May 16, 2016 marked the 50th year of the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution (GPCR) launched by the founding father of communist China Mao Zedong. In this hey days Mao was known as the Great Helmsman.
In a scathing speech to a plenary session of CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in January this year, China’s President Xi Jinping, who is also the general secretary of the CPC Central Committee warned of “cabals and cliques” in the communist party, and the party’s fight against corruption, saying “it is not a ‘House of Cards’ power struggle” (Xinhua May 3, 2016).
One may wonder why Bhutan is moving forward and consolidating its democratic credentials, while Maldives which introduced a democratic constitution at the same time is failing and in fact sliding backwards towards a full scale dictatorship?
Ever wondered what lies at the roots of this oxymoron? The seeds of the mystery are buried in the deep history of the British Raj, so deep that the modern narrative on the subject hardly ever brings it under scrutiny.
