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Nepal soothsayers predict
Obama win
By
Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu,
Oct 27 (IANS) They made predictions - some with success and
some without - about the end of the country's royal dynasty
and the end of the Maoist insurgency. Now Nepal's cosmopolitan
astrologers are predicting a victory for Barack Obama.
According
to Nepal's leading soothsayers, Republican candidate John
McCain's younger opponent will win the Nov 4 polls, not due
to the republican's running mate Sarah Palin but thanks to
the democrat's stronger stars.
Santosh
Vashisht, who is also the spokesman of the Nepal Astrologers'
Council, says McCain, whose sun sign is Sagittarius, was born
under the shadow of the evil Saturn, which would reduce his
chances of winning.
Obama,
on the other hand, enjoys the blessings of Taurus and Jupiter,
which have boosted his prospects of victory.
Madhav
Acharya, the religious adviser to deposed king Gyanendra and
current head of the calendar committee, echoes Vashisht's
views.
According
to his calculations, Obama's campaign has been strengthened
by the position of the moon, sun and mercury in his astrological
chart, which signify a high this year.
How
could McCain possibly win?
Only
if the election is postponed to summer. Astrologer Madhab
Bhattarai says his chances will improve after mid-April when
Obama's stars will wane.
While
the presidential campaign can ignore the Nepali astrologers,
it can't however afford to dismiss the Nepali diaspora residing
in the US, whose number is nearly 150,000.
In
a report from Washington Monday, Kantipur, Nepal's biggest
daily, said Nepalis residing in the US were rooting for Obama,
wooed by his pledge for greater education and healthcare funds
for the middle and lower middle class.
"Someone
like Obama will be able to understand our problems,"
said Babu Ghimire, a Nepali resident with two children. "Save
a few, the majority of Nepalis in the US belong to the low
and middle income groups."
Last
week, when Nepalis in Washington celebrated Dashain, Nepal's
biggest Hindu festival, Obama's campaign leaflets were translated
into Nepali and distributed.
Two months ago, the diaspora had held a conference in Baltimore,
where Obama was invited.
Though
the 47-year-old did not attend, he however sent a message
saying that he could understand the problems of Asians.
Though
Nepal's ruling Maoist party, that swept an election on home
turf in April, would not comment outright, calling the election
an internal matter of the US, yet its sympathies are likely
to be with Obama.
In
his recent visit to the US, Nepal's Maoist Finance Minister
Baburam Bhattarai had said that he favoured the Democratic
Party.
Indo-Asian
News Service
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