June First

It has been 23 years since the massacre of the royal family on the night of 1 June 2001. Many Nepalis have still not come to terms with the tragedy, with some maintaining that the monarchy would be intact if King Birendra was still alive.

Nepal is now a republic, but many citizens are disillusioned with the elected leaders and feckless politicians. There is a movement to restore the monarchy. Excerpts from an editorial published 20 years ago this week marking the third anniversary of the massacre published on issue #198 28 May – 3 June 2004:

Initially the country seemed to recover from the nightmare surprisingly unscathed. There was an orderly (given the circumstances) transition to a new king, the institutions of democracy tottered, but stayed intact. The Nepali people, used to suffering misery and shock, moved on. They blamed it all on a bad national karma and tried to put the past behind them while struggling with day-to-day survival. Making a distinction between a king and the continuity of the institution of monarchy, we looked to the future and hoped for the best.

Three years later, it is clear the Nepali people never really came to terms with that tragedy. By trying to forget it, many of our questions remained unanswered and the royal family remained reclusive and secretive. It was an opportunity to make a clean break with the past, adopt a new transparent royalty, reinvent a modern monarchy perhaps with a new mission for national well-being funded by a trust in the name of late King Birendra. It was a chance to project a kingship that finally took off its dark shades and made eye-contact with the Nepali people, providing benign guidance and being a unifying force.

But there was little effort at damage control. The increasingly shrill republican slogans in the jungles, and lately on the streets, are a delayed reaction to June First. As the country descends into instability and violence, the people want a monarchy that stays above the fray as a respected symbol of unity and neutrality, not as another political power-player.

For archived material of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, site search: nepalitimes.com