Celebrating Democracy Day in Nepal
At the time Nepalis are heading to celebrate a republic day, the coalition government of the seven-party alliance (SPA)
is preparing for celebrating the 58th democracy day on February 19, 2008 in a grand manner. The government has announced
that it is going to celebrate the democracy day starting on February 18 and ending on February 20, and decided to
request the Nepalis in general to illuminate their homes with light on the evenings of these three days. The government
has set up a democracy day celebration committee headed by none other than Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. How
this democracy has became the national day for celebration let us see.
Nepalis marked the Martyrs' Day on January 30, 2008. Four brave sons of Nepal gave their precious and youthful lives to
tear down the despotic Rana family rule. They were: Ganga Lal Shrestha, Sukra Raj Shastri (Joshi), Dharma Bhakta
Mathema, and Dashrath Chand Thakur. The then-tyrannical rulers called Ranas shot Ganga Lal Shrestha and Dashrath Chand
Thakur, and hanged Sukra Raj Shastri (Joshi) and Dharma Bhakta Mathema to death for simply asking for a few fundamental
rights for Nepalis in 1942. The autocratic rulers felt those four youths were a great threat to their tyrannical regime.
The ruling Ranas felt that they would not be in a position to use all the national revenue for their luxurious lives
depriving all Nepalis of even basic needs if they gave in to the demands of those four brave youths. They are the real
martyrs.
Nepalis did not give up their fights the four warriors have started for rights to live humanely. So, they followed the
path shown by the four brave sons of Nepal. They continued to fight against the family rule of Ranas, and ultimately
forced them to surrender to the Nepalese people in 1951. However, the then-so-called leaders of the Nepali Congress (NC)
rather than finished the Rana regime off once and for all, compromised with them on a coalition government. Ironically,
the last Rana ruler became the first Prime Minister of the Interim Government of Nepal set up by the people's power.
Obviously, he transferred the power to the then king.
In 1951, the Nepalese political leaders, the losing Rana rulers, and the helpless king Tribhuvan under the Rana regime
talked to each other under the auspices of the then-Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in New Delhi, India. The king
had taken a shelter at the Indian Embassy and had flown to New Delhi. The Ranas attempted to install his four-year old
grandson as the new pawn king of Nepal in absence of the puppet king and run the administration in his name but it did
not work, so under the growing popular uprising against the Rana regime, agreed to talk to the king in exile and the
political leaders in New Delhi to resolve the political deadlock in Nepal. They agreed to declare Nepal a democratic
country, call its government the Government of Nepal, and hold an election for a Constituent Assembly (CA) that would
write a constitution of Nepal.
On February 18, 1951 (Falgun 07, 2007), the Nepalese political leaders, and the king triumphantly returned to Nepal.
Nepalis in general shed their blood to tear down the Rana regime; however, the king stole the show. Cheers greeted the
arrival of the king at the Kathmandu airport. He became the hero of the democratic movement and took all the credits for
bringing democracy in Nepal whereas the so-called political leaders took the backseat of the political drama played by
the king and his sycophants.
On his arrival in Nepal, King Tribhuvan declared Nepal a democratic country, its government the Government of Nepal and
promised to hold an election for a CA. The king never bothered to keep up his words given to the Nepalese people. Rather
putting the clock back, his progeny called Mahendra made Nepal again his kingdom rather than making Nepal a sustainable
democratic country, changed the Government of Nepal into His Majesty's Government of Nepal, and never held an election
for a CA. He even made political parties illegal, put most of the prominent political leaders behind bars, and killed
many leaders taking the country to the dark age of feudalism in early 1960s.
On his arrival in Nepal from New Delhi in 1951, Tribhuvan formed an interim government headed by the former Rana Prime
Minister. This government was supposed to hold an election for a CA. However, the NC political leaders forgot about
holding an election for a CA for writing a constitution in the greed for grabbing power. Tribhuvan deliberately put on
hold the election for a CA, as he might need to accept the position given to him by the Nepalese people's
representatives representing on the CA. At that time, Nepalis would have given him a very revered and permanent position
to him and his institution if he had faithfully held an election for a CA. Then, the interim Rana Prime Minister gave up
his position transferring the power to Tribhuvan ending the 104-year Rana regime set up by the most controversial man
called Jung Bahadur Kunwar. He replaced his family name Kunwar with Rana after he became the dictatorial Prime Minister
in 1847.
Tribhuvan played one political leader off against another to consolidate the newly acquired power from the Rana rulers.
He appointed one leader or another to the position of Prime Minister and forced him to form the cabinet of the ministers
of his liking. At the same time, his health ruined by more than four decades of luxurious life without duties and
responsibilities under the Rana regime further deteriorated, and went to Switzerland for treatment. However, he was
happy that he had successfully tricked all the political leaders to lose their political influence on the Nepalese
people, and install his progeny as the future absolute king in Nepal. He failed to understand that it was the beginning
of the end of the Shah dynasty in Nepal.
After the death of Tribhuvan in Switzerland his son Mahendra became the king of Nepal and spent a large sum of
taxpayers' money on his coronation. His queen and he rode on the highly decorated elephant and went around Kathmandu to
show that he was the king. While going around, at times he threw a handful of one-rupee silver coins at the onlookers
and enjoyed the scene of how the innocent Nepalis scrambled for picking up the coins. After a few days he did the same
thing in Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. Foreign dignitaries and local royalties riding on decorated elephants accompanied the
newly crowned king and queen and enjoyed the ceremonies of the highly expensive coronation performed at the cost of the
poor Nepalis.
Mahendra was a shrewd politician and ambitious person. He neglected to hold an election for a CA, and was not in a mood
to give in to the demands of the people for institutionalizing democracy. Rather he engaged in consolidating the power
in his hands and set up a secretariat at his palace parallel to the secretariat of the Government of Nepal. He ruled the
country by decree.
Nepalese people led by the NC leaders launched a non-cooperation movement demanding an election for a CA that would
write a constitution, and set the country on a democratic path. Mahendra felt that Nepalis would not leave him in peace
if he would not meet their demands. However, he bargained with the NC leaders over the writing of a constitution, and
succeeded the NC leaders to accept his constitution rather than holding an election for a CA. It was a third
constitution of Nepal after the first constitution introduced by the Rana Prime Minister in 1947 and the interim
constitution of 1951.
Following the king's constitution, a general election for a parliament was held in 1958, and an elected government was
formed. The NC won 79 seats in the 109-member parliament. The NC leaders formed an elected government that was supposed
to be the people's government. However, they could not only make it the Nepalese people's government but also even the
government of all NC people. The circle of the NC rulers became smaller and smaller ejecting even the sincere NC cadres
and leaders out of the power circle. Corrupt and insincere NC members successfully influenced the leaders and dominated
the administration in their interest rather than in the interest of the Nepalese people in general.
Mahendra has been watching the NC administration, and went on a tour of various parts of the country, and talked to the
people in person. He found that the Nepalese people were not happy with the NC administration, as the NC leaders have
been indulging in enjoying the power for their own interest and not meeting the people's aspirations for rule of law,
democracy and prosperity.
The corrupt NC administration created a favorable environment for Mahendra to grab the power from the elected
government. In addition, he used the religious fundamentalists to create violence and discord among the people in
various parts of the country. Mahendra used the favorable situation for grabbing the power.
On December 15, 1960 (Poush 01, 2017), with the help of the army, Mahendra tossed the third Constitution of Nepal into a
trashcan, dissolved the elected parliament, dismissed the government and put the NC leaders behind bars saying the
democratic parliamentary system of governance was foreign and not suitable to the Nepalese soils. He disbanded the
political parties and dismantled whatever democratic institutions built during the 10 years of democratic practices in
the country. It was the end of democracy in Nepal. He did not understand that it was the first nail he drove on the
coffin of the Shah dynasty.
After two years of his absolute administration, Mahendra promulgated a fourth constitution that made him
constitutionally the absolute ruler in 1962. He replaced the Government of Nepal with His Majesty's Government of Nepal,
and added royal to the names of the state agencies and organizations. He introduced the non-party political system
called Panchayat; however, he did not fail to add to it a word democracy.
Panchayat was the multi-tiered system. People elected their representatives to the Village Panchayats and Town
Panchayats. The elected local level representatives became the Electoral College for district representatives and the
district representatives in turn became the Electoral College for national Panchayat from which Mahendra chose men and
women for Prime Minister and ministers. Thus, Mahendra enjoyed absolute power during his heydays.
Panchayat lasted for 30 years. During this period it became synonymous with corruption, nepotism and the rule of
discretion. Mahendra sow the seeds of corruption, and institutionalize the state employees breaking the law with
impunity. Consequently, Nepalese people lived at the mercy of the state employees and the members of Panchayats.
Internationally, Mahendra set China against India, and took the benefits of the cold war prevailing at that time. The
international democratic community was afraid of making a communist revolution, and the communist international afraid
of democratic forces coming to power if not supported the administration of Mahendra. So, Mahendra's Panchayat
flourished in Nepal for some time. Mahendra died in 1972 and his son Birendra took over the state power.
In 1990, the democratic and communist forces united and challenged the the-king Birendra. After forty-nine days of
street rallies against Birendra and the Panchayat system his father introduced in place of the multi-party democratic
system, Birendra surrendered all power to the democratic and communist leaders, formed the Interim government as desired
by the political leaders for formulating a new fifth constitution, and reinstated the multi-party democratic system of
governance.
After making the multiparty system and the constitutional monarchy irremovable in the fifth constitution of Nepal of
1990, the then-political leaders thought that they have made the democratic system unshakable, and confined the king in
the palace forever by the constitution of 1990.
However, the history of political events seemed to be repeating again. In the elections held in 1991 for the House of
Representatives, Nepalese people gave a mandate to the NC putting 110 NC members in the 205-member House of
Representatives. The NC leaders gradually narrowed down the large circle of NC leaders and their cadres, and harvested
the benefits of the democratic system of governance for their own benefits. They lost the power to the Communist Party
of Nepal-Unified Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) for nine months after the second general elections for the House of
Representatives in 1994. For some time, both the NC and CPN-UML leaders were reluctant to mix up with the heavily
tainted former members of the Panchayats. After getting tainted with corruption, they shamelessly collaborated with the
former members of Panchayat, and ran the administration under the leadership of the members of the past Panchayat, and
heavily discredited the democratic system in Nepal, as in late 1950s.
A group of left politicians not satisfied with the performances of the government of the parliamentary parties submitted
the 40-point demand warning of taking up arms to revolt against the government if the government would not consider it
within the deadline they set for it. The then-Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba brushed them off sending them to take up
arms against the state in 1996. By 2006, they took majority of the rural areas under their control.
On June 01, 2001, the world press disclosed that Birendra and his family members were shot down in cold blood. The news
report blamed the then-crown prince for the murder of his parents and siblings. However, the then-elected government
headed by Girija Prasad Koirala could not form a commission on investigation into the murder of Birendra and his family,
and on the demise of the crown prince. He let the Shah prince called Gyanendra Shah manipulate the Standing Committee of
the Privy Council and the Constitution of Nepal of 1990 to declare the crown prince in coma as the king and declare
himself as the crown prince and then let the newly crowned king die and crown himself as the king of Nepal.
On February 01, 2005, the so-called king Gyanendra drove the last nail on the coffin of the Shah dynastic rule taking
absolute power in his hands suspending the Constitution of Nepal of 1990 and the constitutional monarchy, and becoming
the absolute monarch snapping cell phones and landline phones for several months, muzzling the press and putting
political leaders either in the house arrest or behind bars. He promised to bring the rebels under control, bring peace
and hold elections for the House of Representatives. He could do none of these things.
Gyanendra's absolute rule brought the parliamentary forces and the rebel forces together to reach a 12-point
understanding for finishing off the monarchy and declaring Nepal a democratic republic in November 2005. By April 2006,
they tore down the absolute monarchy and reinstated the House of Representatives dissolved in May 2002. The House
promulgated an Interim Constitution on January 15, 2007. Following the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007, 330-member
Interim Legislature-parliament including 83 rebel members was formed. After the third amendment to the Interim
Constitution, the Interim Legislature-parliament declared Nepal a democratic federal republic, and made the Prime
Minister an interim head of state and suspended the king on December 29, 2007.
The Government of Nepal had celebrated February 18, 1951 (Falgun 07, 2007) as the democracy day until Mahendra took over
the power in his hands on December 15, 1960 (Poush 01, 2017). Thereafter, His Majesty's Government of Nepal celebrated
December 15 (Poush 01) as the national day sidelining the democracy day for 30 years until the democratic forces tore
down the Panchayat system. Gyanendra would have celebrated the February 01 as another national day had he succeeded in
his mission to set up his absolute rule. Now, again the Government of Nepal headed by Girija Prasad Koirala wants to
celebrate the February 18 (Falgun 07) as the democracy day in a grand manner. Thus, democracy has taken a full circle of
events.
ENDS
**************
Siddhi B. Ranjitkar can be reached at srilaxmi_AT_wlink.com.np. His website is siddhiranjitkar.com