Jimmy Carter as evangelist

By Sandhya Jain
THE sudden decision of the interim parliament of Nepal to arrogate to itself the power to abolish the monarchy precisely when former US President Jimmy Carter arrived on a four-day visit should ring alarm bells in this country. Prior to Mr. George Bush Jr, the American President most committed to an evangelical agenda for the world was Mr. Jimmy Carter, and his visit comes in the wake of Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to appoint a bishop in the Himalayan kingdom.
As Nepal is already slated to hold elections to a new Constituent Assembly to decide the survival of the monarchy and other matters, this Maoist-inspired move to pre-empt the democratic will of the Nepalese people stinks of an attempted coup. It is well known that all the top Maoist leaders of Nepal are Christian converts. The fact that the Maoists cannot wait for the people’s verdict is proof of their poor electoral prospects, and the plea that the monarch may interfere with the poll process is a weak excuse. It shows nervousness that the nation of 28 million cannot be trusted to fully oust the weakened King Gyanendra, who was forced to restore Parliament in April 2006 and has already been stripped of much of his power.
What needs explanation, however, is why Prime Minister G.P. Koirala, who has secured maximum powers under the interim constitution, succumbs to Prachanda and his illegitimate demands. This suggests an external influence, and since India under UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has abdicated its role in the country, this is probably the handiwork of the United States and the UN operating to American diktat or machinations.
Mr. Jimmy Carter reportedly visited Nepal to encourage its leaders to “continue on the path of peace” as they prepare for elections, according to the Carter Center for Human Rights and Democracy, which sounds suspiciously like the Karl Popper-George Soros Open Society branches that triggered revolutions in the Central Asian states until Russia and the ruling elites woke up to the threat.
Mr. Carter’s visit to the Electoral Commission of Nepal is significant, given its sensitive task of delimiting constituencies afresh to reflect the ethnic population in the Terai and other regions, which are opposed to the Maoists.
The former US President’s praise of Mr. Koirala as a man who “has been a hero for me with his reputation and his integrity,” and a “focal point around which the peace and future democracy of this country has been built,” rings hollow as the real purpose of his visit was to meet with Maoist leaders, possibly on behalf of the US government.
India should not be fooled by the fact that the US government still lists the Maoists as terrorists; Washington is quite happy to play ball surreptitiously with such groups in pursuit of its geo-political ends.
The formal abolition of the Nepal monarch will help America delink the nation’s Hindu civilization and ethos from its political culture, and evangelize more aggressively in the region. The American desire for Nepal as a client state, which can be used to keep a check on China, also needs recognition in New Delhi.
Prachanda is more than willing to play ball. “I told Carter we would like to establish amicable diplomatic relations with the US,” he gushed after an hour-long meeting with the former President.
It is significant that Mr. Carter is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, though no one quite knows what his contribution to world peace is or was—he was one of the most colourless American Presidents but it is a fact that the Nobel Peace Prize is given only to those who serve the Western Christian agenda of world dominion.
Mr. Carter made some polite noises against Prachanda’s Young Communist League, which has returned (if it ever left) to the path of violence and extortions against businessmen, and open conflict with Madhesis in the Terai.
The Madhesis are giving it back with all they have, and a few Maoist cadre have been killed in recent days. This has agitated the Maoists and ideologue Chandra Prakash Gajurel has threatened a new agitation to counter the resistance to Maoist domination in the plains. Predictably, Mr. Carter called upon the current US administration to hold talks with the Maoists after Prachanda and his deputy Baburam Bhattarai sought his help in removing the organisation from the US terrorist list.
Mr. Carter claimed that “it is obvious that the people of Nepal have accepted the Maoists as playing a role in the shaping of the future of this country,” but did not give the grounds upon which he made this assessment.
This is dangerous as his Atlanta-based Carter Center is helping the Nepalese government with Constituent Assembly elections to be held later this year. If New Delhi wakes up to find the Maoists in power and an American military base on its eastern border—there are already bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia—it will only have itself to blame.