Gyanendra's struggle for relevance

Nepal's Democracy Day is observed every year on February 19, the day the 1950-51 revolution overthrew the rule of the Ranas and established Nepal's first democratically elected government.

- ADITI PHADNIS

Nepal's Democracy Day is observed every year on February 19, the day the 1950-51 revolution overthrew the rule of the Ranas and established Nepal's first democratically elected government. But King Mahendra dismissed Parliament in 1960 and established the partyless panchayat system, which lasted three decades. Though the panchayat regime held elections, political parties were banned and authoritarian control persisted. A Jan Andolan in the 1980s led to the establishment of a multiparty parliamentary government but it was still a guided democracy. Nepal abolished the monarchy altogether only in 2008. Vestiges of the monarchy and its thinking survive in the form of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), which is the fifth-largest in Nepal's Lower House.

The irony was palpable, therefore, when former king Gyanendra (the monarchy was abolished on his watch) addressed Nepal in a video on the eve of democracy day (using the Royal "we"): "Time has come for us to assume responsibility to protect the country and bring about national unity." He added: "We have been generous in the interests of the nation. We have given up our positions and privileges wishing for the good of the people. Sacrifice will never be small."