A Japanese journalist, Kiyoko Ogura has beautifully chronicled the People’s Movement of 1990 that ushered in the multi-party democracy in Nepal. Nepalnews brings to you selected chapters from the book “Kathmandu Spring: The People’s Movement of 1990” by Ms. Ogura published by Himal Books in 2001 and reprinted in 2004.
King Birendra dissolves the cabinet
By Kiyoko Ogura
The king’s proclamation began exactly at 6:45 a.m. It began with the usual opening words ‘Beloved people’. He then went on: “Respect for the ideals and values of democracy has always guided us in the conduct of the affairs of state. It was in this spirit that we held a national referendum in 1980 to allow the people to choose the kind of changes they wanted in the polity of the country. It is the government’s duty also to maintain law and order. Regrettably, since the present council of ministers has not been able to do so, resulting in the loss of life and property, we have, in consonance with the popular will and in accordance with the Constitution of Nepal, dissolved the present council of ministers. In view of special circumstances arising in the country, we have, through this proclamation, in accordance with Clause 1 of Article 81 of the Constitution of Nepal, entrusted honourable Mr Lokendra Bahadur Chand to form a council of ministers. This council of ministers will also consult people holding different political views. The Rastriya Panchayat will also be summoned into session. No polity can be an end in itself. Rather, it should serve as the institutional framework to promote the rights, interests, and welfare of the people. As it is the popular will which has always guided the nature of our polity, we will accordingly be constituting a constitutional reforms committee to make recommendations for political reforms which the Nepali people desire. A Commission will also be set up to investigate the unfortunate incidents that had taken place in different parts of the country involving the loss of life and property. Finally, at a time when the country has yet to recover from the economic hardships inflicted over the course of the past year, the Nepalis more than ever have to act in unison and in self discipline to help maintain peace and tranquility in the country. May Lord Pashupatinath bless us all. Jai Nepal”
It was a proclamation fraught with ambiguity. What most people understood was only that instead of Marich Man Singh Shrestha, another pancha had become the prime minister. Complex though ran through people’s minds. Umesh Shrestha did not know how to judge the proclamation, so he contacted the other parties and they decided to meet immediately. The emergency meeting was attended by representatives from the Ma-Le, i.e. the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxists Leninists), the Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal (Fourth Congress), and the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxists), and they were to decide whether they should lead Patan’s demonstration to Kathmandu. There was no question that they would protest against the proclamation, it was only whether they should head towards Kathmandu or not.
As soon as he heard the king’s broadcast, Sanu Raja Shakya rushed out of his house with a flag in his hand. He got his friends together and began a speech at the temple of Jaisidewal. He announced, “The king’s proclamation this morning is a deception against the people. We have to continue this movement until we overthrow the Panchayat system and restore freedom of political activities.”
Scores of people who had been drawn by his speech clapped their hands in appreciation. Sanu Raja did not talk for a long and instead led the listeners north towards Naradevi. When they reached there, seeing a police truck coming towards them, they turned right to go towards Bhedasing. Unfortunately, they were caught between two groups of policemen. What took place there was day’s first clash.
Ishwar Pokharel, one of the main persons in Ma-Le’s Kathmandu Valley Action Committee, heard the king’s proclamation at the headquarters of the Central High Command with this party’s general secretary, Madan Bhandari, and another member of the High command, Madhav Kumar Nepal. Although it was indeed the party headquarters, it was a small and simple room they have rented at the floor of a private house in a shabby area in Teku.
After the broadcast over, Ishwar and Madhav Kumar left for the nearby office of Shangarsha Bulletin that their party had been publishing. They wanted to use the telephone there to get information on what was happening elsewhere. The first one with news for them was Binda Pandey, a central committee member of the ANNFSU who was also in charge of Ma-Le’s information center during the movement. “Demonstrations are happening in many places, but the people seem to be at a loss, for there is nobody to lead the demonstrations,” she reported.
Ishwar then got in touch with Raghuji Pant, a journalist and a member of the party’s publicity section, to tell him to lead people to the demonstration in Kathmandu. Next he called Modnath Prashrit in Chyasal and told him to bring the Patan demonstrations to Kathmandu. Ishwar also tried to contact Radha Krishna Mainali, Ma-Le’s representative in the United Left Front and the main link with the Nepali Congress, but without success.
In a house on the south side of the square at Nakbahal, the representatives of four parties had finally reached a conclusion and they came out into the square where many people were waiting to hear what they had decided. Upendra Bhattarai from the Nepali Congress stood up in front of the crowd and made the announcement: “To protest the king’s proclamation this morning, we have decided to demonstrate in Patan. Please gather here at Nakbahal at exactly twelve o’clock.”
The people got really angry when they heard that and began shouting, “Why do we demonstrate only in Patan? Why don’t we go to Kathmandu?”
They had already news that the people of Kathmandu were coming to Patan and they too wanted to demonstrate in Kathmandu. The party representatives huddled together again. They felt they could not ignore the will of the people and sent out words all over Patan: “Gather at Nakbahal at once.”