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Deposed king Gyanendra vows to stay on
(Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-12 08:30 Nepal's last king of Shah dynasty of around 240 years, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, has now almost become a common citizen after moving from the royal palace to his new residence on Wednesday evening. "The former king has become an ordinary citizen now. He will get the same status and benefits from the government the other citizen are getting," Peace and Construction Minister Ram Chandra Poudel said to Xinhua reporters earlier on Wednesday. Gyanendra left the Narayanhiti palace Wednesday night after his last press meet inside the former royal palace in the afternoon. The Himalayan nation was turned into the world's youngest republic after the first meeting of the newly elected Constituent Assembly declared so on May 28. It was seven days before the seventh anniversary of his enthronement that former King Gyanendra lost his crown and throne. The politically ambitious king got the throne on June 4, 2001 after his elder Brother King Birendra died after his family was massacred on June 1, 2001. Gyanendra sacked the elected government and imposed his direct rule on Feb. 1, 2005, claiming to crackdown the armed struggle launched by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M), now the simple largest party in the CA. The mainstream political parties shook hands with the CPN-M rebels who jointly launched nationwide protests against the king in April, 2006 and compelled him to step down. "He became the sole cause of the downfall of monarchy. His political ambition made him the last king of Nepal," Minister Poudel said. "The government has decided to give him security and temporary residence. Now he will only get the facility what other ordinary people will get," he added. The CPN-M took part in the CA elections held on April 10 and won 220 seats, even more than the total of the following two largest parties. On Wednesday night, the deposed king, along with his wife former queen Komal, vacated the former royal Narayanhiti Royal Palace, which was the residence for royal kings for a century. The couple will temporally live in Nagarjuna palace in the northwest suburb of the capital Kathmandu, as directed by the government. His son, former Crown Prince Paras along, with his wife and children are residing on Nirmal Niwas, the private home of the former king. The government has allowed Gyanendra's mother and grand mother to stay inside Narayanhiti palace, which will be quite possibly turning into a national museum soon. But the present Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala-led Interim Government is facing a huge criticism for arranging residence for the deposed king and his family members. The members of the civil society rallied in Kathmandu on Wednesday against the government decision to give the Nagarjuna Palace for the ex-royals. "The mandate of the Constituent Assembly was to transform the monarch to a common citizen, not to shift him from one palace to another," civil society leader Shyam Shrestha told Xinuha Wednesday. "He is a wealthy businessman and there is no need for the government to take care for his and his family member's residence," he added. The CA, on May 28, declared the country a federal democratic republic and directed the Nepali government to control and manage the former royal Narayanhiti Palace in downtown Kathmandu, and to ask the former king to vacate the Narayanhiti within 15 days. |
