NEW DELHI: The seven party alliance (SPA) in Nepal is unhappy with India’s decision to send a known royalist like Karan Singh for talks with King Gyanendra because they see this as a signal that India has not yet changed its traditional line of constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy as the cornerstone for stability in Nepal.
Karan Singh’s brief when he meets King Gyanendra on Thursday is to tell him to immediately restore power back to the political parties. The SPA, which has cobbled together an agreement with the Maoists, believes that the overwhelming mood has turned against monarchy and people will be satisfied with nothing less than a Republic.
Though the Maoists have been pushing for the abolition of the monarchy, the alliance believe they can be persuaded to accept a compromise. At best, King Gyanendra can remain as a ceremonial figure head, much like the British monarchy, which has no political or executive authority.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury met foreign minister Anand Sharma to discuss Nepal’s volatile situation. Yechury is a member of the Nepal Democracy Solidarity Committee, India, which has close links with the seven-party alliance.
The alliance leaders, who are in constant touch with their Indian sypathisers like the Left parties, have conveyed their disappointment with the Karan Singh mission and urged members of the Solidarity Committee in India, like the NCP and the Left leaders to convey their views to the government. Before Karan Singh left for Kathmandu he telephoned Yechury who told him the time has come to convince the King that he can remain as just a figurehead.
He also spoke to NCP General Secretary DP Yadav. The demands of alliance are the transfer of power to the political parties, the establishment of an interim government which will sit down to talk to the Maoists and finally formalising arrangements for a Constituent Assembly through which the people of Nepal will decide on how they want to be governed in future.
“Now the situation has come to such a pass in Nepal, that there is no other way out than the establishment of a Republic. There cannot now be any place for monarchy. The talk of the two pillar theory will not work anymore,” Yechury told reporters before meeting Anand Sharma.
