Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Astrologers hold sway over Nepal’s political leaders

minus
plus

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.


Deuba was told he would be prime minister seven times — he is currently on his fourth term.


But Deuba’s Nepali Congress faces a tough challenge in the polls from opposition leader K P Oli’s Communist CNP-UML party.


Deuba’s astrologer, Angiras Neupane, said that according to Deuba’s birth chart, he would serve at least one more term in top office. 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.


“There will be instability in the country yet again,” Neupane said.


That is hardly welcome news in Nepal, which has endured a tumultuous transition from monarchy to democracy.


In the last 27 years, Nepal has had 26 prime ministers, suffered a brutal Maoist insurgency and ousted an unpopular monarchy. There was also a devastating earthquake in 2015.


All kinds of people, including politicians, visit fortune tellers.


“Common as well as high-profile people visit and take my advice. But they don’t want to disclose they’ve visited an astrologer for fear of being thought of as weak,” said fortune teller Ojraj Lohani, who used to advise Deuba. Lohani also said Deuba’s astrological chart indicated he would be prime minister once more.


The answers to Nepal’s political future could also lie with a stone idol in remote Dolakha district, 135 km east of Kathmandu.


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 late September.


“We took this as an indicator of the Left Alliance,” said Birajman Shrestha, chairman of the ward where the statue is located. — AFP


Annabel Symington


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon