The 1979 Nepal uprising , also known as the Rebellion of 2,036 Bachelors ( Nepali. २०३६ सालको आन्दोलन ) - a series of protests among student communities in Nepal during 1979, leading to concessions from the monarchy.
History
Clashes between a group of students and the police began with a rally on April 6 in the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu , where protesters protested against the execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Pakistan . Approaching the Pakistani embassy, the students were stopped and beaten by police under the pretext that King Birendra’s car was passing by.
After the clashes, representatives of the student committee compiled a list of 22 demands on the authorities, calling for an end to police repressions against the student movement. On April 9, a student action committee was formed consisting of three representatives of student organizations of banned left parties - Bal Bahadur from the Nepalese Student Union (affiliated with the Nepal Congress ), Kailash Karki from the Nepalese National Student Federation (affiliated with the pro-Soviet Communist Party of Nepal (Burma) ) and Tanku Karki from the All-Nepal National Free Student Union (affiliated with the Maoist Communist Party of Nepal (Fourth Congress) ).
During the demonstrations on April 23, two or three students were killed. After that, the authorities decided to close the hostels and let the students go home - but as a result, they spread information about the terror in Nepal. Then the unrest gained strength and began to spread throughout the country. Protests took place in Bhaktapur , Patan , Bharatpur , Janakpur , Biratnagar , Pokhara and others. In total, protests took place in 37 of the 75 districts of Nepal. On April 27, a protesting local population held the minister, who paid a visit to the city of Getauda, in a cordon for ten hours. As a result of the police response, up to 17 people died. In some places in the province, a real rebellion arose. Opposition leader Besheshwar Prasad Koyrala was placed under house arrest.
Education Minister Shamsher Rana was dismissed. As students began to put forward political demands for democratic reform, on May 2, King Birendra , in response to protests, was forced to set up a five-member commission to report on the situation. On May 2-3, 160 students arrested during the protest were released. On May 9, the remaining 64 students were released.
On May 22, 3,000 young people gathered at Amrita College of Science to find out the outcome of the student action committee's negotiations. Unsatisfied with the results, representatives of the radical wing of the movement (the All-Palsky National Free Student Union) announced the betrayal of the committee and marched through the streets of Kathmandu , demanding direct dialogue with the king. The students were joined by 20 to 30,000 residents of the city, who seized the editors of pro-government newspapers and set fire to vehicles at the airport. The police who opened fire on the protesters lost one person.
As a result of the work of the royal commission, a referendum was appointed on May 2, 1980, which led to an unexpected result: up to 55% of the population supported the preservation of the monarchist panchayat system instead of introducing multi-party democracy.
See also
- Nepali government referendum (1980)