LUCKNOW: Relations between Nepal's royals and the Gorakhnath Peeth, currently presided by UP CM Yogi Adityanath, run strong as the revered Peeth remains the presiding deity of the Shah dynasty of Nepal.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath had visited Janakpur in Nepal towards the end of 2023 to participate in an annual festival held there to mark the wedding of Ram-Janaki (Sita). Nepal premier KP Sharma Oli had also taken part in it.
Though the neighbouring countries have had friendly ties, the relationship has gone through ups and down in recent years, especially after the fall of Nepal's monarchy in 2006 and the formation of government by Maoists in 2008.
The Shah was forced to give up the rule following massive street protests in 2006. Two years later, Nepal’s parliament voted to abolish the monarchy, transforming the country into a secular republic.
The latest controversy erupted on Sunday when the supporters of erstwhile Nepal king Gyanendra Shah flashed the poster carrying the picture of UP CM Yogi Adityanath at a rally outside Kathmandu airport while welcoming King Gaynendra.
“Vacate the royal palace for the king. Come back king, save the country. Long live our beloved king. We want monarchy,” the protestors sloganeered.
As per the political experts, the new row could lead to a deterioration of ties as the incumbent Oli government of Nepal smells India’s role in pro-Monarchy uprising.
However, many of the 13 governments that have ruled the Himalayan state since the fall of monarchy there have been accused of widespread corruption and lawlessness.
This plight of Nepal is taking its people back in support of the reinstatement of monarchy.
The man, Pradeep Bikram Rana, who held the posters of Adityanath at Kathmandu rally on Sunday, claimed that he landed himself in trouble with the Nepal police chasing him.
He felt threatened making his way to Gorakhpur and told media persons that he feared persecution in his country.
According to Rana, cops started looking for his home after the rally. A chase began, he fled Kathmandu and crossed the border from the Raxaul side in Bihar and finally reached Gorakhpur by a passenger train.
He told the media that he idolised the UP CM and saw him as a symbol of Hindu pride, saying this had prompted him to wave the Indian leader’s posters in Kathmandu.
However, not everyone sees it that way. Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli condemned the use of Adityanath’s photos, saying that the country should not be in a position where foreign images were needed to lead protests.
Gyanendra’s supporters, on the other, refuted the claims of ‘India’s hand’ behind the rally saying that the display of the UP CM’s photo was a deliberate attempt to malign the pro-monarchist movement by Oli government.
They even accused the Oli government of orchestrating the move through infiltration.
Pro-monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party spokesperson Gyanendra Shahi even claimed in a social media post: “The photograph of Yogi Adityanath was displayed in the rally at the instruction of Bishnu Rimal, chief advisor of Prime Minister KP Oli, at the advice of Oli.”
Even some sections of pro-monarchist leaders were quoted as saying on social media that: “We are not as weak as needing to use a foreigner’s photo in our procession.”
In fact, the sources in Gorakhnath confirm that with Gorakshnath being the presiding deity of the Shah dynasty, former King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah, used to look up to Mahant Avaidyanath, who was Adityanath’s mentor. In 1992, King Birendra himself drove down from Kathmandu to the Gorakhpur Mutt.
Even today, the first offering of the ‘khichadi’ offered to the revered shrine in Gorakhpur on Makarsankranti is from the Shah dynasty of Nepal.
It is also believed that King Birendra decided on Nepal being a ‘Hindu state’ on the advice of Avaidyanath in 1990 when Nepal’s constitution was being amended.
The Gorakshnath Mutt was actively involved in relief operations during the devastation caused in the Himalayan state in 2015 earthquake.
Yogi Adityanath is reported to have overseen the reconstruction work along the border areas.
Additionally, Adityanath has been critical of the Nepal government’s decision to declare the nation a secular state.