Nepali media smell a rat in Rajparishad convention

December 10, 2004
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After the Raj Parishad completed its regional conventions in all five development regions, King Gyanendra inaugurated it’s “central convention” at the Birendra International Convention Centre in the capital on Thursday, amid criticism from the political parties and huge street-protests from their sister organizations.

The major political parties of the country, including the CPN UML- a key coalition partner in the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government- and their sister organizations have termed the convention of the Raj Parishad as yet another proof of what they call King Gyanendra’s authoritarian ambitions.

In what was said to be a not-so-surprising development, all 11 ministers from the CPN UML, including Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari, boycotted the Raj Parishad convention. Even the ministers belonging to Nepali Congress (Democratic) boycotted all the proceedings of the convention except the inaugural session. This is perhaps the first time that the cabinet members boycotted a public function participated in by the King.

While the Raj Parishad’s central convention has faced the wrath of the country’s political parties, even the media has not taken it in positive light. And reports and op-eds appearing in the Nepali media, it seems, have smelled a rat in the central convention of the Raj Parishad.

Some media reports have even challenged the legitimacy of the convention. “The Raj Parishad which has drawn itself in a political and constitutional controversy by demanding an active role of the king after the Royal Proclamation of October 4, 2002 has already held four regional conventions and has belabored the same demand. But the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal,1990,  has given no right to the Rajparishad to carry out other activities except taking decisions regarding the Heir to the Throne,” writes Saptahik, a popular weekly newspaper of the Kantipur Publications.

“Is this campaign of the Raj Parishad not a natural outcome of the October 4, 2004 Royal Move? That the King is being linked with or being seen close to a campaign initiated by people like Satchit  Shumshere JB Rana (former chief of the army staff and one of the members of the organizing committee of Raj Parishad’s convention) who have not been able to stomach the fact that the sovereignty lies with the people, will portray the institution of monarchy as a rival and competitor to the people,” writes Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of Samay weekly in his regular column ‘Zero Hour’.

In its cover story on the ongoing Raj Parishad Convention, Samay weekly has said that though Nepali politics is at a difficult crossroads, the institution of monarchy has now headed towards even more difficult situation. “At a time when the international community is mounting pressure for an agreement between the constitutional king and the parliamentary political parties to bring the Maoists to the political mainstream, the Raj Parishad convention appears to be an episode of the effort by the active loyalists to alienate the King from all sides. Despite their expectations, the King did not address the inaugural session of the convention and thus steered clear from showing his direct involvement in this,” wrote Kiran Bhandari and Sharad Adhikari, in the latest edition of Samay weekly.

Reports even claimed that the boycott of the Raj Parishad convention by all 11 UML ministers has pushed the Royal Palace to a decision to oust the CPN-UML from the current coalition government of Sher Bahadur Deuba. “The palace seems in a mood to get rid of all UML ministers in the current cabinet. It has started pressurizing Deuba for that. A meeting was held at the Royal Palace in which HM the King, premier Deuba and chairman of Raj Parishad, Parashu Narayan Chaudhary, were present,” Saptahik Bimarsh, a popular tabloid, reported Friday.

“The Raj Parishad convention that has been organized to express commitment to the political leadership to be undertaken by the King, has led the campaign of narrowing the institution of monarchy to a handful of `Mandales’ by widening the rift between the King and the political parties. Expressing an abstract commitment to multiparty democracy, the Raj Parishad has ultimately openly advocated an active leadership of the King,” wrote Rastriya Bimarsh.

However, PM Deuba has defended the convention by saying that he did not see any extra-constitutional activity on the part of the Rajparishad at Thursday’s inaugural session. “I did not find any comment by the Rajparishad chairman against the constitution. Nor did Rana (Satchit Shumsgere) advocate active role for the monarchy,” he said adding, “It was too early to draw a conclusion on the Raj Parishad’s move without ascertaining whether they encourage the King to become active or not.”