Nepalis return home

More enormous changes out of Nepal today: the newly reinstated parliament has drastically curbed King Gyanendra's powers, taking control of the army, renaming the government, and instituting taxes on royals. Let's wait and see whether Gyanendra signs the new resolutions into law – something the constitution still requires. And the Nepali Times reports on a ...

More enormous changes out of Nepal today: the newly reinstated parliament has drastically curbed King Gyanendra's powers, taking control of the army, renaming the government, and instituting taxes on royals. Let's wait and see whether Gyanendra signs the new resolutions into law - something the constitution still requires.

More enormous changes out of Nepal today: the newly reinstated parliament has drastically curbed King Gyanendra's powers, taking control of the army, renaming the government, and instituting taxes on royals. Let's wait and see whether Gyanendra signs the new resolutions into law – something the constitution still requires.

And the Nepali Times reports on a development that is sure to bring further changes to the political landscape: thousands of Nepalis are returning from India. Having fled Maoist violence and a withering economy in search of jobs, thousands are returning home in the hopes that the peace will hold.

This development is especially interesting because we may soon see the rise of a phenomenon enormously influential across South Asia: identity politics. In a recent analysis I haven't seen elsewhere, Guardian correspondent Randeep Ramesh writes that minority discrimination and ethnic rights had more to do with the recent Kathmandu protests than common goals of democracy:

Although there was much talk about democracy, human rights, young street anger and class conflict in the Kathmandu spring revolution, these notions masked the real reason for bubbling social conflict in Nepal: the exclusion of minority and ethnic groups.

Nepal has 100 native tongues and half a dozen religions. There are 60 indigenous nationalities, popularly perceived to be Mongoloid, who constitute more than 35% of the population. Criss-crossing these identities are caste and gender.

Ask a Maoist footsoldier why he or she joined and amid the leftist rhetoric is a strong sense of ethnic pride.

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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