[At Ratna Park, the heart of the capital city Kathmandu, protesters gathered to sing to a chant of her name and burnt down the Maoist Party’s Energy Minister, Janardan Sharma Prabhakar’s effigy. The Minister was grilled by the media questioning him pointedly why others were given a week’s time to settle their dues, while the same courtesy had been denied to the former Queen Mother ? Why, the media asked, was a hospital that the Minister was associated with, left alone despite the fact that it owed over Rs 10 million to the NEA? And, the home is a governmental residence, meaning that Nepal Government owns it - not the former Queen Mother ! The bills as cited, must be cleared by the government itself. Clearly it manifested, it was an act of vendetta.]
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Ratna Rajya Lakshmi Shah, the former
Queen Mother of Nepal,
getting into her car. |
She’s a stubborn character, the 88-year-old
former Queen Mother.
On Sunday evening, Nepal Electricity
Authority - the NEA cut off power supply to The Mahendra Manzil, a bungalow within the
Narayanhity Palace complex in Kathmandu, which is the residence of Ratna Rajya
Lakshmi Shah, the former Queen Mother of Nepal.
The Authority cited Rs 3.7 million in
outstanding bills as the reason for the cut. But the matter as it seemed the
cut, precisely on the day that, Ratna Rajya Lakshmi Shah’s 88th
birthday, still exhibited vindictive spirit from the part of the government.
Outrage overwhelmed social media, where the government
was alleged of targeting the former Queen Mother, who lives a low-key life, is
ailing for sometime and under medication.
At Ratna Park, the heart of the capital city Kathmandu, protesters
gathered to sing to a chant of her name and burnt down the Maoist Party’s Energy
Minister, Janardan Sharma Prabhakar’s effigy. The Minister was grilled by the
media questioning him pointedly why others were given a week’s time to settle
their dues, while the same courtesy had been denied to the former Queen Mother
? Why, the media asked, was a hospital that the Minister was associated with,
left alone despite the fact that it owed over Rs 10 million to the NEA? And, the home is a governmental residence, meaning that Nepal Government owns it - not the former Queen Mother ! The bills as cited, must be cleared by the government itself. Clearly
it manifested, it was an act of vendetta.
Sensing the public mood, the government
backtracked swiftly — and 20 hours later, power supply had been restored to Mahendra
Manzil. Minister Sharma said he had issued no orders to cut the supply to
Mahendra Manzil. Through her hours of darkness, the former royal did nothing
herself — except asking her secretary Shambhu Adhikari to inform former King
Gyanendra Shah about the power cut, and to ask him to come along in the morning
with some diesel for the generators. The government appears to have acted
solely under spontaneous public pressure.
What is it that continues to endear Ratna
Rajya Lakshmi Shah to her former subjects eight years after the world’s only
Hindu monarchy turned into a secular republic?
The 88-year-old former royal, second wife of
Nepal’s former king and Gyanendra’s father, Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah, was
allowed to stay on in the Narayanhity palace complex, the office-cum-residence
of the erstwhile kings, after the monarchy became a republic in May 2008.
Mahendra Manzil was built for her by King Mahendra nearly five decades ago. It
is from here that she has been witness to, and experienced, the rise and fall
of the royal family and the extreme adversity it has faced. Most of her time is
spent in meditation at home. Former king Gyanendra and his family visit her at
least once a week, but Ratna avoids meeting other relatives and well-wishers.
She rarely speaks — but once she does, her words carry the weight of an edict.
Ratna married Crown Prince Mahendra in 1953,
two years after his wife — and Ratna’s older sister — Indra Rajya Lakshmi Devi
Shah died because of complications during the birth of her sixth child. Ratna
agreed to be mother to her sister’s six children, the eldest of whom was 10 at
the time, without bearing any children herself.
Ratna became a widow in 1972 — when she was
43. In June 2001, she witnessed the palace massacre, when at least 10 members
of her family and close relatives were shot dead. Seven years later, she saw
the end of the 240-year-old monarchy.
Her quiet demeanour and sacrifices have
earned Ratna a lot of respect among the people — a sentiment that has survived
the end of the monarchy. The only time that people close to her saw signs of
outrage in her was when she visited the Military Hospital on June 2, 2001,
where most victims of the palace massacre were admitted. She refused to look at
the injured Crown Prince Dipendra who had opened fire at a family gathering,
lying in one of the beds.
Indeed, she’s a stubborn character, say those
close to her. She has consistently refused to spend a night outside her home,
or to eat outside. About six weeks ago, Gyanendra drove her to Norvic Hospital
for a medical check-up after she complained of feeling unwell — but she
rejected doctors’ advice to be admitted after her tests, and went back home.
Nepal’s civil society and politics are
bitterly divided along party lines, but not a single pro-republic organisation
working for the rights of the women or the elderly, or political parties,
denounced the power cut at Mahendra Manzil. In fact, such is the
Establishment’s antipathy that Ratna has been denied even her right to property
— a couple of bungalows that Mahendra had built on his personal property and
gifted to her, were confiscated by the government.