Worth preserving

We would do well to internalise the enormous costs at which recent democratic changes have come.

As Nepal prepared to mark its 74th Democracy Day, the European Union Ambassador to Nepal Veronique Lorenzo was reminding the country that six or seven years were nearly not enough to institutionalise federalism. What a tragedy that our foreign friends have to keep reminding us of this self-evident fact. But, for that matter, you could argue that even the tripartite agreement between the Rana regime, the Nepali Congress and the Nepali monarch that first heralded democracy 74 years ago happened because of an outside force: India. It was in New Delhi that the pact was signed, with India playing the mediator. Coming to 2005, New Delhi again hosted Nepali leaders as they signed the 12-point accord that would lay the foundation for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) a year later. This in turn marked the end of a decade-long insurgency. Outside powers, especially India, are often invoked while trying to explain contemporary political developments in Nepal. Allegedly, it is the Europeans who imposed federalism and secularism on Nepal, even as India under Modi is now said to be trying to restore Nepal’s Hindu status.