FORTUNE TELLING FOR NEPAL POLLS
Nepal’s political leaders rely on astrologers’ advice to give them an edge in election
KATHMANDU
NEPAL’S prime minister is confident his party will win a general election being held this month — because his astrologer told him.
In deeply superstitious Nepal, astrologers hold enormous sway in political circles and the seers have been busy ahead of a general election that could herald change after more than two decades of turbulence in the Himalayan nation.
Leaders regularly consult the stars for guidance on a range of matters, from the most auspicious moment to hold elections to the challenge posed by a rival, anything that might give them an edge in this hotly-contested poll.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been in regular contact with his fortune teller ahead of the historic vote, the final step of a drawn-out peace process which began in 2006 with the close end of a bloody civil war.
Deuba was told he would be prime minister seven times — he is on his fourth term — and boldly claimed his party would win, in response to taunts from opposition leader K.P. Oli.
But Deuba’s Nepali Congress faces a tough challenge in the polls from Oli’s Communist CNPUML party, which has formed an alliance with the main Maoist party that will be tough to beat.
Deuba’s astrologer, Angiras Neupane, said according to Deuba’s birth chart, calculated on the date, time and location of his birth, he would serve at least one more term in top office.
But he said it wouldn’t necessarily be the next one.
He predicted that Oli would, in fact, be the next prime minister, but that his coalition would quickly crumble, allowing Deuba to retake the reins.
The answers to Nepal’s political future could also lie with a stone idol in remote Dolakha district, 135km east of here.
A statue of the Hindu god Lord Shiva at the small Bhimeshwor Temple is said to sweat when political change is imminent — and it began to perspire in September.
“We took this as an indicator of the Left Alliance,” said Birajman Shrestha, chairman of the ward where the statue is, referring to the much-fancied pact between the two communist parties.
The idol has reportedly predicted various upheavals, including the end of the rule of the royal Rana dynasty in 1951, a 2001 royal massacre and the overthrow of the monarchy in 2008. AFP