Gyanendra

▪ 2003

      The Nepalese royal family was plunged into crisis on June 1, 2001, by the assassination of King Birendra by Crown Prince Dipendra and Dipendra's death by suicide the following day. Gyanendra, the younger brother of King Birendra, was thus unexpectedly called to ascend the throne on June 4, taking the name and title Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev. Many wondered whether he was adequately prepared for the job, especially amid such turmoil. By mid-2002 the intense rivalry between several major political parties and periodic flare-ups of the bloody insurrection that had been launched in 1996 in some areas of the country by a radical “Maoist” faction contributed to the confusion and disorder.

      Gyanendra was born in Kathmandu, Nepal, on July 7, 1947, the second son of King Mahendra. He was educated at St. Joseph's College in Darjeeling, India, and graduated in 1969 from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. As the younger son, he was not directly involved in politics or governmental activities during the reigns of King Mahendra (1955–72) and King Birendra (1972–2001), but he was active in several environmental and conservationist organizations as well as some business firms. He traveled abroad frequently, visiting most of the major Asian and European countries, the United States, the Soviet Union, Australia, and New Zealand.

      Nepal's 1991 constitution had established a constitutional monarchy and a democratic parliamentary system, but there were some questions raised at that time about Gyanendra's acceptance of the democratic political system. In the first year of his reign, however, he abided strictly by the principles of a constitutional monarch.

      In September 2002 Prime Minister S.B. Deuba of the Nepali Congress Party decided to dissolve Parliament and also to postpone for one year the parliamentary elections scheduled for November. After consultations with most of the major party leaders, King Gyanendra on October 4 dismissed the Deuba government and assumed full executive powers under Article 127 of the constitution. Two days later the leaders of the six major political parties met and recommended to the king that he appoint an “all-party” government. Gyanendra, however, selected Lokendra Bahadur Chand as prime minister to head a cabinet that had no affiliation with any of the political parties. An all-party meeting was held on October 21 and pledged to fight all “regressive steps” against multiparty democracy. Negotiations between Gyanendra and the party leaders continued until the end of the year but without any agreement's having been reached.

Leo E. Rose

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