
In 1989, when the People’s Movement I was taking momentum, as a condition of safeguarding the panchayat system, India put forward some conditions to King Birendra aimed at taking control of national sovereignty. If the King had accepted these conditions, the panchayat system would not have ended. But the king said that, "It is better to surrender to the people rather than surrender to India.”
Some historians have speculated that King Birendra's democratic views and simple nature led to the success of the People's Movement I (1990). He is credited for introducing SAARC in Asia in order to strengthen the foreign relations of Nepal with the other South Asian countries.