JANAKPUR, Nepal—The Janaki Mandir was thronged with Hindu pilgrims in late February as a troupe of musicians sang a hymn to the resident goddess, Sita. But a banner in the outer courtyard honored a more earthly figure, who had visited the month before: the former king, Gyanendra Shah, who lost his throne when the monarchy was abolished in 2008. “King, come and save the country,” the banner said.
A vendor selling devotional flags not far from the temple gates, Raja Mahaseth, said that his sales had surged since the consecration of a temple to Ram, the legendary hero married to Sita, in Ayodhya, India, in January 2024. Now, Nepali Hindus en masse bought flags bearing the slogan “Victory to Lord Ram” and an angry image of the monkey-god Hanuman, he said.
JANAKPUR, Nepal—The Janaki Mandir was thronged with Hindu pilgrims in late February as a troupe of musicians sang a hymn to the resident goddess, Sita. But a banner in the outer courtyard honored a more earthly figure, who had visited the month before: the former king, Gyanendra Shah, who lost his throne when the monarchy was abolished in 2008. “King, come and save the country,” the banner said.
A vendor selling devotional flags not far from the temple gates, Raja Mahaseth, said that his sales had surged since the consecration of a temple to Ram, the legendary hero married to Sita, in Ayodhya, India, in January 2024. Now, Nepali Hindus en masse bought flags bearing the slogan “Victory to Lord Ram” and an angry image of the monkey-god Hanuman, he said.
Both are common symbols of an aggressive Hindu nationalism that is increasingly spilling into Nepal, with the help of groups linked to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The erection of the Ram Mandir, built on the site of a historic mosque torn down by a Hindu mob in 1992, marked the completion of a long-standing and divisive goal for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.
The scene in Janakpur, which sits in Nepal’s southern plains close to the border with India, underscored a convergence of tradition, faith, and politics that poses a test to Nepal’s secular republic. As a parliamentary election approaches on March 5, calls to reinstate the king and bring an end to secularism have grown louder. Beyond the Janaki Mandir, the city’s streets echoed with the blare of speakers from campaign convoys.
This week’s vote comes in the wake of a Generation Z-led uprising in September against corruption and an aging political elite, whose rotating coalitions had failed to deliver economic relief. The street protests were met with a deadly police crackdown that sparked rioting, killing at least 76 people and bringing down the government. An interim administration endorsed by youth activists took office soon after, with a mandate to hold a fresh election.
For those desiring a revived Hindu state in Nepal, Gyanendra seems to be a natural figurehead. From 1768, when Prithvi Narayan Shah—the king of Gorkha—unified Nepal by conquest, until 2008, he and his descendants served as guardians of the country’s Hindu order, endowing holy sites and presiding over rituals. The two agendas—monarchism and Hindu supremacy—overlap and reinforce each other, even if their adherents’ priorities vary.
Nepal’s transition from monarchy to secular republic was set into motion after Gyanendra seized power from elected politicians in 2005 on the pretext of ending a Maoist insurgency. This backfired, and a massive protest movement the next year moved Gyanendra to restore Parliament. An interim constitution enacted in 2007 made the country secular, alongside clauses that paved the way for the end of the monarchy, and in 2015, a permanent constitution confirmed Nepal’s new status.
It seemed to most observers that the country had turned the page on its feudal past. However, a conservative segment of Nepali society never accepted the change, and it seems that neither did Gyanendra: The former king, who still lives in Nepal and turned 78 last year, has recently become more outspoken after lying low for more than a decade. On Feb. 18, Gyanendra made a video address in which he cast doubt on the credibility of the upcoming election.
“[E]lections should be held only after national issues are resolved. Holding elections without such consensus risks post-election conflict and unrest,” Gyanendra warned, without specifying how to reach such consensus.
Gyanendra has made well-publicized trips around Nepal in recent years, often to religious sites such as the Janaki Mandir. He is met with rapturous, well-organized crowds—part of the increasingly assertive movement demanding his restoration. In February, thousands of people gathered in the capital, Kathmandu, to greet Gyanendra on his return from eastern Nepal and echoed the slogan: “King, come and save the country.”
Interviews in and around Janakpur last month revealed much greater support for Hindu statehood than for a restored monarchy. Desire for the former is particularly common in Nepal’s southern borderlands, thanks to closer links with Hindu nationalists in India. Partly as a result, the region has seen a growing number of violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims—formerly infrequent in Nepal.
Kopildev Kumar Yadav, a student union activist, told me that secularism had been snuck into the Nepali Constitution without public consultation, referring to the lack of a referendum. There was a need to “correct the secular mistake” and protect Hinduism, he said.
Yadav added that he would prefer a Hindu republic to a kingdom, showing how religious and monarchist goals can diverge. One reason for that is the political and personal baggage of the former royals: from Gyanendra’s coup in 2005 to the alleged playboy lifestyle of the aging king’s heir. In 2001, Gyanendra’s older brother, Birendra, was shot and killed in alongside several relatives in a massacre at the royal palace carried out by Gyanendra’s nephew, the then-crown prince.
This baggage presents a challenge for Nepal’s premier monarchist political party, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), which organized the January event to welcome the king in Janakpur. RPP Vice Chairman Rabindra Mishra, who is contesting a seat in Kathmandu, acknowledged that the former king “made a mistake” when he seized power in 2005 but added that the “political parties in this country have made hundreds of mistakes … and the people of this country have made dozens of mistakes by choosing the same corrupt leaders again and again.”
Mishra, who also supports Nepal being a Hindu state, told Foreign Policy that a constitutional monarchy would help to address the excessive “partyization” of government and society. Positions in bodies ranging from the Supreme Court to workplace unions are often divided between political parties, Mishra said, contributing to a culture of corrupt deal-making and polarization that makes Nepal a “vulnerable state.” A king would be a unifying force, he argued.
But it appears unlikely that the public will elect an overtly monarchist party this time. The RPP, which has suffered numerous splits over the years, received less than 6 percent of the vote in Nepal’s last general election, held in 2022. Though an anti-incumbency mood has prevailed since the September protests, the chief beneficiary is the three-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).
Led by former journalist Rabi Lamichhane, the RSP has selected the popular mayor of Kathmandu—Balendra Shah, known as Balen—as its candidate for prime minister. The party has skillfully used social media to present an image of a younger leadership that is less tainted by corruption and broken promises than its rivals. In Janakpur as well as Kathmandu, there was palpable enthusiasm for the RSP in the weeks leading up to the election.
Some analysts say that Balen and the RSP have monarchist and Hindu nationalist sympathies. Balen often dresses in the style of the late King Mahendra, who led a 1960 coup that ended a brief period of democracy and ushered in decades of authoritarianism; Balen’s social media posts include phrases such as “religion protects those who protect it,” a popular rallying cry for Hindu nationalists.
But any personal sympathies are absent from the RSP’s campaign pledges, and the party’s mandate in government would almost certainly be tied to curbing corruption and improving the lackluster economy—the reasons that protesters initially took to the streets last year. The RSP may also have to rule in coalition, given the difficulty of winning parliamentary majorities in Nepal.
Bhaskar Gautam, an independent researcher, said that Nepal’s monarchists lack a credible path to success through electoral politics. Instead, “they’re waiting for some sort of crisis to take place,” he said.
This opportunity arguably came and went in the aftermath of the unrest in September, when the Nepali Army—considered a bastion for monarchism—stepped in to restore order and called Gen Z leaders for negotiations to help form the interim government. The army also invited Durga Prasai, a prominent royalist agitator and businessman, to the talks, sparking controversy that almost derailed the process.
The risk of the election might have less to do with who wins than with the victor’s ability to finally stabilize Nepal’s politics amid the crisis of legitimacy that lingers after the September uprising. A question mark still hovers over the riots, which quickly overwhelmed the youth-led protest movement and were rumored to involve radical groups—including monarchists.
Publisher and writer Kanak Mani Dixit said that a lack of clarity about these groups’ agendas meant that Nepal was going into the election blind. “Until we know who tried to bring about the collapse of the government, constitution, and state, we will never get back on an even keel,” he said. “Politics has been turned on its head.”
Gautam said there was also danger in a gradual cultural shift toward Hindu supremacy, independent of monarchism. He pointed to the religious signaling of Balen and other major politicians, which was once unusual in Nepal. “Now it’s everywhere. That’s where they’ve succeeded,” he said, referring to groups such as the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, a nonprofit group with hundreds of chapters that belongs to the same organizational family as the BJP.
Those with most to lose are Nepal’s religious minorities, including Buddhists, Muslims, and hill communities that retain proud animist traditions. However, Dixit said that even Hindus risk losing some of what makes their religious practice unique under an intolerant brand of Hinduism.
In Nepal, he said, “We can still make jokes about our gods.”
