On that day history had moved irrevocably toward a republic. That shift took a colossal effort and alignment of people, parties and the international community- not to forget the lives of over two dozen martyrs.
But Janaandolan-II is primarily a story of people´s aspiration for peace and democracy and its triumph. Party leaders and the international community were often found to be following them, sometimes lagging far behind, even floundering. As Janaandolan-II progressed, people power was evident everywhere. All major cities and even small towns were flooded with people on an unprecedented scale, surprising some, inspiring others. Participation of women-over 100,000 of them came out onto the streets in Chitwan on April 22 in the first-ever exclusively women´s rally-was another hallmark of the people´s movement.
A turning point came on April 21, when over half-a-million people defied shoot-at-sight curfew orders in Kathmandu, broke the security cordons and walk free along the ring road chanting, "Yo jit Kasko, Janata ko". Gyanendra was still in his palace but the people had already claimed victory.
Power of Literature
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JANA ANDOLAN-II REVISITED: Soldiers on Armed Personnel Carrier interacting with demonstrator at Tinkune, Kathmandu on April 21, 2006.
Chandra Shekhar Karki
The mammoth rally came face-to-face with armored personnel carriers of the Nepal Army at Tinkune; some protestors tried to hoist their party flags on the carriers, others waved to the army personnel. There were more signs of bonhomie than enmity (as you can see in the picture above). With the army reluctant to use force, Gyanendra had lost the battle for certain.
In the evening, in his televised address to the nation, Gyanendra offered concessions and invited the Seven-Party Alliance to form a government. The international community welcomed the move, but people hit the streets right away, rejecting it before the leaders sat down to take any decision. On April 22, Saturday, more people came onto the streets and the leaders of the Seven-Party Alliance shot down the royal offer, ignoring tremendous international pressure to accept it.
India was the first country to realize the national mood and acted quickly to get itself on the right side of history. Saturday evening, then Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran organized a press conference in New Delhi and disowned India´s "twin pillar" policy towards Nepal under which it had subscribed to both multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy. He said, "With respect to what will be the future political arrangement, as I said, this is really a matter for the people of Nepal to decide, not for India to decide."
On Sunday, April 23, Gyanendra, in desperation, sought India´s approval for a massive military crackdown to avoid "chaos and anarchy" in the country. Then army chief Pyar Jung Thapa and Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey called Indian Ambassador to Nepal Shiv Shankar Mukherjee and relayed Gyanendra´s intentions. India not only disapproved but also reprimanded Gyanendra over the possible consequences.
Gyanendra finally relented. He invited Mukharjee to the royal palace and informed him that he was restoring the House as demanded by the Seven-Party Alliance. Just before midnight on April 24, Gyanendra appeared on national television- this time to read a statement drafted at Girija Prasad Koirala´s residence in the presence of Madav Nepal and other senior leaders of the Nepali Congress and UML.
People once again thronged the streets at midnight to celebrate the freedom they had just won.
