The republican and royalist forces seem to be on a collision course after pro-monarchy and pro-Hindu outfits recently took out rallies calling for the restoration of Nepal as a Hindu kingdom.

There was a big turnout of supporters on March 9 to welcome former king Gyanendra Shah back to Kathmandu at the end of his months-long tour of western Nepal. This rang alarm bells among pro-republican forces, some of which have decided to hold counter rallies in the Capital on March 28.

Its aim will be to foil the “conspiracies of the reactionary forces”, according to the Socialist Front Nepal that has vowed to fight “regressive” forces and protect the republican set-up.

The front on Saturday announced the protest programme after an interaction with some civil society members.

The four parties in the front are the CPN (Maoist Centre), the CPN (Unified Socialist), the Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal led by Netra Bikram Chand ‘Biplab’.

“In this difficult situation, the Socialist Front Nepal, in order to protect the federal democratic republic, is shouldering an important responsibility of countering the regressive and revivalist conspiracies in consultation with all sectors of the Nepali society such as political parties, civil society, intellectuals and those in favor of national independence,” the front said in a statement.

The marches on March 28 will culminate in a public gathering, the Front’s statement said. “We sincerely appeal to all justice-loving people to thwart the conspiracy of the regressive and reactionary forces by participating in this meeting.”

Pro-monarchy parties and their supporters have been riled, lately by CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s allegations that former king Gyanendra Shah was a “murderer of his brother” and “statute thief”. The entire family of King Birendra had been gunned down on the evening of June 1, 2001.

Coalition partners Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, who defend the federal democratic republic, are silent on the demonstrations in favour of monarchy and Hindu state. Some leaders of the two parties, however, have dared the former king to join politics and contest elections if he wants to regain his lost political space.

The Constituent Assembly in 2008 declared Nepal a secular federal republic, forcing Gyanendra Shah out of the royal palace.

Dahal’s accusation against the former king as being the “murderer of his own brother” and a “statute smuggler” was rebutted by the royalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), saying Dahal had become “restless and lost his control”.

“The way the Nepali people stood in favour of change,” the RPP stated, “has made Dahal panic.” That is why he is making “insignificant, baseless and unsubstantiated accusations against King Gyanendra”, Dhawal Shumsher Rana, chief of the RPP’s movement coordination committee, said in a statement.

“The RPP will not remain mute spectators and we challenge Dahal not to repeat such irresponsible statements,” Rana warned.

Addressing a public meeting on Friday, Dahal said that Nepali people knew the “murderer of king Birendra” and those behind the theft and smuggling of Nepal’s historic artefacts abroad.

On Saturday, Dahal doubled down on his comments on Friday. “I’ve been speaking for a proper investigation of the royal massacre since the time we [the Maoists] were underground,” said Dahal, referring to the insurgency he led. “I still believe the investigation into the royal massacre should be relaunched.”

Dahal came above ground in 2006 after the decade-long People’s Movement ended in a peace deal. A royal investigation into the massacre blamed Crown Prince Dipendra for the tragedy. There are still various conspiracy theories behind the motive of the massacre.

Madhav Kumar Nepal, chairman of the Unified Socialist, who had refused to sit on an earlier investigation committee, said days of dynastic rule are long gone. “They [the king] only looted the country in the name of a dynasty.”

Some forces are now fighting for a change in the system, he said. “It’s true that we need to change the current capitalist system but that does not mean we have to relapse into a feudal system that gives sweeping rights to the feudal lords.”

Madhav Nepal stressed that any change should be progressive, not “regressive”.

The four-party front also concluded that the poor performance of the Oli government and its undemocratic activities had squeezed people’s rights.

The front believes that corruption, rent seeking, and black-marketing have hit the economy hard and made the lives of the common people difficult. “Yet, the government is solely focused on the interests of middlemen and brokers as it mocks democratic values and principles,” the front stated.

The government is resorting to ordinances, and attempting to dictate the contents of the bills registered in Parliament, it said. “Due to misgovernance, public dissatisfaction and anger run high.”

This poses challenges to the federal democratic republic, national sovereignty, and people’s march towards socialism, the front says.

Due to the ongoing activities against the interests of the country and the people, “reactionary elements are conspiring to restore the monarchy,” it argues.