Why Former King’s Visit To Bhutan Has Triggered Speculation About Push To Make Nepal A Constitutional Monarchy

Former Nepal king, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, landed at Paro airport in Bhutan Thursday (3 October) afternoon on what was avowedly a private four-day visit to the Himalayan kingdom. 

But the visit, at the invitation of Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk, has set off speculation about moves to make Nepal a constitutional monarchy. 

The buzz in diplomatic and political circles in Kathmandu is that Gyanendra’s visit to Bhutan is part of an elaborate strategy by some of Nepal’s politicians and its powerful neighbours to nudge the country towards a constitutional monarchy. 

Nepal’s political instability and its fallout

Nepal’s endemic political instability and frequent changes in government has resulted in a continuous governance deficit. The country has had 13 Prime Ministers and 16 governments in the 16 years since it became a ‘federal democratic republic’ in 2008.

“This acute political uncertainty has affected not only Nepal’s polity, but also its neighbours. Frequent changes of governments and Prime Ministers has meant changes and reversals of policies and programmes. This puts bilateral agreements and also ties with neighbours on an uncertain plank,” Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) deputy chairman Buddhiman Tamang told Swarajya over phone from Kathmandu. 

The RPP, as well as its close political cousin--the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal (RPPN)--want Nepal to be made into a constitutional monarchy and restoration of the country’s status as a ‘Hindu rashtra’. 

But it is not only the two royalist parties which want Gyanendra to be made a constitutional monarch. Many leaders of other major political parties--the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)--are also veering around to the view that a constitutional monarch can provide a measure of stability to the country. 

Nepal’s Maoists support the idea

CPN (Maoist) chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal met RPP leader Rabindra Misra and the two of them discussed the idea of making Nepal a constitutional monarchy. Misra, in a social media post, claimed that Dahal now supports the idea of a constitutional monarchy. 

Though some Maoist leaders denied this claim, Dahal is known to have spoken in favour of having an elected monarchy like in Cambodia or a nominated monarchy instead of a hereditary one. 

Dahal, say his own party leaders, is flexible and will go along with a system that ensures stability and peace and will enhance Nepal’s standing in the world. A constitutional monarchy will ensure precisely this, feels Dahal. 

However, two other communist parties--the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist)--are against the idea and fear that Nepal will slip into greater turmoil. 

They also feel that any move to restore the monarchy, even a constitutional monarchy, will result in a democratic backslide. 

However, some sections of the leadership of both these parties, especially the CPN (UML) whose chairman K.P Sharma Oli is the current Prime Minister, have started supporting the idea of a constitutional monarchy. 

“A constitutional monarchy like what is there in England and some other countries with iron-clad safeguards to keep the country an electoral democracy will perhaps be good for Nepal. The current system with a figurehead president who is elected by politicians has not really delivered and it is time to think out of the box,” said CPN (UML) MP Amar Rayamajhi. 

Other smaller parties, including some of the Madhesi parties, are also warming up to the idea of making Nepal a constitutional monarchy. 

“If we can put in adequate safeguards to prevent any misadventure, a constitutional monarchy will not be a bad idea. After all, the monarchy is part of Nepal’s history and heritage. Modern-day Nepal owes its existence to the Shah dynasty (Gyanendra was the last reigning monarch of this dynasty) which unified small kingdoms into the Kingdom of Nepal, the precursor of modern Nepal, in 1768,” said a CPN (UML) MP who did not want to be named. 

Many in Nepal believe that both India and China are nudging the political establishment of Nepal towards adopting a constitutional monarchy. 

India had, right from 2005 when widespread protests erupted against King Gyanendra’s rule, been counselling all parties against abolishing the monarchy. In May 2006, New Delhi mediated a deal between King Gyanendra and Nepal’s political parties to ensure a place for the monarchy in the country’s new proposed constitution. 

That agreement was violated by Nepal’s political parties, especially the Nepali Congress, which got all powers of the king scrapped and reduced him to a toothless figurehead through an act of Parliament in June 2006.

Again, while brokering a peace accord between the country’s Maoists and Nepal’s government in November 2006 (the accord ended the decade-long Maoist insurgency in Nepal), India had prevailed upon the Maoists to drop their demand for abolishing the monarchy completely and exiling the king. 

“India has had traditionally strong ties with the monarchy in Nepal. India believes that the monarchy can have a stabilising influence over Nepal’s fractious polity and political system. A constitutional monarchy can provide continuity and can also act as a bulwark against destabilising influences,” said a former ambassador of Nepal to India. The former ambassador, who also served as a federal minister, did not want to be named given the sensitive nature of the subject. 

“Other countries, especially our trade and investment partners, also suffer the consequences of our internal political instability and frequent changes in the government caused by shifting alliances between parties and defections or parties splintering. Frequent changes lead to framing of new policies and overturning or modifying existing ones. That is why our major neighbours (India and China) desire political stability,” explained a senior functionary of the Nepal Institute for Policy Research. 

A former deputy executive director of the Institute of Foreign Affairs, Nepal (IFA)--a policy research think-tank under Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs--told Swarajya that given the fact that political instability in Nepal will not end soon, a constitutional monarchy can provide a continuum and stability that the country so badly requires. 

China, he pointed out, has cordial ties with King Gyanendra and would also like Nepal to have a constitutional monarchy. 

“China tried its best for many years to unite our (Nepal’s) communist parties in order to bring about political stability in the country, but failed. China also believes, like India, that it can deal with a constitutional monarch in the face of frequent changes in government in Nepal and that a monarch can ensure continuity of China’s interests (trade and investments) in Nepal,” said the IFA deputy director. 

Significance of King Gyanendra’s visit to Bhutan

It is in this backdrop that King Gyanendra’s current visit to Bhutan assumed significance. “There are whispers that Gyanendra is holding discussions with the Bhutan King, who is close to India, on political developments and the political system in Nepal. Many here (in Nepal) think that New Delhi has conveyed an important plan to Gyanendra through King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk,” said a senior functionary of the Nepal Institute of Strategic Studies. 

Bhutan is a constitutional monarchy and though the country is a multi-party democracy governed by an elected government, the king has very limited powers. “However, the Bhutan king as head of state is a symbol of the unity of the kingdom and commands immense love and respect from his people. Bhutan’s prestige in the league of nations is enhanced by the king,” said the IFA’s former deputy executive director. 

New Delhi, feel many in Nepal, is nudging Kathmandu to take a few lessons from Bhutan and its monarch. “It is true that Bhutan commands a lot of respect due to its monarch. Governments change there, but the monarch provides continuity and stability,” said the Nepali Congress leader. 

King Gyanendra, who was received by Bhutan’s princess Pem Lhaden Wangchuck at Paro airport, has already held extensive discussions with King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk as well as prominent politicians and civil society leaders in Thimpu. 

Political and diplomatic circles in Kathmandu say that a multi-pronged approach aimed at making Nepal a constitutional monarchy has been adopted. 

“The primary one is to drive a broad consensus among all parties about the need for a constitutional monarchy. Also, Nepal’s civil society has to be on board with this. Legal and constitutional experts are working silently on what model can be adopted and changes made to the constitution to have a monarch as a titular head of state. Another aspect is for both India and China to evolve a broad consensus on this issue,” said the RPP leader. 

The whole project is a work in progress and will take time to fructify. The visit of King Gyanendra to Bhutan is one step, albeit an important one, towards the realisation of the goal.