‘let the King come (to power), peace will follow’
Afroz Alam Sahil, BeyondHeadlines
After abdication of the throne, the King and the Prince were passive. Now they are increasingly active in the political circles. They are giving interviews to the media and participating in socio-religious functions.
During this Dussehera, the former king along with his wife Komal Shah paid homage at different temples of Goddess Durga in Kathmandu and have been greeted favorably everywhere. On Vijaya Dashami the former king offered vermillion at Nirmal Niwas at Maharajgung to people who visited him for blessings.
Many people were extremely unhappy when the former king who was invited but not allowed to attend the Indrajit Festival on 11 September 2011. The government denied to provide any security to the former king and warned him to attend the festival at his own risk.
Wherever the former king goes the common people follow him and are seen shouting slogans like ‘Our Beloved King and Monarch should come back.’ Prince Parash was seen in recent times attending several events and offering worship at temples. He was there at an event of Khadki Society, offered worship at the Lakshmi Narayan Temple and was seen supervising the work of a Dharam Shala (Guest House).
The king also joined the devotees to offer worship at Mahadev Temple at Viratnagar and Lalitpur. He has been warmly greeted by people during all these public appearances. It is said that the prince is attracting the support of the youth. Many were injured when attempting to see the prince when he visited different places like Birganj and Parsa.
The King has been invited to become the chief guest to many functions including the Dasai Mahostav at Bagala Mukhi temple of Patan. There have been huge crowds in all these public appearances.
On the occasion of Dussehra this year the King has appealed for consolidating democracy. He said that democracy is “as important as making people feel that this is a system that improves their quality of life and gives them boundless opportunities.” People have shouted that ‘let the King come (to power), peace will follow’.
This is the third part of a series of articles on politics of monarchy and democracy in contemporary Nepal. The Journalist visited Nepal and interacted with people from a large spectrum of life.
