With pitch for ‘Hindu state’, Nepal ex-king’s push to restore monarchy threatens democratic gains

A protest in Kathmandu demanding the restoration of King Gyanendra Shah to the throne and declaring Nepal a Hindu state turned violent on March 28, 2025. The protest left two dead and several injured, besides large-scale arson and looting, in its wake.

Public outcry drove Gyanendra out of power in 2007. Now Nepal is witnessing a series of protests, especially in Kathmandu, to bring him back.

Since 2015, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party of Nepal has spearheaded the demand for Nepal to be declared a Hindu State and for the restoration of monarchy. The Shah dynasty ruled Nepal for 240 years, beginning with its founder, King Prithivi Narayan Shah, who unified what is now Nepal. It ended with the last King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah.

On June 1, 2001, the entire family of the late King Birendra (Gyanendra’s elder brother) was shot dead by his son and Crown Prince Dipendra. After shooting every family member present Dipendra also shot himself and died of the injuries three days later.

This paved the way for Gyanendra Shah, a businessman until then, to ascend the throne.

As a constitutional monarch, Gyanendra overstepped the powers vested in him and sacked the elected prime minister on February 1, 2005, dissolving parliament. This proved to be the turning point for his own future.

The Nepali political parties and the...

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