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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
People's Power Prevails Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Dipendra, Nepal Oct 6, 2006
Peace & Conflict   Opinions
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PEOPLE'S POWER PREVAILS
The Royal declaration on Monday night, April 24 at 11:30pm on national and
private television by King Gyanendra, reinstating the House of
Representatives and thereby handing the power back to the people was a
sight to behold. To see an arrogant autocratic Monarch, back down and
bow down to the will of the people is indeed a lesson for the entire
world to see and learn. It showed that when an autocratic ruler, who
has scant regards for the well being and welfare of his subjects,
tramples down upon the people of the nation and seizes their basic
rights then there will be a mass upheaval the likes of which are not
seen very often.

This uprising cut across all barriers -economic, social and
political- to unite the people of Nepal in a joint movement to
overthrow the autocratic regime of the King and reinstate people's
power in the form of democracy. It was a broad based people's
movement and for 19 days the people of Nepal stood stoically and
heroically in face of unprovoked brutality in the form of batons, tear
gases, rubber bullets and live bullets which the King used in order to
suppress the people's movement and remain on his throne. Hundreds of
thousands of people came to the streets, some walking for over a week
to reach the cities to protest against the dictatorial rule of the
King. By and large, it was a peaceful movement. Some may say, how can
you call it a peaceful movement when over 15 people died and over 5000
were wounded, some disabled for life, but what needs to be analyzed is
the fact that all of those 15 were the peaceful demonstrators and of
the 5000 or more, over 90% were again the demonstrators. Don't those
figures speak for themselves? If, as those in support of the King
said, there were indeed Maoists rebels in the crowds, wouldn't there
have been at least some loss of lives in the side of the security
forces. After all, the Maoists do indeed have arms and ammunition and
have shown no hesitation to use it when they felt the need. If there
were indeed any Maoists in the hordes of people coming out into the
streets, then they were also participating in a peaceful non-violent
manner. The security forces under the orders of the King fired tear
gas canisters, baton charged the protesters, and fired rubber bullets
and live bullets when the mass tried to move forward to demonstrate
before the palace. No doubt, some protesters threw bricks and stones
at the security forces but no one brought any weapons along to use
against the security forces. The general populace of Nepal may not
have guns and ammunition at their disposal, but they certainly do have
knives, swords and khukuris, which they should have brought with
themselves to the pro-democracy protests if they were indeed as violent
as the way the Government was trying to make them out to be. The
Government, under the direct orders of the King, tried everything in
the book and more to quell the people's mass movement. But the will
of the people stood firm. The people of Nepal had had a taste of
democracy and they were not willing to settle for anything less. In
Kathmandu, for 19 days, life as we know it came to a standstill. It
was almost like an alternate universe. Everything remained closed-
shops, offices, hotels and transport-prices soared as food and fuel
became scarce and the people had to bear untold hardships. To top it
all, the King imposed curfews to prohibit the movement of the people
and stop them from joining pro-democracy rallies. The harder the King
tried and more the power he used to suppress the movement of the
people, the more resolute became the will of the people. One could
literally see, unfolding right before ones eyes, the way the people of
Nepal gelled together to overcome the iron fist of the Monarchy.
Politicians, political activists, human rights activists, lawyers,
doctors, students, medics, media personnel, professionals, youth and
housewives, Nepali's from all walks of life came together for the
pro-democracy rallies. And with each passing day, the numbers swelled.
But also, the mood and direction of the movement changed, what had
initially begun as a pro-democracy movement started to turn into an
anti-monarchy movement. On the 16th day of the protests, the King made
a conciliatory gesture and asked the 7 political parties to recommend a
Prime Minister but it really was too little too late. Instead people
turned up in even larger numbers to rally for democracy. He tried to
quell it down with the brutal use of force but the will of the people
could not be broken. In the end, on the 19th day, after intense
diplomatic pressures and the declaration of the political parties to
rally over two million demonstrators on the streets of Kathmandu, the
impasse ended. At 11:30pm, on a nationally televised statement, King
Gyanendra in one of his most humble statements, acknowledged the





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Dipendra


Dipendra Tamang is the Director at the Alliance for Peace - Nepal (www.afpnepal.org), a non-partisan , non-profit NGO working to enable and empower the youth of Nepal.
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