Understanding Nepal’s pro-monarchy momentum

23 June 2025

Under former King Gyanendra Shah’s leadership, pro-monarchy forces in Nepal are trying to mobilise support to reinstate the constitutional monarchy. Nepal’s constitutional monarchy was formally abolished in 2008, when the country was declared a federal democratic republic. The current round of pro-monarchy rallies began after Gyanendra addressed his supporters in a recorded video message on the eve of Nepal’s 75th Democracy Day on 19 February 2025: “if we want to save the nation and maintain national unity, we call on all countrymen to support us for the prosperity and progress of the country”. Subsequently, on 9 March, thousands of supporters gathered at Kathmandu airport to welcome him on his return to the capital city from a tour attending pro-monarchy rallies in different parts of the country.

The pro-monarchy groups launched an indefinite People's Movement on 29 May, which seeks to “restore constitutional monarchy, reinstate a Sanatan Hindu kingdom, abolish federalism, establish good governance, and eradicate corruption”. To better organise their movement, the pro-monarchists established the Joint People’s Movement Committee (JPMC). The committee is coordinated by 87-year-old Panchayat-era leader and former Speaker of the Rastriya Panchayat Navaraj Subedi, and includes political figures such as Durga Prasai, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chair Rajendra Lingden, and RPP-Nepal Chair Kamal Thapa. In his autobiography, Subedi described Gyanendra as a greedy and selfish person who gave precedence to his personal interests over national interests while he was prince. Prasai is a “controversial” businessman who was a member of leftist parties before becoming a supporter of the former king. Thapa, Lingden, and Rastriya Shakti Nepal Chief Keshar Bahadur Bista initially refused to be a part of the committee under Subedi’s leadership, and only agreed to join after meeting Gyanendra.

Since the movement’s launch, the rift between the pro-monarchy leaders has widened, with many supporters questioning the JPMC’s leadership. The JPMC’s decision to call for strikes following the 1 June arrest of Kamal Thapa and several others was opposed by RPP, the largest of more than 40 pro-monarchy groups. Some in the RPP believe that striking without consulting them could disrupt the movement’s momentum.

Many Nepalese are frustrated and disenchanted with the current political situation and poor government performance. But returning to a constitutional monarchy would be a regressive, authoritarian step, not a path toward democracy.

The political left and the Nepali Congress are critical of these pro-monarchy developments, which Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre) (CPN-Maoist-Centre) blames on the current government’s policies. Similarly, Matrika Prasad Yadav, deputy General secretary of the CPN-Maoist-Centre, sees the movement and its goals as “anti-constitution activities”. Nepal’s Prime Minister and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) [(CPN (UML)] chief, KP Sharma Oli, challenged Gyanendra to contest elections. Moreover, Nepali Congress president and former prime minister of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba, said that he does not find Gyanendra worthy of “becoming a constitutional monarch”.

Although the pro-monarchy movement is challenging Nepal’s federal republic system, the limited number of participants in these rallies suggests that it is not as powerful as its supporters claim. Nevertheless, the growing popularity of pro-monarchy views should not be politically ignored.

Why some support monarchy in Nepal

Growing support for the pro-monarchy in Nepal reflects the contemporary global political phenomenon of democratic backsliding: many liberal democracies have shifted towards right-wing politics under populist leadership. Pro-monarchy groups are using religious arguments to push for re-establishing a Hindu kingdom and constitutional monarchy. In a country where over 81 per cent of the population is Hindu, the earlier shift from a Hindu kingdom to a secular state “compounded discontent” among those who feel that their religious and cultural identity is “under siege”.

Interestingly, communist parties have also used religion to increase political support. For instance, in 2021, Oli, also prime minister back then, claimed that the Hindu god Rama was born in the Chitwan district of Nepal and not in the Indian city of Ayodhya. He also instructed concerned authorities to build a Ram temple there and decided to gold-plate the roof of the Pashupatinath Temple, as well as replace the silver covering at the base of the Shivalinga in the sanctum sanctorum with a golden one. Although CPN (UML) did not use religion explicitly in the 2022 elections, in 2023, CPN-Maoist-Centre Chair Dahal visited the Mahakal temple in Ujjain, India, and offered water, which he then brought to the Pashupatinath temple in Nepal.

Importantly, political instability in the country has created disenchantment among a section of the middle class. Nepal has seen 13 different government between 2008 and 2024, with none completing a full five-year term due to political differences between coalition partners. Pro-monarchy supporters argue that prior to its abolition, the monarchy provided political stability through national unity. Crediting the monarchy with introducing democracy in the country, they claim that reinstating the monarchy now would help preserve democracy, as the institution would be above politics. However, as Prashant Jha rightly observes, despite Nepali democrats’ support for constitutional monarchy in past, the monarchs did not want to stay within institutional limits and sought to expand their power.

The pro-monarchists present the monarchy as a solution to the country’s socio-economic problems, even though the economic situation was significantly worse during Gyanendra’s direct rule (2005 and 2008). Since then, poverty levels and gender inequality have declined in Nepal, alongside improvements in literacy rates and overall human development indicators.

The India factor

India-Nepal ties have been distant under the Oli-led government, and Oli has yet to be invited to New Delhi since assuming office in 2024. Pro-monarchy leaders often promote the idea that bilateral ties cannot be improved under communist leadership, whom they — and many in India — largely perceive as “pro-China”. In 2023, Rabindra Mishra, senior vice-chairman of the RPP, argued in The Print that restoring Nepal’s Hindu monarchy would serve both Nepal’s and India’s interests, as India struggles to maintain its traditional influence there. On the contrary, in the 1960s, it was then-King Mahendra who established Nepal’s close ties with India’s antagonistic neighbours — China and Pakistan. Nepal signed new trade agreements with both countries, established a Pakistani embassy in Kathmandu, launched an air link with East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and entered a road agreement with China that paved the way for a Chinese-built highway between Kathmandu and Tibet in the 1960s.

Many Nepalis have been further convinced of Indian involvement in the pro-monarchy movement after a poster of Adityanath, the chief minister of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, was displayed at the 9 March pro-monarchy rally. Adityanath is also the head priest of the Gorakhnath temple — the presiding deity of the Shah royal monarchy in Nepal — and has previously described the royal dynasty as a “symbol of Nepal’s unity and integrity”. However, in a meeting with Nepal’s Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba at the 2025 Raisina Dialogue, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar dismissed claims of Indian involvement in Nepal’s pro-monarchy movement, as did Adityanath during talks with Nepal’s ambassador.

Limited reach of the monarchy

Despite the claims of pro-monarchists, currently there is limited popular support for restoring the constitutional monarchy. For instance, only 10,000 to 15,000 people participated in the pro-monarchy rally on 9 March. On the streets, the Socialist Front, made up of the CPN-Maoist-Centre, the Communist Party of Nepal–(Unified Socialist), the Nepal Samajwadi Party, and the Communist Party of Nepal — and led by Communist Party of Nepal Chairman Netra Bikram Chand — is countering the pro-monarchy forces.

Rally turnout figures are disputed. Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs estimated about 4,000 people at the 28 March pro-monarchy rally and 35,000 at the pro-republican counter protest. On 29 May, an RPP spokesperson claimed over 30,000 participants at their rally, but a home ministry official told The Kathmandu Post the number was likely no more than 7,000. Still, the pro-monarchy forces retain political significance — the RPP has 13 members in the House of Representatives.

Many Nepalese are frustrated and disenchanted with the current political situation and poor government performance. But returning to a constitutional monarchy would be a regressive, authoritarian step, not a path toward democracy. What Nepal needs are political and economic reforms that truly improve the lives of its citizens.

DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.

Author biography

Dr Amit Ranjan is a Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore, Singapore. He is currently working on a manuscript on India in South Asia. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons/Gunjan Raj Giri (cropped).