The king finally retracted his hour-long address of 1 February in just seven minutes with his statement on 21 April handing executive power back to the people's representatives. But he did not want to accept that his power had been retaken by the people's movement of the previous 16 days and instead thanked those who helped him in his oppressive 14-month rule.

There were already many clear indications that handing back power was the only real choice the king had. Like rats jumping from a sinking ship, his aides like foreign minister Ramesh Nath Pandey and member of the royal council permanent committee Sachit Shamsher Rana were already distancing themselves from the monarch in public. In his last days the only people the king trusted were home minister Kamal Thapa and the three security chiefs.

Although the king gave India's special envoy, Dr Karan Singh, his word that he would return democracy to the people, the king played parallel politics by trying to make Krishna Prasad Bhattarai prime minister under Article 127. But Bhattarai refused, saying the king should first take back his 1 February move publicly, accept the people's sovereignty and form an interim government with a maximum tenure of one year. After this attempt it was clear even to the Indians that the king could not be trusted.

This was why both the US and UK publicly supported India's efforts before the king made his statement on Friday. According to one source, the king was worried about the future government's possible action against those who helped him put down the movement, especially the security chiefs. Although the king realised he needed to give in, he didn't have the courage to correct his mistake. He invoked Article 35 to ask the parties to name a prime minister.

Senior Congress leaders saw it as capitulation but because they knew the Maoists wouldn't agree they were forced to reject it. But diplomatic sources say India is putting pressure on the Maoists to agree to renounce violence and also suggested that the parties get the constituent assembly proposal passed. The bottomline is that this episode has proved once and for all that authoritarianism is disastrous for Nepal.