Describe the main features of movement started in april 2006? (5)
Answers
Nepal witnessed an extraordinary popular movement in April 2006. The movement was aimed at restoring democracy.
(ii) In February 2005, the king of Nepal dismissed the then prime minister and dissolved the popularly elected parliament.
(iii) The movement of April 2006 was aimed at regaining popular control over the government from the king.
Democracy was restored in Nepal as a result of an extraordinary popular movement in April 2006. Nepal had won democracy in 1990. Although the king formally remained the head of the state, the real power was exercised by popularly elected representatives. King Birendra was killed in a mysterious massacre of the royalfamily in 2001. However, King Gyanendra, the new king of Nepal, was not prepared to accept democratic rule. He took advantage of the weakness and unpopularity of the democratically elected government. In February 2005, the king dismissed the then Prime Minister and dissolved the popularly elected Parliament.All the major political parties in the parliament formed a Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and called for a four day strike in Kathmandu, the country’s capital. This protest soon turned into an indefinite strike and various other organisations joined hands. People defied curfew and took to the street. People forced the King to concede into their demands of restoration of democracy.