Nepali royalists announce to break into restricted zone near parliament, call for protest in Kathmandu
Kathmandu: Nepal's royalist party, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), has announced to break into the restricted zone near the parliament as it calls for a protest on Sunday afternoon.
The RPP is staging a protest demanding the reinstatement of the monarchy and the release of their party leaders.
"We are ready to be arrested by staging a demonstration in the restricted area. Rajendra Lingden is ready to be jailed," the party president Rajendra Lingden confirmed to ANI over the phone. The party is also planning to hold protest assemblies in all 77 districts on April 22.
Last week, the party president during the party's Executive Committee meeting had accused the government of infringing on citizens' fundamental rights by arbitrarily designating prohibited areas. "We are being pushed into a corner. That's why we've decided to protest in restricted zones," said Lingden.
The RPP has also decided to wage a legal and political struggle for the unconditional release of party leaders Rabindra Mishra and Dhawal Shumsher Rana. Mishra and Rana were arrested following a deadly violence on March 28, for inciting the mob. The violence had claimed the lives of two people, injuring over 100, as the capital witnessed arson and vandalism.
As the fifth largest party in the Nepali parliament, now in opposition, has announced that it will breach the restricted zone.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has also issued a warning. "Legal action would be taken against those violating the law or inciting public disorder," the ministry said in the warning released on Saturday night.
"Any activity that encourages the violation of the constitution or existing laws or spreads anarchy in society would not be tolerated," the ministry warned. Along with this, it urged all individuals to refrain from 'anarchic, provocative, or illegal acts' that could incite violence.
The government has designated areas surrounding the federal parliament building at New Baneshwar, among various other places in Kathmandu, as restricted zones. The RPP has not only planned to stage a show of strength at Bijulibazar, near the parliament building, but has also announced to breach the restriction at Baneshwar.
The party, which has been demanding the reinstatement of a constitutional monarchy and the establishment of Nepal as a Hindu state, staged a protest assembly at Balkhu as designated by the government on April 8.
Republicans of the present time, whereas the public will be the sovereign, the King will be a parental institution, a directly elected Prime Minister, a sovereign Hindu state, federal governments replaced with powerful local bodies and a strong central government."
Formed in the 1990s after the lifting of the ban on the formation of political parties by the then-monarchical system, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has since then served as a force always supporting the Kingship. It has also been taking part in periodic elections and presenting its demands forth.
In 2008, right after the overthrow of the monarchy rule in Nepal, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) had secured 8 seats in the then Constituent Assembly out of the 575 seated strong parliament. In the 2013 election, it was able to secure 13 seats, while in the year 2017 it fell to 1 seat, and it bounced back in the election of 2022 with 14 seats.
The party, since its inception, has been supporting the Hindu State and the Kingship as interdependent in the tiny nation buffered between two giants, India and China. The Himalayan Nation of Nepal has a population of 30.55 million, and has a Hindu population of 81.19% as per the census of 2022.
The Monarch of the Himalayan Nation, which follows the lineage of the Shah dynasty, was revered as an incarnation of the Hindu god Bishnu. With the abolishment of the monarchy, it got limited to a very small group, which is now again reemerging.
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