KATHMANDU: Nepal's dethroned and disgraced king will enter active politics soon as the people will push Gyanendra to "serve the nation", a top aide of the former monarch has said. "He is silent for a while," Faniraj Pathak, former press secretary of the Narayanhiti royal palace said, adding Gyanendra will not remain silent for long.
"Just like the former Cambodian king, he will enter national politics sooner rather than later, people themselves will pull Gyanendra into politics to serve the nation," he was quoted as saying by Kantipur online today. Royalists claim Gyanendra will join active politics. Pathak said there are people who wish the former king should speak his mind. That is why he is mooting the issue, the former royal aide stressed.
He underlined that just like former monarchs in India, Gyanendra will serve the nation by embarking upon active politics one day. Pathak said according to his understanding the former royal family will actively participate in serving the nation in a new role. "The former crown prince and princess or new (junior) crown prince or princess will definitely be active in the country's politics, if not the former king or queen," said Pathak.
The 240-year-old monarchy's end was the culmination of a two-year peace process that saw Nepal's communist rebels transformed from feared insurgents into the country's dominant political force. Mass protests against Gyanendra's rule led to a landmark peace agreement in 2006 that culminated with the abolition of the monarchy on May 28 and the formation of a CPN-Maoist-led government in Nepal in August. Many ordinary Nepalese were delighted to see the back of the dour, unpopular king as well as his son Paras -- notorious for his playboy lifestyle.
Nepal's former king lives a simple and easy life since he shifted from the Narayanhiti Palace in central Kathmandu to the Nagarjuna forest lodge on the outskirts of the capital in June, according to sources in Nepal's Armed Police Force, which is tasked to provide security to Gyanendra.
"There is no sign of stress on his face. He looks like he looked in the Narayanhiti," said Prof Madhav Bhattarai, the former palace priest (Nayab Bada-Guruji). According to Bhattarai, the former kings daily routine includes writing poetry, performing pooja, surfing the Internet and observing and enjoying the natural scenery around the palace. He spends more time in reading books and worshiping.
Bhattarai said that he met the former monarch at religious ceremonies including the royalties birthdays, Janai Poornima and the Dashain Tika after he shifted from Narayanhiti. "I saw the former king who is usually in a normal mood, busy in writing and studying," he recalled. "He participates actively in religious functions. Hes got back to his old habit of writing poems," Bhattarai said.
Gyanendra's popular older brother Birendra was slaughtered in a palace massacre. That 2001 massacre -- most of the royal family was slain by the then crown prince Dipendra, who was allegedly fuelled by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol -- was what led Gyanendra to ascend the throne. Gyanendra was at the centre of many conspiracy theories linking him to the killings, and his unpopularity only deepened when he sacked the government and embarked on a period of autocratic rule in early 2005.