USUALLY thick with smog, the sky above Kathmandu is strangely clear. For weeks a blockade at Nepal’s border with India has strangled the capital’s supply of fuel. The country relies almost entirely on its big southern neighbour for its oil and gas, along with much else. In the capital, cars and lorries sit idle. Hotels and restaurants have run out of cooking gas. Young middle-class families cannot buy nappies. Kathmandu is supposed to be celebrating Dashain, the biggest Hindu festival of the year, in honour of Durga, the goddess of power. But blackouts loom. The new coalition government of Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, a veteran politician who was made prime minister on October 11th, after a long-debated constitution was finally passed, has been born into crisis.
By contrast, the atmosphere in Birgunj, Nepal’s main border-crossing with India, is almost festive. For weeks growing crowds of protesters have occupied the no-man’s-land between the two countries, giving India an excuse not to send across thousands of lorries that are lined up on its side of the frontier. The protesters are largely from the bottom rungs of Nepali society, notably the Tharu...Continue reading
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