Seeing things

Dahal’s blaming foreigners for his party’s poor showing makes him sound like a sore loser.

Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal should be the last Nepali politician to complain of foreign interference. During the decade-long insurgency, the Maoists under him dug trenches on Nepali soil purportedly to fight the Indian Army that was supposedly invading Nepal. Then, when he became prime minister in 2008, he tried to sack a sitting army chief, this time inviting India’s real wrath which resulted in his being pushed out. After that, he made a concerted effort to prove his fealty to New Delhi. His relations with the Chinese are no less patchy. Over the years, they too have come to trust the over-promising and under-delivering Dahal less and less.