The symbols are powerful. People understand that. That’s why thousands of enthusiastic people today demonstrated throughout the day, a day after the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly declared Nepal a republic, demanding that the national flag of Nepal be hoisted at the Narayanhitti palace occupied by former king Gyanendra Shah. Earlier in the morning, at about 8:30 AM, the royal flag, the insignia of the Shah dynasty that ruled Nepal for the past 240 years, was removed apparently by the staffs of the palace. Finally, after hours of protests and attempts by the people to hoist the flag by themselves, the national flag was hoisted in the evening, at about 19:42 PM.
Removing the ‘royal’ flag and putting up the national flag is largely a symbolic gesture in implementing the decision of the CA. There are contradictory views regarding the hoisting of the national flag at Narayanhitti palace. Why, they say, hoist the national flag in a building that has been ordered by the CA to be vacated and be turned into a museum? Hoisting the national flag, again, sends a strong message to the public who want to see the republican order to be implemented, who want to see former king Gyanendra Shah leave the palace before the 15 day deadline give to him by the Assembly. So symbol is a power thing.
Today also saw, for the first time, demonstrators waiving the national flag and chanting the slogans of republicanism and democracy at the same time. Never before the demonstrators, mostly affiliated to political parties, carried the national flag like this. They used to carry the parties’ flags in all demonstrations. The national flag used to be associated mostly to royalists as they used to carry the flag in most of their rallies. Ironic as it may sound, today the revolutionaries and republicans carried the flag and wanted to hoist it right on the palace where former kings and royals used to live (and still live as of this writing). Time has changed indeed.
But that is not to say that the national flag (Chandra ra Surya – Moon and Sun) was shunned by the democrats and republicans including the Maoists. They decided to keep the flag, unique and the most beautiful in the world, even after they threw many old symbols that were related to the royalties.– By DW
Meanwhile, the meeting of the political committee of the cabinet decided today to write letter to former king Gyanendra to evacuate the Narayanhitti palace within the 15-day deadline given by the CA meeting yesterday. The letter will be dispatched by tomorrow morning. “We also decided to form a committee headed by Secretary at the Ministry of General Administration to record the properties and assets of the palace and take them under the government control,” said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Minister for Information and Communication and a senior Maoist leader has been quoted by Nepalnews as saying.
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Comments
33 responses to “A Symbolic Story: National Flag of Nepal Replaces the "Royal" Flag”
All this is nothing more than scapegoating one character, to hide their own inabilities over a long time now. HIdden away are the real issues to be dealt with. Symbolic gestures will not feed or educate the hungry generations ….
Baba Gorakhnath was right.
Baba Gorakhnath ko jai hosh..
Now, Gyanendra, paras, and Prachanda should be hanged for wiping out Birendra’s family.
A total misrepresentation of the facts: His majesty Sri Saat Gyanendra would like it to be known. The royal flag will, for Christ’s sake (his majesty’s own words), be back on the flag pole. The reason it was taken down: his majesty needed a bath towel after his usual ritual bath.
The Raj Parishad
rato ra chandra surya jungi nisan hamro
jiudo ragat sari yo baldo yo saan hamro…
cheers to national flag..
indeed i wish i could see the senerio in ex-palace..
i hope it looked more stunning now..
jay nepal..
this is just the first step, the power of the public voices.
the leaders also have to understand this, else same will the situation of them too.
long live republic in nepal.
Believe what you like. Nepal is growing up. The international press is not optimistic yet hopeful.
So called realism. Inside all are nuts.
Who would dance and do things like that in Netherlands they danced without shoes in the streets when the germans went.
Apart from cows and so on Switzerland does not fuss about ethnic but takes worldwides moneys. Think how they did it. They are no part of European union they have no overload of immigrants. Gypsies. It is a great boring country Nepal should become boring.
Boring is good.
UML MP trying to beat a congress mp with chappal in the convention hall. ycl cadres heckling spoeakers. What a start. Republic was a foregone conclusion. Better follow Indias plans for economic transformation or face more trouble.
please new flag of Népal is picture your site March 2nd, 2007?
If no please new pisture
we are good at making symbolic changes.
It’s only a tiny step towards making Nepal a modern, 21st century state. So, instead of celebrating endlessly, we need to be cautious that the power vacuum will not lead to anarchy and fragility.
when can we visit the palace. i am so curious to see.
did i hear people’s republic in prachanda’s dark speech today.
there are dangerious things going on in the mind of that davil.
if it would not had been UN, EU and Nepalese- in the name of brotherhood, human right- gyan would have destroyed maoist maoist got stronger only after peace agreement. now lag navaiko bahun wants to kill the same nepalese.
At the open theatre speech, pol pot Prachande said we were different than other parties. YES, that is true because other parties believe in competitive politics, whereas this maoist party only believes in violence. That is why it does not want to get rid of YCL thugs that promote violence. Yes, other parties have not killed an innocent person like Ram hari Shrestha. This pataki pol pot Prachande is the most shameless animal on this whole planet.
so id did hear people’s republic in prachanda’s dark speech yesterday.
there are dangerious things going on in the mind of that devil.
if it would not had been UN, EU, and nepalese -in the name of brotherhood, humanright- gynandra would have destroyed maoist,
maoist got stronger only after peace agreement by betraying us
now lag navaiko bahun wants to kill the same nepalese.
does this prachanda guy sucks chewing tobacco. i saw him spitting regularly during speech
one thing maoist should remember when gynandra took over power, big percentage of nepalese gave him benifit of doubt, wanted to see hwat he can bring into nepal and after falure he is now history.
maoist is going to repeat the same mistake by trying to enslave nepalese
it is not possible to make nepal a communist nation but if dumb tries to do that millions will die
they won by blackmailing nepalese- they used to say like if they do not win there will be war, people will die.
if people do not take humanright more important than war nepal could go into a wrong hand
what kind of a leader, that balwan sucker, is trying to be by insulting educated nepalese
just like opportunist bahuns who somehow came up with guts, overconfidence
may be because the maoist have not been punished for their paap, god wants to punish them by making them to try to make nepal a communist state.
put some more flags for more happiness
To my Nepali friends,
Rejoice while you can. For I can assure you that this republican celebration will not last for long.
I remember being stuck in my house as a child while Bangladesh was in the process of ousting our own so-called authoritarian leader, General Ershad. Once he fell from power and sat under house arrest, Bangladeshis believed that there was a reason to celebrate. Instead, we had 15 years of excessive corruption and the total loss of our culture and social fabric under “democracy”.
Today we are back under military rule. Regardless of what is written in the international and national press, the people prefer the military to the political parties. Our poor politicians who are out of a job are yelling and screaming in the media and trying to portray the evils of a undemocratic government while hiding their own ill-doings. The army by no means is the best choice. It is, however, the lesser of two evils.
So fifteen plus years later, the people have put their future in the hands of those we ousted. In fact, there is a strong possibility that Ershad will be back in the presidential palace. Nepal will be no different.
The monarchy in theory can be an important instituion to fill a void in the political fabric of a nation. Gyanendra was a problem but his insituation should not have been abolished.
A decade from now, you will be fed up with the Maoists as they will tear up the fabric of Nepali society. Your parties will be wiped off from the face of the earth by Maoists. While you may not run to Gyanendra to fix the situation, you will run to the old institutions.
History has a way of repeating itself. The Shah was deposed in Iran only to get the mullah’s. The royal family in Cambodia was deposed and thirty years later it is the institution holding the nation together. The US got rid of Saddam and instead of a democratic nation, we have a warzone. The question is what will we have in Nepal?
I wonder what would have happened if King Birendra had not been murdered? The poor sod Gyane, in many ways he deserved to go. Hopefully with the Shah dynasty gone there will be no diverting the issues and blaming all the ills of the nation on the palace, but real accountability on the netas.
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Does’nt Prachanda’s warning to the media in his Open Theatre Celebration rally that he is not going to tolerate any criticism now that the people have elected them speak for the kind of rule that the Nepalese are going to be subjected under the Maoists. It is a statement even the cruelest of tyrants think twice before making it public in a mass meeting. In the same speech he also threatened of introducing People’s Republic a la North Korea.
The Bloggers be prepared for worse treatment in the hands of the Maoist than you faced under Gyanendra’s direct rule in 2005/6.
Prachande, the pol pot of Nepal, is a merciless, faceless, brainless, heartless, shameless, artless, visionless mass murderer who just has a habit of jumping to conclusions. This man together with Gyane and Prajjol shumsher Rana, the former Nepal army chief are responsible for wiping out late king Birendra’s family.
so here we are, reading an open warning from this thug. i am becoming very restless listening to what he has to say, what the politicians have to say, and so on. i don’t like army, i dont like royals, i don’t like politicians, and i don’t like maoists. Note that I dont put maoists and politicians in the same category. how can the leader of the largest party openly and publicly warn a news organization to further criticize his party? isnt asking questions and criticizing the very nature of “democracy”? i want freedom. i want education. i want development. this rhetoric will not work, not this time, not anymore. i criticize maoists or any body who comes to power, if they dont do as per the will of the people who elected them to do things that are for the people. For the people, by the people, to the people. i want a separate front to fight against all these evils that beseech our country. the right fight, the just fight. if there is such front, i want to take arms: for the right cause, just cause. i want to enlist myself voluntarily in such cause, not by hook or crook. this fight will be against Maoist, Politicians, Royals, and Army. It will not be against any people. It will be against these crooks and leeches who think of us as a mere “subject”. my blood is boiling!
and mr. wagle, please stop writing about symbols this and symbols that. what is symbol if it can not put food on my plate. what is symbol if i can not walk freely in the street. what is symbol if i can not do what i will. what is symbol, if i can not speak my mind. so STOP fretting about symbol.
I have been saying always ” YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW” & ” ONCE TERRORIST ALWAYS TERRORIST”
The media has been biased now Media will have to pay the price, Maoist has openely threatened the Media specially Kantipur to shut up or else ! To give Maoist a credit They have already started campaign for wiping out free press starting from Dhangadhi where all the local publication has been shut due to threat from Dear Comred maoist. This is just a dress rehersal and they will repeat it all over the Nepal and shut all the free press and media. Even this blogs days are numbered. This is the price we pay for beliving bullshit that maoist fed about their commitment about democracy. We should read history of Commies then we know that they will lie, cheat and do everything to come into power and once they come to power they are never going to leave unelss forced to by another revolution. I remember one joke ” Once one bird was very weak and he was advised that eating bullshit will make him very strong, so he ate bullshit and could fly one step higher in tree so he did same next day and could climb another step and so on and he reached top of the tree, then one hunter see him and shot him down, Moral of the story is eating bullshit may make us temporarily strong but eventually it is gonna kill us” LONG LIVE GAANDTANTRA ! LET HE GAI JATRA BEGIN.
why did prachanda used the word “gadho” to PLA during his last speech? (if i would have been a PLA, i would have taken it as a huge insult.)
Is it because pla back badal and badal has been pressing him. and he wants to make badal weak by getting read of pla.
or it is just a tipical opportunist bahun who uses others to come into power and after realising his dream, kicks those individuals on their back. i have seen many of his kind.
prachanda enprisoned baburam and now trying to weak badal. prachanda has been playing dirty games with nepalese and now he has started to play dirty game inside his own party.
there is another thing about opportunist prachanda bahun, he hardly says anything about gaur massacre, actually medias have brought up more about that incident even when baban sing came into parliament, but prachanda said nothing
but when he needs support of his follower, he has been using such incident to get support to fuel them. tipical opportunist bahun.
among 13000 death, not a single one is his father or a son, among the raped non is his wife or his daughter , but uses such incidents during his dark speech to get support.
prachanda sent backward cast into the jungle but he stayed back having a feast of his life time- see how fat he is even there was a war going on.
but keeps on saying they went to jungle as if he himself was in the jungle.
maoist lower ranking supporter, ycl look like they have been effected with malnutrition but on the other hand the top leaders are over ate, who have ac life style- ac room, ac car. they have been f***ing their followers and the backward cast do not see that.
prachanda has already threatened media, so beware media,
there is in the past, when prachanda says anything bad, their supporter will try to realise that..
How about a new flag with Yak and yeti?
keep sometning do not throw all. Mountain keep. people are good, when the money comes they will be nasty like elsewhere in the world.
This is a good decade. Enough modernization make prachandra president for life. But one feminist flag for balance it.Sisterhood.
What is the feminist program of maodidi
What is the use of talking Nepal palace when Indian embassy has become directly active in playing the games in our politics.
I think we should rent Royal palac to Indian embassy so the embasador would move close to the heart of the town.
The rent money we receive should spent to feed, house, and reeducate PLA.(curriculum involved Indian policy, ideology in Nepal) And Indian Embassy should house Prachanda and Baburam so Nepali people do not have to pay a rent for this unemployed gangester. That way they will be closer to Gaynandra’s private home.
Nirmal,
your idea seems right looking at the present activities of indian ambassador
To Mahila Sahu,
Do you possess any brain or want to make this blog full of your shit words. Go and get some conscience and come and comment. Those who are hiding in the hole do not have any right to comment at any other’s deeds. If you have that guts then why don’t you go and make your country democratic. Democracy doesn’t make country like hell.
One has to learn to adapt to the specific situation. For Nepal I am ready to support any Nationalist Dictator.
Nepalese desperately need “naya jungabahadur and naya buddha” and i can support Prachanda as a New Dictator if he can make the dream of Nepalese come true.
And I want to request all the bloggers to say Please don’t come to any conclusion before watching the way Maoist rule the country.
Don’t act like fools who just barks as they hear other’s bark. Use your conscience. Till now at least I have’nt seen any leaders in past who was able to speak the true National Interest. Being Democratic is not the end it is only means. The end is development, prosperity and beautiful economically sound Nepal. And for that I an ready to have a dictator.
Jay Nepal…
Or be ready to sing Indian national anthem………..
Jana Gana Mana Bharat Bhagya Bidhata……………………………..
Forget Nepal from Political Map also..( IT IS NOT PRESENT IN WORLD ECONOMICAL MAP)..
if you go and bark in favour of NC and UML…………….
Jay Nepal.