Nepal would see the formation of a new government following the elections that handed down an impressive victory to the Rastriya Swatantra Party. That a 35-year-old youth, rapper Balendra Shah, is at the head of this victory demonstrates the people’s strong disenchantment with the established political parties and their leaders who had let their nation down badly. This electoral verdict, significantly, forms into a pattern as was evident in Sri Lanka in 2024 when the then President Gotabaya’s residence was stormed by Leftist youths. They unseated him from power, leading to elections that subsequently President Dissanayake’s Leftist coalition won handsomely. It was a verdict against corrupt politics and the sharp downturn in Sri Lanka’s economy. The people were disenchanted with old parties and old faces.
In Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina was overthrown from her position as prime minister, a post she held for many years. Students and Islamists joined hands to end her governance in 2024. An interim government was formed, after which elections were held to the Bangladesh parliament, leading to the formation of a normal government by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Tarique Rahman last month. The 60-year-old Tarique Rahman, son of BNP leader and former prime minister Khaleda Zia, had been living in exile for years, but his word carried weight with the electorate. Through these, politics in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh experienced a tectonic shift. A new generation of leaders came centre-stage. So too with Nepal now, where the people put their trust in a young rapper. India and Pakistan are however being ruled by traditional politicians, many of them past their prime. Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, from a traditional ruling family, is aged around 75; PM Modi is of the same age; and several of the senior ministers in the central government are around Modi’s age. A generational shift here is still a far cry.
Nepal has been through turbulence after the 2001 palace coup and assassination of King Birendra, the benevolent ruler who maintained fraternal ties with India. The Communists or Maoists have held power following the elections there, and militant leader Prachanda occupied top positions in government. But the people were not satisfied with these rulers, who failed to win respect matching what Birendra had commanded. They indulged in unprincipled power politics – a bane of democracy in the footloose third world countries. At the same time, they built bridges with China, and distanced Nepal from India. Anti-India feelings were being whipped up in Nepal at the behest of China. Some of the controversial, tough actions of the Modi government –vis-à-vis Nepal also came in the way of the fraternal ties. Notably, Balendra Shah whose party has been swept to power in the polls is expected to re-adjust Nepal’s ties with its neighbours. Shah has made clear, similar to what Tarique Rahman of Bangladesh has said on assumption of power — that the interests of his nation are paramount. Yet, an equidistance policy with neighbours is easier said than done. For both Bangladesh and Nepal, as also for Sri Lanka, their close ties with India in the past helped them immensely; and this was much more than the help India got from them.
