Nepal recently experienced deaths as a result of pro-monarchy rallies. The Nepali monarchy was abolished as part of Nepal’s post-civil war transition to a secular republic. While monarchist sentiment in the 21st century is not especially common around the world (Thailand and a few others being exceptions), Nepal’s political and economic struggles, the various political cleavages that endure within the country, and spillover from Hindu nationalism in India (the Nepali monarchy was Hindu) all have sustained a constituency in Nepal for monarchism.
Amish Raj Mulmi is one of my favorite analysts of Nepal’s politics, and he has a valuable essay in Himal on this issue:
“Gyanendra and Nepal’s royalists had so far taken pains to maintain civility, but that pretence is now gone. The limited but not insubstantial public sympathy they had gathered – helped by deep popular anger with Nepal’s current political leaders – has dissipated.
Nepali commentators see the resurgence of royalist forces as a symptom of increasing discontent with the country’s political and economic status quo. Nepal’s economy has not fully recovered from the ravages of the pandemic. Thousands of young Nepalis leave the country every single day for better economic opportunities abroad. None of the country’s political parties – including the main establishment forces currently sharing power, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and the Nepali Congress – have shown any inclination for much-needed structural reform. Instead, crony capitalism is rampant, as is corruption. . . .
Yet for all the present anger, on almost every indicator – economic, social or political – Nepal is doing better than it ever did under the monarchy. In 1995, at the peak of the era of constitutional monarchy, 55 percent of Nepalis lived in extreme poverty. That figure had dropped to less than 0.5 percent in 2023. Although Nepal’s economy grew slower between 1996 and 2023 than those of most Southasian countries, personal incomes have risen for all demographics. Local governments have shown a clear preference towards decentralisation. There is freedom of speech on a scale unheard of under the monarchy.
Why, then, are some sections of Nepali society nostalgic about royal rule?
ONE COULD DIVIDE those leading the call for the monarchy’s return into five categories.”
Read the whole thing to learn about his categorization of the monarchist and monarchist-curious forces in the Nepali political system, their relationship to India, and the state of contemporary Nepali politics.
Paul Staniland 