The Jaya Nepal Party on Tuesday made public an eight-point resolution that includes a proposal to amend Nepal's constitution, with party chairman Dhabal Shumsher Rana unveiling the document through a press statement. The resolution places the restoration of a constitutional monarchy, the redeclaration of Nepal as a Sanatan Hindu kingdom and a referendum on the country's provincial structure at the top of its priorities, and it carries a clear warning that the party will launch phased peaceful protests if its demands are not addressed.
An eight-point agenda centred on constitutional change
The eight-point resolution, announced on Tuesday, sets out the Jaya Nepal Party's political priorities and explicitly contains proposals for amending the constitution. Chairman Rana presented the document as the party's official position, using the press statement to outline the changes it wants to see in Nepal's political system.
Among the priorities spelled out in the statement are:
- A constitutional monarchy, under which the institution of the monarchy would be restored but operate within constitutional limits;
- A Sanatan Hindu kingdom, which would re-establish Nepal as a Hindu state rooted in the Sanatan tradition;
- A referendum on the provincial structure, allowing voters to decide directly on the federal arrangement currently in force.
The inclusion of constitutional amendment proposals indicates that the party intends to pursue these objectives through formal legal channels rather than extra-constitutional means, although Tuesday's statement did not detail the specific clauses or articles the party seeks to change. The three priorities named in the press statement are understood to form part of a broader eight-point package, the full contents of which the party presented in its resolution.
Demands that challenge the post-2008 settlement
The party's demands run directly against the key settlements of Nepal's modern political transition. Nepal was declared a federal democratic republic in 2008, when the first Constituent Assembly, elected earlier that year, voted to abolish the 240-year-old monarchy. The Hindu-state identity, enshrined in the 1990 constitution, had already been dropped during the transition period, and secularism was subsequently confirmed by the constitution promulgated in 2015.
That constitution also cemented federalism, dividing the country into seven provinces. The Jaya Nepal Party's call for a referendum on the provincial structure questions this arrangement directly, proposing that the public, rather than the political leadership, decide the fate of the federal map. Similarly, its push for a Sanatan Hindu kingdom and a constitutional monarchy seeks to reverse secularism and republicanism, two of the central pillars of the post-2008 order.
Amending the constitution to accommodate any of these demands would be a demanding process. Nepal's charter can be revised only through a formal parliamentary procedure requiring broad supermajority support, and changes that touch the federal structure carry additional procedural requirements. The party's decision to frame its agenda as a constitutional amendment proposal places the burden of these legal hurdles squarely within its own roadmap.
Phased protests if demands are ignored
Alongside the resolution, the party issued a clear warning: if its eight demands are not addressed, it will begin a campaign of phased peaceful protests. The word "phased" suggests an escalating programme of agitation, though the statement stopped short of announcing specific dates, locations or the forms the protests would take.
The emphasis on peaceful methods indicates the party intends to keep its campaign within lawful, non-violent bounds while still applying sustained public pressure. Pressure campaigns built around escalating programmes of agitation are a familiar feature of Nepali politics, where parties and movements often announce staged protest schedules to build momentum before entering negotiations with the government.
A voice in Nepal's long-running constitutional debate
The resolution places the Jaya Nepal Party among the political forces seeking to revisit the core settlements of Nepal's transition, from republicanism and secularism to federalism. Debate over these questions has not disappeared since 2015: concerns about the functioning of the provincial structure, the place of Hindu identity in public life and the legacy of the monarchy continue to surface in political discourse, and groups advocating their revision periodically press these issues back into the spotlight.
By packaging its positions into a single eight-point resolution and pairing it with a protest warning, the party has sought to present itself as a serious actor on these questions rather than a marginal voice. Whether the agenda gains traction will depend on the response it draws from the government and the wider political establishment, as well as on the party's ability to mobilise public support behind what remain heavily contested positions in Nepal's constitutional politics.
For now, Tuesday's press statement has put the party's position on the record: constitutional amendment, a constitutional monarchy, a Sanatan Hindu kingdom and a public verdict on the provincial structure, backed by the stated readiness to take to the streets in phased, peaceful protests if the party judges its demands to have gone unanswered.
