Various pro-monarchy forces have regrouped recently aiming to reinstate the Hindu kingdom, claiming that “two decades of bad governance, diminishing national image and the country’s standing in foreign relations [have] made it necessary to restore the Hindu kingdom.”

The 240-year-old hereditary monarchical regime was overthrown from the country through the People’s Movement in 2006 before the Constituent Assembly in 2008 institutionalised a republican system.

A group of pro-monarchy leaders on Monday formed a joint movement committee headed by the 87-year-old Panchayat-era leader Nabaraj Subedi.

In a press conference held after the joint meeting in Kathmandu on Monday, leaders from the scattered royalist forces argued that they would work for forging a new agreement—a ‘Nabin Samajhdari’—among all the political forces that would give space for the deposed king.

Encouraged by the general people’s participation in a rally held on March 9, the conservative forces tried to regroup and push for the king’s return.

The concept of the new agreement refers to the realisation, in the present context, that neither the exclusion of political parties by the king nor sidelining of the king by political parties can lead Nepal to success, says the statement released after the meeting.

The meeting held in Dillibazar, Kathmandu also nominated members in the Subedi-led committee. Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) chair Rajendra Lingden and other senior leaders from the same party Pashupati Shamsher Rana and Prakash Chandra Lohani have been named as members. Kamal Thapa, the chair of RPP-Nepal, pro-monarchy leader Keshar Bahadur Bista, Asmita Bhandari, the vice-president of Bishwo Hindu Mahasang, Durga Prasai, a controversial medical businessman, and television anchor Rama Singh are other members of the committee.

RPP senior vice-president Rabindra Mishra has been named as its member-secretary.

However, RPP chair Lingden has refused to join the committee as its member. Speaking to the Post, Lingden said that he can’t be the member of a committee formed without his knowledge.

“The coordinator of the committee himself has declared that one cannot remain in the committee while being affiliated with a political party and has even announced his resignation from RPP membership,” Lingden said. “So how would a political person like me fit there?”

He, however, lauded the initiative to bring people from different walks of life together to restore monarchy.

RPP-Nepal chair Kamal Thapa and some other leaders are also reportedly unhappy with being included in the committee without their knowledge. The Post was unable to reach Thapa for a comment.

With this, the pro-monarchy movement has suffered a setback even before it began. However, committee leaders claim that minor obstacles are natural while undertaking major initiatives.

The selection of Subedi also reminds of former king Gyanendra Shah’s move to pick Panchayat-era leaders Tulsi Giri and Kirtinidhi Bista when he took absolute power in 2005. The move triggered the People’s Movement that eventually overthrew the monarchy.

The statement released after the meeting notes that there is widespread frustration among people. “Distrust, anger, and hatred towards the top leaders of major political parties have increased,” it reads. “If this situation and condition persists for a long time, the nation may face an existential crisis, leading to circumstances beyond control.”

Subedi said that restoration of Hindu Kingdom and abolition of federalism are their key demands.

“We are yet to finalise the date of the protest, but we will start from around March 28,” Subedi said.

The committee's member-secretary Mishra claims the national problems seen at present can be addressed with the reinstatement of the former king.

For Mishra, a systemic overhaul can address the longstanding weaknesses of the country. “Current political practices have normalised appointing judges to the Supreme Court and officials of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) based on power-sharing among the major political parties,” Mishra argued. “If political influence determines appointments in institutions like the Judicial Council and the Constitutional Council, can they genuinely uphold these principles?”

He also blamed the current electoral system for political instability.

He claimed that immediate abolition of federalism would save at least 10 percent of the national budget. “That amount should instead be invested in education and healthcare,” he said.

Interestingly, to “cleanse this mess”, the monarchists have chosen as their leader an individual who was in active politics four decades ago under the auspices of the king.

Mishra claimed that Subedi was chosen as he could bring all conservative forces together.

Subedi said their movement will be peaceful. He added that they will also attempt to engage in dialogue with political parties, but if they are unwilling to engage, there will be no alternative to intensifying the agitation.

Meanwhile, the CPN-UML, which is headed by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, has stated that any attempt to reverse the democratic republic of Nepal would be unsuccessful.

During a secretariat meeting of the party on Monday, the UML lambasted the recent organised activities aimed at undermining the democratic republic and the Constitution of Nepal.

Reading out the meeting’s decisions, Pradeep Gyawali, a deputy general secretary of the UML, emphasised the party’s serious concern about attempts to challenge the democratic republic established by people after seven decades of struggle. He pointed out that the current political system cannot be reversed, and any move to roll back the country into a monarchical system would not succeed.

The establishment of democratic republic is the result of the seven-decade-long sacrifice of the Nepali people, Gyawali said after the meeting. “Any attempt to undo the people’s decision and push the country backward will not succeed,” he said. “The Constitution of Nepal was adopted after realising that monarchy, which repeatedly attacked the rights of the people and leaned towards autocracy, could not coexist with democracy.”

The CPN-UML also condemned the debate on the proposal to revive the hereditary monarchy in the 21st century, labelling it “absurd, harmful, and pointless.”