MADRAS, India -- Recently Nepal's King Gyanendra dismissed his democratically elected prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and took over the Hindu kingdom's administration. This was a dictatorial and primitive move.
Today, political parties serve not just as examples of pluralistic thought and action but also as conduits of popular aspirations. Gyanendra's harsh criticism of Nepal's parties, following Deuba's dismissal, seems to demolish the pillars of free thinking, the very basis on which democratic ideals are built and sustained.
The king has never hidden his hostility toward political parties, but his latest act of completely sidelining them and taking over the helm of the kingdom puts Gyanendra directly in the firing line of rebel Maoists, who have been waging a class struggle for years while urging the administration to address poverty- and education-related issues in one of the world's most backward countries.