PEOPLE POWER: BLOODLESS APRIL REVOLUTION IN NEPAL

October 20, 2002, the King of Nepal took an extra-constitutional measure and dismissed then the elected Prime Minister. Until January 31, 2005 he ruled indirectly through his handpicked Prime Ministers. On February One, 2005, he took direct control of the government in a royal coup—citing the failure of the political parties to maintain law and order while dealing with the Maoists insurgents and holding periodical elections. Fourteen months later, the people of Nepal forced him to retreat through a peaceful revolution that literally shell-shocked the King and his men.
It was the biggest life-altering event in the history of Nepal in last 238 years. What humbly started out as a peaceful opposition to King’s dictatorial rule dramatically reached the brink of removing the King for once and all.

Nepal was caught between the two extreme: The Monarchists who wanted to rule Nepal on their whims and fancies. The Maoists on the other hand were infamous for their brutal and ruthless methods and their violent insurgency had claimed more than 13,000 lives. The revolution was a bid to return the country to normalcy away from the political games being played in various pretexts.

After 19 days of mass outrage that saw the streets of Nepal swelled with millions, Nepalese and the world finally realized what they had achieved: a significant overhaul of the state and social structure in over two centuries.