-Baruch Spinoza.

Biratnagar: The politics in South Asian countries of late is not going the democratic way as it should have been.
Countries in South Asia, frankly speaking, are going through the most tumultuous period in history.

The politics thus what it prevails today in South Asian region betrays the notion that “all is well in a democracy or in a semi-democracy”.

In fact Democracy doesn’t guarantee the basics to the people that it beamingly champions.

And that those democratic norms could be twisted as per the whims of a particular set of fanatic authoritarian ruler(s) if his or her actions suits to the political requirements of the leader in question.

Take for example, India, Nepal and Pakistan.

All these three countries are distinguished members of the SAARC regional body which seemingly has been killed by the Indian regime now under the tight control of Narendra Das Modi-the most Islamophobic man on earth.

More so, India and Pakistan have a long history of having inimical bilateral relations with hurling accusations on each other at regular intervals.

India’s continued coercive actions have made Nepali population to hate India.

In fact Nepali people “love to hate India” and it shall continue until the end of civilization.

Yet, India-the South Asian terror machine as it could be best taken, prefers to “control” the smaller countries in its neighborhood for exhibiting that it were the “boss or say policeman” in South Asia deputed by the Americans over these recent years more so after the formation of US designed security mechanism-the Quad which houses countries like, India, Australia, USA and Japan.

The pasting of a mural painting at the new Parliament building has irked the entire Nepalese and the Pakistani population wherein India has included some territories of Nepal claiming that it was a part of Undivided India that never it existed.

International relations expert take, the Quad as a scheme to control or tame the emerging power-China. However, taming China is an absurd proposition or at best it is a day dreaming exercise.

Pakistan, the next Chair of the SAARC-Pakistan too appears less interested in reconvening the dead SAARC regional body thus allowing India a free hand to go berserk in the region with its preferred regional mechanisms.

The fact is that the groupings in which India is a member, has either collapsed or is sure to see some sort of crumbling because of India’s penchant to overwhelm the organization in question.

The BIMSTEC could be an example after the SAARC which is also taking its last breathes.

Similarly, the QUAD will die a premature death because of India’s excessive hobnob with the Russian federation.
The US understand but has so far failed to teach befitting lessons to erratic India.

Pakistan may have its own compulsions though so its focus is on expanding its ties with Central Asian Countries many of them are housed in the Sanghai Cooperation Organization-the SCO.

The fresh rapprochement in Iran-Saudi ties through China’s effort could be one more extra opportunity to for Pakistan to benefit from such détente.

Moreover, Pakistan is experiencing in the recent days, more so after May 09, 2023, a very troubled days in it’s history.

A weak and frail Pakistan is surely to the advantage for rival India.

Pakistan’s internal weaknesses have allowed India-the born rival of Pakistan to flex its muscles in the entire South Asia as was seen with the new mural painting of Akhanda Bharat-the Undivided India.

This is just what could be taken as Indian hegemony which is on an increase given Pakistan’s disorder, I guess.

All these put together, we can say that South Asian region is mired in what could be taken as “political complexities” of the highest order.

Now back to the point.
Let’s take up India first.

Let’s begin with a news which informs that a set of Hindu fanatics were found destroying Kuki Christian Church in Manipur, India.

Manipur is burning in flames in the recent days which have been rocked by ethnic unrest in the recent days and the Delhi administration has seemingly no time to intervene in restoring peace in the entire area.

While Manipur, a state in northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital and it is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland and Mizoram is at unease with its evolving ethnic politics.

Media reports say that the Tribal unrest has rocked Manipur beginning May this month and the global population saw Manipur in flames as stated earlier.

However, the Indian PM Modi was seen busy in building a new Parliament House and has just finished its inauguration, May 28, 2023 amidst scathing criticisms from known opposition quarters.

The inauguration was of a different kind which gave an impression that India has already become a Hindu country as against its avowed secular status.

PM Modi did all he could to establish the Hindutva supremacy while inaugurating the new building.

The Hindutva uprising in India with the advent of PM Modi will surely have its profound impact on Nepal and the its lost Hindu State.

Recently the US’s fresh report claims that the Hindu ruling party of India pumped “money” to Nepal for the restoration of Hindu state in Nepal that it was prior to 2006 India sponsored movement.

It was this designed movement which facilitated the ouster of Nepal’s Hindu monarch for good who is yet trying hard to restore his lost glory and crown.

Professor Ashok Swain, a Swedish national of Indian origin says “in Manipur the Kuki Christians are fleeing as their villages are being attacked and burned down by the majoritarian mob. “Boss” is hiding and his minister has been attacked.

Needless to say, Christians and the minority Muslims are the prime targets of PM Modi who is a devout Hindu.
Since the advent of PM Modi, it is the minority Muslims, the Christians and the Dalits are mainly targeted hinting that this set of “belief” have no place to flourish in a secular turned Hind India.

A video shared recently by the Swedish Professor Ashok Swain sheds light on the escalating tensions and violence faced by the Kuki Christians in Manipur. It showed disturbing visuals if charred houses and displaced individuals suggesting a dire situation that has compelled many to seek refuge elsewhere.

Fear is that some Manipuri Christian may have sneaked to Nepal through porous Nepal-India border from all the sides.

The Bhutanese refugees too entered Nepal through porous border in the east in the early 1990s.

With all these chaotic negative developments inside India, the Western Christian world is in a deep slumber as it doesn’t want to tease India for political considerations.

The US is in a deep snooze being predominantly a Christian world. The US, it is seen more often than not, enjoys the humiliations of the Christians and the Muslims in India for “some” political considerations.

Back to the new Parliament building:

The inaugural occasion of the Parliament building commenced, May 28, 2023, with an early morning Brahmnic-Hindu pattern “havan and a multi-faith prayer ceremony, adding a spiritual touch to the incident which seemingly went against the avowed practice of Indian secularism as envisioned by Indian constitutionalists.

PM Modi wants to convert the secular India to a Hindu nation a la former Nepal.

If per chance, Modi gets reelected, he is sure to declare India a Hindu nation. No force on earth can deter PM Modi. He even may claim King of India.

Journalists Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar write from New Delhi for the New York Times dated May 28, 2023, that “the inauguration ceremony, which reflected Mr. Modi’s usual penchant for Hindu religious and nationalist symbolism, was boycotted by his political opposition. And outside in the streets, the police were brutally breaking up a demonstration”.

The two media men further write that the majority of opposition lawmakers from both the Chambers, about 250 people, stayed away to protest what they called the latest example of the prime minister’s overreach, which they say is undermining India’s constitutional democracy”.

Veteran vocal media woman, Ms. Arfa Khanum Sherwani recently questions through Tweeter and says of the newly inaugurated building that, “Temple of Democracy or the Temple of One Religion”.

She writes further that unlike when PM Modi inaugurated Ram Temple in 2020, the man who inaugurated the new Parliament in 2023 is an insecure leader who had just suffered a humiliating defeat in Karnatka fought with his face”.

She adds “And that Prime Minister Modi, who was so far seen as the ‘Hindu Hridya Samrat’ was no longer just the king of Hindu hearts, but the Samrat (emperor) of India”.

Sharad Pawar-the Nationalist Congress Party President said that he was happy that he didn’t attend the program as the series of events were inclined towards taking the country backwards”.

The political bête noir of PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi who is the former Congress president took a jibe from San Francisco at Modi saying he is considering the inauguration of the new building as a coronation ceremony.

Rahul said in a Tweet in Hindi that “the Prime Minister Modi is considering the inauguration of the Parliament House as a coronation”.

Moreover, what was starkly missing in the event was the grand absence of Indian President Draupadi Murmu, an Adivasi woman, who in essence should have inaugurated the new Parliament building.

Those who, the political parties, boycotted the event claimed that PM Modi exceeded his Prime Ministerial limits and functions by not allowing the de-jure Indian President Murmu to inaugurate the building who in fact holds the symbolic but important role as the custodian of the Indian Constitution now in force.

This means that for PM Modi President Murmu is just a titular head and that she in no way is above the Indian Prime Minister Modi.

Isn’t it an insult to the Indian democracy? Yes. It is.

In a bizarre manner, the institution of the Indian Presidency has been ridiculed which well speaks of how the Indian so called democracy has been functioning or has been made to function by the demanding Hitlerite Indian Prime Minister Modi.

Some twenty opposition parties jointly stated that “The president is not only the head of state in India, but also an integral part of the Parliament. She summons, prorogues and addresses the Parliament,” the parties said in the statement.

“When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building”, the parties in Opposition stated.

No wonder, PM Modi exhibited his despotic persona at time of the inaugural event of the building as if it were his “coronation” ceremony a la British King Charles and that he was no less than a King or even an emperor.

Is PM Modi the next King of India? Keep on guessing. 

However, the opposition parties and a special set of Indian media (not the lap dogs of PM Modi) performed their duties well as was demanded of them.

That’s all.

@telegraphnepal