Anand Patwardhan on the Ram Mandir, Imran Khan's reverse swing and more – Southasia Weekly #01
This week at Himal
This week, we launched State of Southasia, a new podcast with top thinkers on Southasia discussing the most urgent issues facing the region today. In the first episode, host Nayantara Narayanan speaks with filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, whose documentary Ram ke naam, looking at the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and released in 1992, has become eerily relevant again in the present day after Narendra Modi inaugurated a Ram Temple on the disputed site. Stay tuned for new episodes of State of Southasia every four weeks!
The week’s stories also looked closely at India under Modi. Christophe Jaffrelot unpacks the enduring personality cult surrounding India’s prime minister, in an excerpt from his new book Gujarat under Modi: Laboratory of Today’s India. Vaibhav Vats examines how the Ram Mandir is the tombstone for India as Southasia’s great secular exception, with comparisons to the tragic consequences of communal politics in other countries in the region – especially Sri Lanka.
In culture stories, art crime professor Erin L Thompson delves into two publications that offer a window into the murky workings of Himalayan art collections in the West.
This week in Southasia
Imran Khan's reverse swing fails to topple PML-N
In a surprise twist, Imran Khan and the embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) won 93 seats in the National Assembly after contesting Pakistan’s parliamentary elections on 8 February. Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) was only able to gain 75 seats, despite Sharif being widely recognised as the preferred candidate for Pakistan’s powerful military establishment. The PML-N failed to reckon with the skyrocketing inflation that citizens experienced under the rule of the Pakistan Democracy Movement (of which the PML-N is a key partner), or the growing public sympathy for Khan due to a crackdown on his party and supporters.
The PTI’s performance was particularly impressive as the party was not allowed to use its election symbol, a cricket bat, and since Khan remains in prison on multiple charges. But did Khan’s reverse swing knock Sharif out? Not quite. Neither contender was able to win a simple majority, instead having to scramble to build a coalition. In the end, the PML-N has aligned with the Pakistan People’s Party and several others, while the PTI has joined with minority parties including the Majlis-e-Wahdat-Muslimeen. With the PML-N coalition able to draw from reserved seats, unlike the PTI, it easily mustered the 134 seats needed to form a government. But the PML-N cannot rest on its laurels. Sharif was unable to win even in his party’s traditional stronghold, Punjab, unlike the PTI and PPP, which won comfortably in their respective bases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwah and Sindh. In short, political instability in Pakistan looks set to continue into 2024. And it may not be long before Sharif finds himself, once again, at loggerheads with Pakistan’s military.
Elsewhere in Southasia 📡
Myanmar’s military junta decides to enforce conscription law after continued losses against anti-junta groups
India’s Supreme Court scraps electoral bonds, curbing anonymous donations to political parties in a setback for the ruling BJP
Sri Lanka drafts law to monitor NGOs, part of a long-running strategy to clamp down on non-profits
Indian magazine The Caravan receives a takedown order under the widely criticised IT Act for an article detailing the torture and killing of civilians in Jammu at the hands of the Indian Army
Tibetan monk arrested by Chinese police for publishing books from exiled Tibetan writers
Indian farmer’s unions are in talks with the central government after protests calling for higher prices for their crops, reminiscent of the massive 2021-2022 farmers protests
Calls for a boycott of Indian goods grow in Bangladesh following allegations of Indian interference in Bangladesh’s elections
Indian fintech firm PayTM’s shares tank after the announcement of an Enforcement Directorate probe into the company, fuelling calls for better corporate governance in India’s much-touted start-up scene
Violence in the town of Haldwani, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, following the demolition of a mosque and school, leaves 6 dead amid allegations of “administrative failure”
Only in Southasia!
Shaukat Ahmed Parray, the Deputy Commissioner of Patiala in Indian Punjab, had one pressing concern on 13 February, when police fired teargas at protesting farmers who were demanding better guaranteed prices for their crops. In a missive to police in the neighbouring state of Haryana, Parray requested them not to fire teargas shells into Punjab’s territory. His call to respect the dotted line drew the ire of Haryana’s home minister, Anil Vij, who asked, “Is it the India-Pakistan border?” Vij went on, “Do they mean to say that if anybody kills Haryana police personnel and escapes into Punjab, we can’t chase him and catch him there?”
We didn’t expect to find a kindred spirit in Shri Anil Vij, who seems to share Himal’s traditional aversion to hard borders. We think he might appreciate our Right-Side-Up Map. Does anyone have his postal address?
From the archive
As armed groups continue to make advances against Myanmar’s military junta, David Brenner’s 2014 analysis of how peace in Myanmar is hampered by an economic logic of limited utility is once again essential reading. Brenner examines how the process of democratisation under the toppled National League of Democracy government led to greater political and economic engagement, including with Myanmar’s various armed groups, which benefit from opportunities offered by neighbouring countries including China and Thailand. He notes how the business of peace, while lucrative, has also fuelled a certain fragility. If the junta falls and Myanmar recommences its experiment with democracy, the country will confront these key questions once again.