Sir — The world’s only Hindu nation finally did away with 240 years of monarchy (“End of Monarchy in Nepal”, June issue). It happened only when the people of Nepal realized that King Gyanendra was not the best person to be ruling them. For the god-fearing — and the king is generally regarded as the representative of god — people, it needed a truly incompetent and malevolent king for things to come to such a pass. It is a shame that the ousted king’s birthday has been publicly celebrated in India by some politicians, in the company of some erstwhile Indian royalty and the Nepalese ambassador.
Yours faithfully, Madhu Agrawal, Manchester Sir — By abolishing monarchy, Nepalese Maoists are playing to the gallery. They know that this alone cannot pull up Nepal’s economy from the dump. Many countries — England, Japan, Sweden — have managed to marry monarchy to their national aspirations. Emperor Heile Selassie was dethroned by Lieutenant Colonel Mariam in Ethiopia, who practised Marxism for 17 years. He ruined the Ethiopian economy and the people ultimately rejected Marxism. A look at the comparative status of South and North Korea in per capita GDP could teach Prachanda one or two things .
Yours faithfully,
Asoke C. Banerjee, London
Sir — It is facile to argue that India should welcome the emergence of a democratic, secular and republican Nepal on its northern border. With the Maoist ideology of its ruling class, Nepal will be heavily influenced, even dominated, by China much sooner than its valiant liberators realize. Its relations with India are already prickly in places. This would be fully exploited by China in the guise of being a friend to Nepal, and will be entirely to India’s detriment. The new republic’s impoverished conditions would make it a vassal state to the economically mighty Chinese. On the world stage, Nepal will forever remain China ’s stooge.
The developments in our neighbouring state are quite ominous for India. As a Hindu monarchy, it was our natural ally. But now, there are tectonic shifts. Nepal ’s delirium as a secular state will soon give way to a Tibet-style assimilation of its culture and religion by the Chinese. The republic of Nepal is destined to prove difficult for India hereafter. We should watch out for China ’s new cat’s paw.
Rakesh Sood - Wolverhampton |
