Nepali Royalists urge government for consensus on New System ahead of Kathmandu Protest

Apr 09, 2025

Kathmandu (Nepal), April 09 (ANI): Nepal's royalist party, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), has announced a proposal to develop a new political system as it prepares to launch a capital-centric protest from the third week of this month. On Tuesday, at a show of power in Kathmandu attended by hundreds, the president of the right-wing pro-monarchist party, Rajendra Lingden, proposed a new system that would also accommodate the monarchy. Formed in the 1990s after the lifting of the ban on the formation of political parties by the then-monarchical system, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has since served as a force always supporting kingship. It has also taken part in periodic elections and presented its demands. In 2008, right after the overthrow of monarchy rule in Nepal, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) secured 8 seats in the then Constituent Assembly out of the 575-seated strong parliament. In the 2013 election, it was able to secure 13 seats, while in 2017, it fell down to 1 seat. However, it bounced back in the 2022 election with 14 seats. Since its inception, the party has supported the Hindu state and kingship as interdependent in the tiny nation buffered between two giants--India and China. The Himalayan nation of Nepal, with a population of 30.55 million, has a Hindu population of 81.19 per cent, as per the census of 2022. The Monarch of the Himalayan nation, who follows the lineage of the Shah dynasty, was revered as an incarnation of the Hindu god Bishnu. With the abolishment of the monarchy, it was limited to a very small group, which is now re-emerging. The Himalayan nation in the year 2006 had abolished the centuries-old constitutional monarchy after then King Gyanendra seized power and imposed emergency, sending all the leaders under house arrest. The movement, also referred to as "People's Movement II," witnessed bloodshed, with dozens killed in the crackdown against protestors by the government.