“Yet, those who fantasise about India slipping into the chaos we see in Nepal forget one crucial fact. India’s Constitution is among the strongest in the world, its democratic institutions tested time and again. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the resilience of this system. Our armed forces and intelligence agencies ensure that external forces find no easy playground here. India’s diversity, its scale, and the maturity of its electorate all make it nearly impossible for anarchists to seize the state.”
What has unfolded in Nepal over the past weeks is tragic, disturbing, and yet a reminder of how fragile democratic systems can be when anger is weaponised and guided by invisible hands. The burning of parliament, the attacks on ministers’ residences, and even the storming of the Supreme Court did not happen spontaneously.
They were sparked by discontent over the ban on social media platforms, but no protest of such intensity and coordination grows without planning, resources, and money. The real question that needs to be asked is not whether young protestors are angry but who funds and sustains such outbursts.
The pattern is becoming clear across South Asia. In Sri Lanka, a few years ago, economic collapse provided fertile ground for mobs to take over the streets. In Bangladesh, unrest often turns into violent street fights that paralyse the nation. In Pakistan, the military has time and again leveraged civilian anger to tighten its grip. And now Nepal has joined this list, where the fire of protest has quickly crossed the line between dissent and destruction.
In every instance, what we see is not simply the frustration of the masses but also the presence of shadowy networks that prefer instability over the slow, difficult path of democratic reform.
This is where India must be vigilant.
In recent days, several social media posts have emerged urging Indians to replicate Nepal-style protests. These voices are not many, but their intent is unmistakable. They come from people who do not believe in elected governments, who are convinced that democracy itself is flawed, and who live to spread cynicism. Some are politically motivated, others ideological, and many are simply narrow-minded individuals intoxicated by chaos. But all of them have one common aim: to weaken the foundations of India’s democracy.
We have seen such attempts before. The sit-in at Shaheen Bagh during the anti-CAA protests was portrayed as a people’s movement, yet it relied heavily on external support and careful orchestration.
Similarly, the farmers’ protests in Delhi began with legitimate grievances but quickly spiralled into road blockades and, eventually, the shocking scenes of mobs storming the Red Fort. National symbols were humiliated, police personnel were attacked, and the capital was held hostage for months. These cannot be passed off as mere expressions of dissent. They were carefully fuelled, funded, and amplified with the aim of sowing distrust in the system.
It is vital to understand the difference between protest and anarchy. Dissent is the lifeblood of democracy. India’s Constitution grants every citizen the right to question the government, march peacefully, and demand change. But when those rights are abused to paralyse cities, to occupy roads indefinitely, or to vandalise national institutions, it ceases to be a democratic protest. It becomes a project to delegitimise the very system that allows dissent to exist.
Foreign funding has played a role in such episodes. This is not a conspiracy theory but a documented reality. From NGOs receiving money with the explicit purpose of mobilising unrest, to activists coordinating with overseas networks, the evidence has been too frequent to ignore. Nations hostile to India’s rise would naturally want to see instability here. Social media, with its speed and reach, has only made their task easier. What begins as a hashtag campaign can morph into a street blockade in a matter of days.
Yet, those who fantasise about India slipping into the chaos we see in Nepal forget one crucial fact. India’s Constitution is among the strongest in the world, its democratic institutions tested time and again. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the resilience of this system. Our armed forces and intelligence agencies ensure that external forces find no easy playground here. India’s diversity, its scale, and the maturity of its electorate all make it nearly impossible for anarchists to seize the state.
That does not mean we can afford complacency. Every attempt to romanticise disorder must be countered with clarity. Protest must always remain within the framework of law. Citizens must ask who benefits when streets burn, when parliament is attacked, or when the Red Fort is ransacked. The answer is never the ordinary people. It is always those who thrive on instability, whether they are foreign actors or domestic opportunists.
Nepal is paying a heavy price for allowing anger to be channelled into destruction. India must learn from that example and guard against those who would like to see similar fires here. Democracy is not perfect, but it remains the only system that gives voice to the people without drowning the nation in blood. To defend it, we must expose those who masquerade as protestors but act as the new architects of anarchy.
