Nepal is reverberating with chants of frustrated citizens to restore the Hindu monarchy once again and making it the primary governing body of the Himalayan nation. On Saturday, innumerable protestors rocked the streets of capital Kathmandu with chants like “King, please come back and save the country” and “monarchy must return to save the country”. The recent wave of massive protests has support from the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, royalist groups and pro-monarchy citizens, who have had just about enough of communist misrule in Nepal.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in Nepal, meanwhile, has issued directives to 77 districts to quell the current spate of protests, through force if needed. Needless to say, this is sufficient to suggest that the KP Sharma Oli regime in the Himalayan nation, which has tremendously cozied up to China, is shaking in its boots looking at the pro-Hindu kingdom protests rock Kathmandu. Interestingly, the demands to restore the ‘Hindu’ identity of Nepal and a reverting of government in the hands of the monarchy has gained tremendous pace after a series of high profile diplomatic and strategic visits by Indian officials.
Since late October, India has sent at least three high-ranking officials to Nepal to reset ties between the two countries. First, the RA&W chief, who heads India’s External Intelligence Agency, had visited Nepal to ease out tensions, followed by the Indian Army Chief General Mukund M Naravane heading to Kathmandu. Most recently, the Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla was deputed by New Delhi to work his diplomatic magic in Nepal.
Such visits have indeed had a very positive impact for India, as ties between the two nations have thawed and are on the path of warming up. Simultaneously, chatter suggests that the Nepal government has begun drawing a safe distance from China and its wolf warrior in Kathmandu – Hou Yanqi, who until recently was literally calling the shots with regards to the erstwhile Hindu kingdom’s foreign policy.
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It cannot possibly be a coincidence that merely days after a series of high-profile visits by India, calls for restoration of the country’s Hindu identity and monarchy are reinvigorated. It must be remembered that the present BJP government in India will wholeheartedly accept Nepal going back to a constitutional Hindu monarchy, as a major role in dismantling the same was played by the present government’s rival party in India – the Congress.
Under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Nepal’s monarchy was strongarmed and bullied to give up on a 200-year-old rule for the sake of ‘democracy’. This was the first time that Nepal was forced to look up to China for help, ultimately culminating with Beijing now wielding full power over the Himalayan nation. The Communist government in Nepal has single-handedly sent ties with India to a historic low at the behest of China. As such, nothing would work better for India than a return of the monarchy, and along with it, of the Hindu Himalayan kingdom proud of its cultural ties with India.
It must be remembered that Nepal was the only Hindu kingdom in the modern world before being run over by communists and Chinese-interests. A restoration of Nepal’s ‘Hindu nation’ identity will go a long way in connecting it to India via an unbreakable cultural umbilical cord, which the fire of no dragon would be able to harm.