A reminder: India’s democracy is its greatest shield against a Nepal-style revolution

Welcome to The India Fix by Shoaib Daniyal. A newsletter on Indian politics. This week we have a look at the incredible events in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and unpack how Indian democracy has shielded us from similar revolutions.

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The massive street protests in Nepal have achieved their immediate goal: unseating the government. On Tuesday, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned, even as his ministers were attacked by protesters and Parliament set on fire.

While the immediate trigger might have been a social media ban, the protesters, many of them young men and women in their twenties, were angry with what they say is a corrupt state that was unable to meet their developmental needs even as politicians and their children enriched themselves.

South Asia in ferment

Nepal joined Sri Lanka and Bangladesh that have seen youth-led revolutions over the past three years driven by discontent over living conditions and allegations of government corruption.

In 2022, protestors stormed the president’s residence in Colombo, prompting Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee to the Maldives. A couple of years later, student protestors in...

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