There is a conspiracy against democracy. All alternative state powers after October Fourth have proved to be anti-democratic. King Mahendra introduced the advisory council system. That was his political game. We see a similar scene now and that is what Girija Prasad Koirala has been warning time and again. Everything is aimed at taking away the gains of the 1990 People's Movement and the constitution. There have been some interesting developments in the political spectrum. The king held a lengthy meeting with Surya Bahadur Thapa after which Thapa declared the establishment of a new party. Royalists have been floating authoritarian ideas. bringing up certain issues. All this indicates that the king is up to something. And our party president believes the king is setting up an advisory council.

The king's intentions are quite clear: he wants direct rule. As lip service, he says he will bring together all political forces and move ahead with democratic norms but in reality he has dismantled 1990 one by one: democratic institutions like multiparty parliamentary system, human rights, rule of law and people's power. We still believe that the reinstatement of the parliament will bring democracy back on track. It will solve the current political and constitutional deadlock and help chart out a peaceful solution. But certain quarters with vested interests deliberately ignore these arguments. These were the same people who once argued that the house could not be reinstated before its lifetime of five years was over. And now the same people say that the House should have been reinstated before the five-year timeframe and that it is too late now. Our constitution did not envisage a situation in which the country lived without parliament for more than six years. It has been two and half years since we had a parliament.

A petition has been filed at the Supreme Court seeking its revision of the decision to approve the dissolution of the House of Representatives. There is an emerging consensus that the house should be reinstated. Democratic forces and intellectuals are for it. So the quarters supporting regression are now putting forward the idea of elections. They are trying to fool the people and its timing is aimed at pre-empting the decision of the Supreme Court. Once the dates for elections are finalised, the apex court will have difficulty giving its decision.