Student leader hardsells protests

Kathmandu: As Nepal gears up for a massive showdown between pro-democracy protestors and the Narayanhiti Palace on Thursday, student leaders from Kathmandu are joining in, spreading the word and encouraging families to join the rally.

Student leader Gagan Thapa is spearheading the campaign and is hardselling protests by distributing pamphlets and delivering jingoistic anti-King speeches.

He has been urging hundreds of people in Kathmandu to show up for another protest against Gyanendra, who took over absolute control of the country 14 months ago.

For two weeks, demonstrations have been escalating attempts to return to a government of the people.

"We have to chose one either a democracy or a monarchy and we have already made a choice. And democracy is our choice," Thapa says.

From 1990 to 2001, Nepal was run by a democratically elected government. In 2002, facing Maoist insurgency, the King suspended parliament and appointed his own leaders, saying the political parties had failed to control the rebels.

In 2005, he took over full political powers in the country. Now in an effort to restore democracy, 29-year old Thapa has been addressing large public rallies.

On Thursday he and the leaders of Nepal’s seven main political parties are planning, what they call, their largest-ever rally.

After two weeks of non-stop rallies, Nepal's King is facing mounting international pressure to hand over power to the country's political parties.

But Gyanendra’s supporters say the international community should be issuing just as stern messages to the protesters.

"Instead of pontificating to the King to reach out to the political parties, somebody should be telling the political parties instead, to reach out to the king. I am surprised nobody is doing that," Shirish Shamsher Rana, a King loyalist says.

However, Thapa says there's no point in talking to the King. He says unlike his parent's generation, the younger Nepalese do not revere the king.

Instead, he says, they believe he's a white elephant - a burden that's way too heavy for a poor country like Nepal. “Until and unless we overthrow the monarchy, Nepal is not going to progress," he says.

Thapa knows demonstrating in current day Nepal can be deadly. Five protesters have already been shot dead by police.

But he says that's the risk he's willing to take to live his dream of a republic of Nepal.