The place where Royal Massacre occured Billard Meeting Hall. In picture blood, pistol and galil. This picture was taken next day 7 A.M.

Let’s Give No Legitimacy to the Beneficiaries of the New Kot Massacre
Baburam Bhattarai
There was another Kot massacre in Nepal’s history on June 1st, 2001. Since the people are yet to get the facts of the tragedy, which killed King Birendra and other members of the Nepali royal family, it is evident that people everywhere are speculating and weighing conspiracy theories. As the saying goes, “paap-dhuri bata karaucha” [The sin shouts from the roof of the sinner’s house], we will one day know the truth. No one is ready to believe the propaganda which is being spread by the government and it’s foreign masters, especially since the way in which this tragedy is being explained—either the love affair or the accidental explosion theory—gives strong reasons to believe that the government itself is behind this tragedy. But this will only strengthen the just claim of the Nepali people to know the truth. So, a coalition between the nationalists and the people’s forces (NCP-Maoist) to unveil the real villains of the tragedy is what history demands from us at this particular moment of time.

The Reactionary world view presents any historic incident as a mere accident and tries to put the blame on some particular person. And it also tries to hide the core reality of the incident and only focuses on what is seen at the surface level. Analyzed from this angle, the recent tragedy in Nepal might be made to appear to be about a love affair, and the government and its foreign masters’ media are busily presenting this view. Further, another explanation that the gun exploded by itself and killed the key persons of the royal household was put out by the prime beneficiaries of the tragedy—perhaps motivated by the fear of what the survivors of the tragedy will say later. Undoubtedly, many historic events are mere accidents, and someone’s unconscious urges or momentary craziness could also play an important part. However, these exceptions have to correspond to a series of believable events, which simply is not the case in the recent tragedy. A future king might give up his chance to sit on the throne to be with the girl he loves, but we cannot be asked to believe that he would physically eliminate his entire family and then commit suicide for love. Moreover, to say that an automatic gun itself entered a highly secured room and killed the King and his immediate family, while leaving the members of the new King’s immediate family uninjured, is an insult to the thinking power of every being that breathes—let alone science and logic. We have heard of many scientific innovations, but if anyone has ever invented such a weapon, is he not entitled to the throne of not only the Narayanhiti Royal Palace but also of the Delhi Palace and the White House?

On the contrary, the Progressive materialist and dialectical world view explains any given incident as part of the pattern of the flow of life and the events taking place around the world. And any incident is seen as a product resulting from the intertwining of historical necessity and accident. Looked at from this angle, in any given incident, the underlying structures of social life play an important role, and the players who are seen associated with it from outside or at the surface level are but accidental. This makes it imperative for us to look at the massacre which took place in the Narayanhiti royal palace vis-a-vis the class struggle and people’s revolution taking places in Nepal and elsewhere in the world.

The centralized kingdom of Nepal, established under the leadership of King Prithvi Narayan Shah some 215 years ago, was in a rather bleak state in 2058 [2001]. It was –and it is—impossible to deal with the situation in a traditional way and under the old class rule. Plus, Nepal’s geopolitical situation and the changing power dynamics in the world and South Asia are making it hard to preserve Nepal’s national unity and sovereignty in the same old traditional way. What we have to understand here is that Nepal was always under the influence of British imperialism from the time of the Sugauli treaty [1816], and later came under the direct influence of Indian expansionism. Nepal has witnessed the direct influence of expansionist and imperialist powers ever since the death of the nationalist Bhimsen Thapa [1839] through the rise of the British Dog (description courtesy of Karl Marx) Jung Bahadur after the Kot massacre, and in each successive political change. It shouldn’t be very hard for Nepali nationalists to understand the new Kot massacre as a continuation of the same pattern of “influence.”

Why was King Birendra and his family murdered at this particular moment? What was his crime in the eyes of the expansionist and imperialist powers? Whatever your political ideology might be, one thing every honest Nepali nationalist has to agree with is this: King Birendra’s liberal political ideology and his patriotism were seen as his weakness and had become a crime in the eyes of the expansionist and imperialist powers. During the one-sided Indian economic embargo and revolution of 1990, instead of surrendering himself to the expansionist powers, he surrendered to his people. This did not make the expansionist forces happy. Later, his unwillingness to mobilize the army—which has a tradition of loyalty towards the King—to curb the People’s Revolution taking place under the leadership of Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) became his biggest crime in the eyes of the imperialist and expansionist powers. Some Marxist pundits, based on this, called us a pro-monarchy party, and we can now say that we—NCP(Maoist) and King Birendra—had similar views on many national issues and this had created in fact an informal alliance between us. Obviously, this scared the imperialist powers and their cronies. In the context of a deteriorating Sino-US relationship and a growing strategic alliance between India and the US, the King who appeared soft on us—the Maoists—and China had become an irritation to the American Imperialists and especially to the Indian expansionists.

India’s dream of annexing Nepal like Sikkim had to be amended and instead they had to make Nepal a Bhutan first, before making it another Sikkim. After CIA (and the recently opened FBI branch in Delhi) approval, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) [the Indian covert intelligence and operations agency] came up with a grand master plan to annex Nepal. Just like the cunning fox of folk-lore who stole the chickens by falsely shouting that an eagle was arriving, RAW too created a fake tale about the ISI (Inter Service Intelligence) [the Pakistani covert intelligence and operations agency] being active in Nepal and having penetrated the Palace. [The next few sentences, which refer to the 1964 Bhutan events, suggest a direct involvement of the new royal family in the June 1st slaughter] They even chose a Jigme Sigme for the Bhutanization of Nepal. And it is through that Jigme Sigme that the massacre was carried out. There shouldn’t be any doubt that RAW, which had already found their Lendup Dorje in Girija [the current pro-Indian Nepali Congress Prime Minister], aligned the new Jigme Sigme with their Lendup Dorje for the Bhutanization of Nepal, with a goal of eventual Sikkimization of Nepal.

What’s the new responsibility of every Nepali nationalist in this situation? A press release issued by our Party secretary, Comrade Prachanda has already appealed to the nationalist forces to develop a new analysis and form a new unity on a new basis and move forward together. Emphasizing that appeal, we request that every nationalist and leftist force speed up their thinking and actions to the same fast rate at which these incidents have been happening. In this historic moment, one small mistake by us can bring calamities to the nation and its people, whereas our one wise step can lead Nepal and Nepalis into the 21st century proud of their country and themselves. Our first wise step will be to identify the grand design behind this new Kot massacre and unveil the culprits. We must also deny legitimacy to the beneficiaries of this new Kot massacre, because this is 2001 not 1846, and in this gap, not only an enormous amount of water has flowed in the Koshi, Karnali and Gandaki rivers, but also an enormous amount of blood has flowed. Despite the differences on many issues, an important contribution of the Shah Kings (from Prithvi Narayan Shah to King Birendra) has been to preserve Nepali independence and sovereign status from the hands of British imperialism and later from Indian expansionism. But, now, if any Shah dreams of establishing a new Rana rule by staging a Kot massacre with the help of expansionists, then there is no question of giving legitimacy to his rule by the Nepali people. The contribution made by kings—from Prithvi Narayan Shah to King Birendra—will be valued highly by the Nepali people for ages, but at any cost they will not accept the new Jigme Sigme who has come to power by staging a Kot massacre. In this context, the RNA (Royal Nepali Army) whose main duty is to serve the King and the country, should re-assess their role after their failure to save the King. It is time for the army to think of new ways to save the country. We sincerely request that the army join hands with the patriots born in small huts across Nepal, instead of joining hands with the puppet of expansionist forces in the palace. The country is in crisis, and it is very important for all the nationalist forces to come together….sabailai chetana bhaya—may everyone understand this… (Prithvi Narayan Shah).