The Monarch's Last Sigh

As the final countdown begins for Nepal’s king Gyanendra, he scrambles to save his vast assets. The Maoists seem willing to grant him his final wishes

PRASHANT JHA
Kathmandu

IN THE past week, Maoist ideologue Baburam Bhattarai, Nepali Congress leader Shekhar Koirala, Madhesi Janadhikar Forum chairman Upendra Yadav, and a former royalist minister have made the same pronouncement to this reporter — “He has no choice”. “He”, of course, is Gyanendra Shah, the ousted king of the erstwhile “Hindu kingdom”. Nepal’s political class, across party lines, agrees that the last king of Nepal has no alternative but to leave the Narayanhiti Palace soon as the first sitting of the constituent assembly, scheduled for May 28, formally abolishes the monarchy.

But before that meeting takes place, some crucial issues need to be resolved. The formation of a government and power sharing between Maoists and the other mainstream parties has not yet been sorted out. On monarchy, several questions remain unanswered — how will the institution be formally ended, what should be done with the Queen Mother who stays in the palace with Gyanendra, the status of the army protecting him and, most importantly, his assets.

The assets of the king have always remained a matter of speculation. What is known is that Gyanendra had multiple business interests when he was prince and his brother Birendra was ruling the country. He has a 40 percent stake in the Soaltee hotel, where his partner is Prabhakar Shumsher Rana, an old associate. He has a 10 percent share in Surya Nepal (formerly Surya Tobacco), which is a joint venture with India’s ITC, and a 56 percent holding in Himal Goodricke. Gyanendra owns tea estates and tracts of land inside Nepal. He has a house, Nirmal Niwas, in Kathmandu’s Maharajgunj locality, north of the present palace. He was the head of the King Mahendra Conservation Trust — recent reports have revealed that there was embezzlement and loot at the Trust during his tenure. And there are rumours of property in Taiwan, India, parts of Africa, and money stashed away in foreign account

Some believe that the king was an astute businessman. But others, including people who have interacted with Gyanendra on his financial status, think otherwise. A source said, “He was always a bad businessman. His brother was king, he could get things done with a phone call and that was his only skill. He is bad with money.” A former bureaucrat close to the king concurs, “Gyanendra only wanted to use the State to extract whatever he could. He did not have entrepreneurial, managerial or financial skills.”

The king was in fact in deep debt when he took over the throne in 2001. The sources pointed out that Gyanendra’s means of income are not as expansive as they are often made out to be — Soaltee has been a loss-making enterprise, Gyanendra’s old partner Prabhakar Rana has kept his other business interests separate under an independent firm called Tara Management, the State has nationalised several palaces and Birendra’s properties have gone into a trust. In an investigative piece last year, The Kathmandu Post reported that it was only Surya Nepal that paid Gyanendra a neat dividend for 2006-2007. The palace withdraws dividends from companies in advance, and took money allotted to the palace in the budget within 48 hours of the announcement.

That is why it is important for Gyanendra that his assets not only remain protected, but he continues to get some grant from the State. The Maoists are understood to

End of days: Gyanendra with the Queen Mother, Ratna Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah

be open to the idea of providing him a regular privy purse.

The other issue that concerns the king is his security. Gyanendra is not only wary of the ultra-left but also his own family. There are unconfirmed rumours of a deep rift between the king and his notorious son Paras, who blames his father for destroying the monarchy by not being aggressive enough. There is an army battalion at the palace and it is possible that a minimum security arrangement will continue to be provided to the king.

However, all the king’s gambles have failed one by one until now. His attempts to use connections with the Indian royalty and the Indian army to win New Delhi’s support bore no fruit. All the palace’s Hindutva cronies — Yogi Adityanath of Gorakhpur and Ashok Singhal of VHP — were full of bluster but could do little. Gyanendra’s hopes that the Nepal Army would back him to the hilt were dashed when the army brass decided to play it safe and go along with the peace process.

The king then banked on the peace process breaking down, or elections not taking place at all. He instigated the unrest in the Terai by backing select Madhesi radicals. He reportedly funded groups like the Nepal Defence Army that engineered violence in the run-up to the polls. At the same time, he built links with conservatives within the Nepali Congress like Sujata Koirala and propped up the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal which is headed by prominent right winger Kamal Thapa. Gyanendra was betting on such forces winning a chunk of votes, and a dismal showing by the Maoists.

UNFORTUNATELY FOR him, the results have been a vote against the monarchy. The people of Nepal tolerated the antics of the Shahs for far too long. The traditional legitimacy of the royalty had collapsed with the royal massacre. The political legitimacy went when the king over-stepped his constitutional boundaries to take over power. The constituent assembly only gave a chance to the people to formalise the illegitimacy of the institution and bid it adieu.

Gyanendra still appears confident in public; he visited the Dakshinkali temple recently and offered sacrifices to please the deity, waving and smiling at onlookers. In private, he is learnt to be telling his supporters not to worry. Rumours of him looking for refuge in India are not true — he has repeatedly made it clear to aides that he will not leave Nepal. Sources said that the king thinks the delay in government formation and rising differences among parties will give him another lease of life. Royalists are also arguing that he should be allowed to stay on in the palace till the formal promulgation of the constitution, two and a half years from now.

Gyanendra has started backchannel communications with the Maoists, reaching out to Prachanda as well as some of the hardliners in the Maoist party who had in the past advocated an alliance with the king against India. He has reportedly asked for “some space”. With the Maoists saying they would be happy to give him a graceful exit, and Baburam Bhattarai going to the extent of talking about granting some “cultural rights”, Kathmandu’s incestuous cocktail circles were abuzz with rumours of a deal

But a deal is unlikely. Maoist chairman Prachanda has said publicly that the king must leave the palace by May 27 or be ready for a confrontation. Bhattarai has clarified he did not mean retaining a cultural monarch but only allowing him as a citizen to enjoy rights. “If he is sane, he should get out”, Bhattarai told Tehelka. The powerful military commander, Ram Bahadur Thapa “Badal”, has said bluntly the army has ways to oust the king if he refuses to budge from the palace.

With the rhetoric being ratcheted up, the only deal that could happen is that the king’s assets will not be touched.

But what is certain is that this is the last gasp of the 240- year-old institution. Barring a miracle, nothing can save Gyanendra and his family now. Nepal is all set to be a republic, and monarchy will soon be history. •