In Nepal, monarchy makes way for democracy

updated 10:35 p.m. ET April 5, 2008

KATMANDU, Nepal - It was a surprising sight in a land grown accustomed to surprises: the king at the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz, driving himself and his queen through the crowded streets of Katmandu.

"He was in the front seat! In traffic!" said Krishna Chetri, a 56-year-old shop owner.

"Where's the majesty?" he asked. "This is something I never would have believed."

In this Himalayan land, the Shah dynasty of kings reputed to be reincarnated Hindu gods is being pushed to possible extinction by the fallout from a decade-long communist rebellion and King Gyanendra's own autocratic ways.

Nepal votes Thursday for an assembly that will rewrite its constitution, the latest effort to transform a troubled, near-medieval land into a modern democracy.

And the assembly's first order of business: eliminating the monarchy.

"This king has done too much harm. He's shown us that we don't need kings," said Krishna Prashad Sitaula, a cabinet minister and a leader of the centrist Nepali Congress party who helped negotiate the peace deal with the rebels, known as the Maoists.

Not everyone is so sure.

"This king lost the people's favor," said Ram Shresthra Prasad, a 42-year-old priest at the Pashupatinath Temple, the clamorous shrine to which Gyanendra drove last month.

But "this talk of a secular republic is ignorant," he said. "Our kings created Nepal. They protect our Hindu religion. The kings are the symbol of Nepal."

End of the line?
Yet in many demonstrative ways, Gyanendra's 269-year-old Shah dynasty has reached the end of the line.

In January, Nepal's interim parliament formally declared the country a secular republic. Gyanendra's portrait has disappeared from shop walls and the currency. "Royal" has been removed from the name of the army and national airline. References to the king are gone from the national anthem.

Gyanendra has also endured other indignities. His $3.1 million annual allowance and 10 of the family's palaces were taken away, as were the queen's beauticians and about half his ceremonial guard.

Gyanendra can probably afford the losses. Before assuming the throne, he was known as a hardheaded businessman with interests in tourism, tea and tobacco.

He can also afford to hire his own driver, and did his own driving to show that he is at the people's disposal in what ever role it chooses, said a palace official who spoke anonymously because the government has told Gyanendra not to make public statements.

Split among the elite
Gyanendra's aides and supporters are hoping that the fractious political elite will be unable to agree on dumping him, and will also head public opinion, which seems far from unanimous about abolishing the monarchy.

A survey conducted in January by Interdisciplinary Analysts, a private firm in Katmandu, found 49 percent of Nepalis favored retaining the monarchy, and 12 percent undecided.

But Gyanendra, personally, fared far worse. The 3,000 people questioned gave him an average popularity rating of 2.8 on a scale of 1 to 8, the lowest of any major political figure. The poll gave a margin of error of two percentage points.

MORE FROM SOUTH & CENTRAL ASIA

South & Central Asia Section Front

Suicide blast targets Pakistani police Afghan officials: U.S. missiles killed civilians One year on, Pakistan marks Red Mosque siege   It pays to go in an Indian public toilet Swords, bombs seized inside Afghan prison Confessed serial killer to marry Indian party supports U.S. nuke deal South & Central Asia Section Front   Add South & Central Asia headlines to your news reader: