After two weeks in hospital, ex-queen mother, Ratna Rajya Laxmi Shah has been released from hospital. The 91-years old, King Mahendra’s second wife is living in Mahendra Manjil within Narayanhiti Museum.
Ex-King Gyanendra went to the hospital and had dinner with his mother a while ago. As Gyanendra was having a tour in Terai, he returned to Terai after being satisfied that Ratna was doing well.
A noted linguistic and writer, Dr. Taranath Sharma has told that the mother of King Birendra and ex-King Gyanendra was different. Birendra’s mother was then-crown princess Indra Rajyalaxmi Shah. According to the historical documents, the princess gave birth to six children – three sons and three daughters.
Indra Rajyalaxmi died in a mysterious circumstances on September 4, 1950. According to the official website of the first maternity hospital, Prasuti Griha, the princess had died because of the complications caused by the birth of her last child, Dhirendra Shah. But, Dhirendra was born on January 14, 1950.
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The political parties and leaders have submitted their candidacy in the upcoming election in Nepal. I have compiled a list of location the top leaders of the country are contending in the election. A video report:
Although Gyanendra had told that he was ready to take the leadership role, she hasn’t shown any sign of leadership. A leader is a person who consolidate people in a group and motivate it to follow him/her. But, Gyanendra isn’t seen doing that. It seems, he is doing the opposite. The party that supported him, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, got divided into two parties. One of them joined the ruling party, Nepali Congress and is running election in association with the party. Nepali Congress is one of the main force that had ended monarchy in Nepal.
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Ex-King, Gyanendra Shah had told in Bhai Tika that the time has come for him to play an active leadership role in the country. He told that the parties and the leaders have failed and he should play the leadership role to lead the country. While the Gyanendra supporters have rejoiced his statement, the political leaders and pundits have ridiculed Gyanendra’s statement as the return of monarchy in Nepali is virtually non-existant.
Talking in a program in Kathmandu the ex-prime minister, KP Sharma Oli challenged the ex-King to participate in the election and take the leadership role. In the program Oli didn’t name Gyanendra but told that, “Everybody who wants to lead the country can participate in the election and get the mandate of the people to lead the country. While KP Oli challenged the ex-king, other ex-prime ministers, Puspa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Jhala Nath Khanal were sitting beside Oli.
I wrote about Gyanendra’s statement in my previous post.
Video report:
Ex King Gyanendra Shah has told that he is ready to take the responsibility of leading the country. On the occasion of Bhai Tika on the fifth day of Tihar, he talked briefly with the journalists and told that the country seems to be lacking a leader to lead it to the prosperity. He told that he is worried about the country as a general citizen. He added, “I think the time has come for me to take the responsibility and leadership of the country. But for that to happen, everybody should agree.”
He also added that the statement doesn’t mean he wanted an active role in the Nepali politics. He told, “This is not about being active or inactive. This is the time the country has asked for and it is the right time.” He told, the Bhai Tika is the day of living with the family and enjoy. He also asked the citizen of Nepal to listen to his statement carefully.
By the way he gave the statement, it is clear that something is cooking in Gyanendra’s kitchen. It seems, he is planning to do something in terms of taking back the power he had lost almost a decade ago. Continue reading
Almost 3,000 guests have arrived at the party organized by ex-king Gyanendra Shah to mark the Bratabandha of his grandson Hridayendra Shah. The bratabandha itself was held last week. I wrote about the bratabandha and a video about the incident.
The bratabandha was held in a private ceremony held at their residence, Nirmal Niwas. Only a few photos of the event were made available.
At the time of this writing the party is going on. I have obtained a few photos of the event:
In the main event the ex-princess and her daughters wore the royal looks by wearing crowns. But, in the party at Soltae Hotel, Himani has kept the crown at home.
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The ex-princess and her daughters wore the royal looks in the Upanayan ceremony of the son of the ex-prince Paras Shah and ex-princess Himani Shah, Hridayendra Shah. (I talked about the event in my earlier post)
A video report:
The 14 years old young-ex-prince Hridayendra’s Bratabandha ceremony was conducted in a private function held at the residence of ex-King Gyanendra. Only the close relatives were invited in the function. As no journalists were invited to the ceremony, no photos or the videos of the ceremony were released.
I have collected these photos from various sources in Facebook.
The bratabandha ceremony of the grandson of ex-king Gyanendra Shah, Hridayendra Shah was held at Nirmal Niwas on March 30, 2017. Media were not invited in the private ceremony. But, the son of Paras and Himani went to Hanuman Dhoka after the ceremony where the media had photo opportunity.
video report:
14 years old Hridayendra is the only son of ex prince Paras Shah and ex princess Himani Shah. If monarchy weren’t abolished, he would be in line to the throne of Nepal.
Hridayendra was dubbed ‘baby king’ by some political leaders in Nepal – arguing that he would be a better choice to be the king compared to former Crown Prince Paras Shah as Paras is not popular with the people. Paras was involved in a lot of misconducts and wasn’t thought to be capable of ruling the country.
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On January 16, 2016, the ex-King of Nepal, Gyanendra Shah visited Shital Niwas – the president’s government residence to participate in the marriage of the younger daughter of the president, Bidhya Devi Bhandari. It was a coincidence that Shital Niwas was also the venue of the marriage of Gyanendra Shah some 46 years ago. At that time, the venue was used for royal events and as a guest house for foreign dignitaries. As a prince, Gyanendra Shah had married Komal Rajya Laxmi Shah in 2027 BS.
Video report:
During the marriage ceremony, Gyanendra was surrounded by the leaders of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). RPP is the party formed by the former Panchayat System leaders. The party led by Kamal Thapa and Lokendra Bahadur Chand is considered pro-monarchy and pro-Hinduism. Gyanendra told, “I remember the days of my marriage.”
In the recent days, Gyanendra has been releasing politically motivated press statements. He had expressed his dissatisfaction over the way the leaders have been working and the foreign influence in the Nepali politics.
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Actor Bhuwan KC had organized a huge party on the occasion of his daughter’s marriage. In the party, high profile gusts were invited including ex-King Gyanendra Shah. Ex-king arrived one hour before the party began and left offering his best wishes to the new couple and having a cup of black coffee.
Participants included speaker of the house Subash Nebwang, Chief of Army Chatra Man Gurung, ex-prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Surya Bahadur Thapa.
The former king Gyanendra Shah Friday inaugurated a NGO named after his daughter-in-law Himani Shah. Inauguration of ‘Himani Trust’ was organized at Hotel Soaltee Crown Plaza, Kathmandu. In the program, the Chair Person of the Trust, Himani Shah and the vice Chair Person Prerana Shah addressed the gathering. In the inauguration speech, they called the former king and queen ‘Shree Paach’ and ‘sarkar’, the title only given to the Kings and their families during the royal-era. ‘Sarkar’ is a Persian word meaing ‘head of affairs’.
Full text of the speech is posted below (courtesy – nagariknews and the event news video courtesy – nepalnews).
Taking advantage of the current political instability, the royal family is still in the process to get back it’s previous status. They have tried to use the only person in the family without much good or bad public information, Himani Shah, to create sympathy towards monarchy. Another reason of using the previous princess, in the mission, might be her innocent looking face and beauty.
Now, she has decided to conduct the work in a more organized way, by registering a non-government organization named Himani Trust. The Trust is going to be inaugurated today (October 8, 2010) in Soltae Crown Plaza hotel in Kathmandu.
An analysis on what might be the reason behind the past-King Gyanendra, Paras and Himani’s increased social and religious activities. Video courtesy – Avenues TV.
Part 1
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16th SAARC Convection is being held at Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan. Looking back to its history there have been the record of one of the participating leader to face a bad fate after the summit. In the history of 15 Summits being held so far, 7 of the participants faced bad luck at home. To me, it looks more like a coincidence as the political scenario are pretty much dynamic and they are always changing.
With Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal visiting the 16th Summit, and volatile political environment in Kathmandu, many are expecting the history to repeat on his case.
(Left to Right: Hussain Mohammed Ershad, Nawaz Sharif, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Khaleda Zia)
The Nepali year 2066 BS is going to finish on April 14, 2010. The year had a few ups and a lot of downs. I am compiling the top newsmakers of the year 2066. Writing the full list will take some time. I will update this page later and hopefully will finish before the year 2066 finishes.
1. Gyanendra Shah (Ex-King, wounded lion?)
Gyanendra (King of Nepal from 2001 to 2008) made news again at the end of the year by telling that the royalty is not dead yet. The political environment was heated and it started political debate on his statement.
2. Paramananda Jha (Hindi attachment)
Paramananda Jha came into controversy after he took the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi language. Paramananda Jha’s position as the Vice President has become defunct from 31 August 2009, with his refusal to take oath in Nepali. According to the Supreme Court’s verdict, Jha wasn’t allowed to perform any duties in capacity of the VP and wasn’t entitled to special security and privileges given to him as the VP. Jha was then in a situation where he has been elected as the VP by the parliament, but hasn’t taken oath.
After six months off duty, Vice President’s post was reactivated from February 7, 2010, after he took fresh oath of office and secrecy. This time, he took the oath both in Nepali and his mother tongue Maithali. Taking oath in mother tongue other than Nepali is permitted after a recent amendment in current Constitution letting President, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ministers to take oath of office and secrecy in their respective mother tongues.
