaking population. Incidentally, a royalist leader was picked up from Guwahati on 11 April and sent back to Kathmandu (officially recorded as being arrested by the Nepali police from bordering Jhapa district to avoid any complication from a non-functioning extradition treaty with India).

The ongoing anti-government movements witnessed an impressive public rally on 8 April 2025 in the national capital, where the protesters expressed their disappointments over poor performances of the Left-dominated regimes in Kathmandu for nearly two decades. They defied all government restrictions to hit the streets, raising voices for the restoration of the monarchy. In fact, the pro-monarchist rallies and demonstrations continue to attract hundreds of thousands of people even without following a particular leader or political party. The spontaneous movement insisting on re-establishing Nepal as a Hindu Rashtra is slowly gaining momentum.

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The first break was recorded on 9 March, when nearly 10,000 supporters assembled in front of Tribhuvan International Airport to welcome former king Gyanendra Shah (77) as he was returning to Kathmandu after paying a visit to several Hindu religious sites in western Nepal. Inspired by Shah’s declaration on the occasion of Nepal’s Democracy Day (18 February) that he would play an active role in the politics, pro-monarchists chanted slogans like “Come Back King, Save Nepal”, “Long Live Our Beloved King”, “Abolish Federal Republican System, Reinstate Monarchy”, etc., while carrying national flags in their hands.

The real show of strength took place on 28 March as thousands of agitators joined a demonstration in Kathmandu, which drew international media attention. The protest rally, however, turned violent, and the agitators targeted on-duty police personnel as well as commercial buildings, including those of political parties and media groups. A number of establishments were vandalised and even set on fire along with government vehicles parked on the location.

According to a Kathmandu police source, at least three persons were burnt alive in a charred house, where over 125 individuals, including 75 security personnel, sustained injuries during the violent protest. The police personnel used batons, water cannons and tear gas against the protesters to control the mob. More than 130 people were arrested, suspecting their involvement in vandalism and arson. An evening curfew was also imposed in several localities of Kathmandu.

The deceased also included a television journalist named Suresh Rajak (35). The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) organised a nationwide protest demanding stringent legal actions against those involved in the brutal murder of Rajak. Expressing serious concern over the attacks on several media houses during the agitation, the FNJ demanded the authority to ensure a safe ambience for media workers in the country. They also urged the government to adequately compensate the bereaved family.

The Geneva-based global media safety and rights body Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) also expressed shock over the killing and demanded a fair probe into the tragic incident that led to the demise of Rajak, who was busy gathering visuals on the spot at the time of violence. PEC president Blaise Lempen argued that protesters have the right to demonstrate their anger, but they must not take laws into their own hands. Rajak was the first journalist to be killed in Nepal since 1 January 2025, stated Lempen, adding that the country lost another journalist, Suresh Bhul, to assailants last year.

The protesters demanded to replace the current Nepal Republican Constitution (adopted in 2015) with the 1990 Constitution, which was promulgated by the then monarch Birendra Bir Bikram Shah. King Birendra and his family faced an unfortunate massacre in 2001, when the crown prince Dipendra mysteriously killed the royal family members, including his father and even himself. After the infamous Narayanhiti palace massacre, the king’s brother Gyanendra ascended the throne.

King Gyanendra, who used to be not so popular among the masses, seized absolute power in 2005 after dissolving the Parliament. He even imprisoned a large number of political leaders, activists and journalists to deal with the growing menace from the ultra-left rebels. But it did not help the monarch, and finally he had to relinquish power in 2006 following widespread armed Maoist protests (seemingly supported by the Communist regime in Beijing). Later in 2008, the Parliament abolished the 240 years of Hindu royal rule in Nepal and endorsed a secular democratic republic.

Even though Gyanendra left the palace (now converted into a museum) to adopt a private life in the middle of 2008, he did not leave the country. Probably the former king and his followers were patiently waiting for an opportune moment, which arrived with the growing resentment against the government. The indigenous Nepali citizens apprehend that the so-called secular regime was silently helping the Christian and Muslim preachers to increase their followers only to create a demographic imbalance in Nepal.

The general election to the 275-member Nepal’s House of Representatives was conducted in November 2022, but no political party acquired a required majority. Hence, Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal – United Marxist-Leninist has to lead a coalition government with the support from Nepali Congress representatives. The first republican prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda (leading the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre), is currently sitting on the opposition bench. His party, along with the Communist Party of Nepal-Socialists, continues to stand against the restoration of monarchy in their land.

Mentionable is that no government in Kathmandu had completed its full five-year term since Nepal became a multi-party constitutional monarchy in 1990. Repeated changes of governments (or the heads) only prolonged instability in the administration that inflated prices of essential commodities. Rampant corruption in the high offices and poor welfare and public services, as well as rising unemployment, added to the frustration of common Nepalis. The conscious citizens start thinking that the Nepali politicians are interested in their personal benefits only as both the ruling & opposition leaders continue enjoying power in a rotational manner. Incidentally, PM Oli (occupying the post for the fourth time) and Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba (waiting to occupy the PM post for the sixth time) are scheduled to rotate in holding the coveted position till the next national elections scheduled for 2027.

Taking advantage of the situation, the pro-royalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) deplored all the political entities and continued pursuing the return of Gyanendra Shah to the royal palace. The RPP leaders have made public statements on a regular basis that their king was ousted in 2008 unceremoniously. The nationalist leaders argued that the monarchy always ensures a sense of pride, stability and unity for the Nepali people. In fact, they are materialising widespread public frustrations against the government for increasing influence across Nepal in favour of the monarchy.

The Oli government has decreased the number of personnel (from 25 to 15) engaged in the security of Gyanendra Shah, who lives at the outskirts of Kathmandu. It has also planned to cancel his passport so that the former king cannot leave Nepal. On the other hand, Kathmandu metropolitan authorities levied a cumulative penalty of Nepalese Rupees 793,000 (1 US Dollar = 137 NPR) against the former monarch for damaging public properties during the last protest. Meanwhile, the three-time Nepalese premier Prachanda (who led the decade-long armed insurgency from 1996 to 2006, killing over 16,000 people) warned that any attempt to dilute the republican gains will not be accepted. He also echoed the version of Nepali Congress chief Deuba that the former king was hatching a conspiracy to denounce the republic and get back to the throne with foreign indulgences.

Earlier, PM Oli alleged that Gyanendra was inherently supported by India in general and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in particular for his mission to return to the royal palace. Needless to mention that a hardcore Hindu nationalist, Adityanath, publicly supported the reinstatement of Nepal’s Hindu identity. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader hosted many visits of Gyanendra to Lucknow. A politician, always seen in saffron attire with a shaved head adorning a sacred Tilak on his forehead and male ear Kundals, even addressed a public meeting in Kathmandu ten years back to propagate Nepal’s century-old identity. In some protest programmes, the agitators even carried Adityanath’s cutout along with the former king’s life-size photograph.

The governments in New Delhi and Beijing are observing the political developments in Nepal, as both the highly populated nations have business interests there. But New Delhi has reasons to believe that Nepal’s monarchy often favoured Beijing in its increasing influence on Kathmandu since the days of King Mahendra (1955-1972) to his two sons, King Birendra (1972-2001) and King Gyanendra (2001-2008). Even though Nepal remains an independent country (it never was an Indian princely state), it has enjoyed proximity to Indian culture and philosophy for a long time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while meeting with his Nepalese counterpart during the 6th BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok on 4 April, reiterated that India will always support a democratic Nepal.

However, a large number of people in the largest democracy across the globe expressed their annoyance when Nepal changed its identity from being the last Hindu kingdom to a federal secular republic in 2008. Today, a large section of enlightened Nepali people realise that the monarchy is an outdated idea and its full restoration will be an impractical approach, but they insist on restoring the king at the royal palace just to play a symbolic role as head of state. Millions of northeast dwellers also believe that the current administration in Kathmandu would talk to the agitators urgently to address the issue so that those Nepalis do not feel dejected by the people in power, as the sacred land belongs to the royalists as well.

The writer is a Guwahati-based special representative of The Statesman