LAST TAKE ON FORMER KING’S INTERVIEW Kathmandu, 8 July: The former king Sunday evening painted a grim situation prevailing in the country. ‘The time has come to strengthen the foundation. What was the nation then and whatis it now?” he asked openly talked of the return of monarchy barely five years after it was toppled. “Monarchy can be an alternative,’ the last Shah king said. “Not an active role, but as a guardian.” Gyanendra himself admitted that the crowds that greeted him last week while visiting three terai districts of the western region weren’t seen before. Analysts called it a political comeback for the former king personally and the institution of monarchy. “We must respect that feeling. It has not yet come,” Gyanendra commented to call of crowds for the return of king and save the country. Gyanendra ruled out a referendum to decide the future of monarchy. ‘The process will divide the country for and against monarchy,” he explained. “I ask for peace, no disintegration and unity, whenever I visit temples,” the former king said when asked what he does while visiting temples like he did last week. He called for democracy and added he won’t leave the country saying that was one of three conditions to leave Narayanhiti ‘to be with people for sometime’. ‘I will stay anytime and under any situation.” nnnn