Standing before the crowd at the stadium in Biratnagar, King Gyanendra looked like a political leader. After every sentence, he paused and looked at the crowd?as if expecting applause. The king should not think that he has the support of the people only if he stands up before them and receives applause. Wonder who, and for what selfish reason, made the king stand up in front of the crowd to give the royal address? An interesting explanation could be the decoration and facelift on the Panchayat 25th Anniversary memorial on a road junction in Biratnagar. Why was there a need to polish up this commemorative pillar marking the ?achievements? of the Panchayat years 1962-1987? Could it be that the organisers of this jamboree were expecting the king to ban political parties again so that they could go back to their old reactionary ways?