The politics behind Prashant's Indian Idol win

Indian Idol was a good show this year, where the winner was Prashant Tamang whose win was no one could foresee from the beginning. All the "top contestants", some of them, especially Puja and Emon, were undoubtedly better singers than Prashant or the runner up Amit Paul, but in the end it all came down to "votes" where multiple votes by sms were allowed. Even in music where violence have no place, but the "fans" in Prashant's hometown took the streets protesting derogatory remarks made by a radio host against him. Here is an excerpt from Zee News:

He said he had heard that firing had taken place, but no senior police official was available to confirm it.

The trouble erupted when a 2000-strong procession of fans of Indian idol Prasanth Tamang were marching in a procession to the SDO`s office to submit a memorandum in protest against the derogatory comments by a FM radio jockey in Delhi against Tamang, the police said.

While the processionists were passing through hospital road an ambulance with a patient inside tried to drive into the Siliguri Zilla hospital located there, the sources said.

This was resisted by the processionists and an altercation took place with those inside the ambulance. The processionists then allegedly assaulted all inside the ambulance, including the patient.

Local people protested, which infuriated the fans further and they began vandalising shops in the area.

The local people then chased them into the nearby court compound and began throwing stones and torched cars, the sources said.

Hindustan Times published a story last week where describing Prashant's win and its impact on "political history" between Nepal and India that is more than a century old is a must read. Here is the link to this article: Click here. A few excerpts from this article is given below:

for many Nepalese, Darjeeling is still part of Nepal.

In the 19th century, Darjeeling and other parts of Sikkim had been annexed by Nepal. However, as the British East India Company tried to open trade routes to Tibet via Sikkim, Nepal waged war against the Company and lost.

As a result, it was forced to sign the Sugauli Treaty and withdraw from all the territory it had occupied in Sikkim, Kumaon, Garhwal and much of the Terai.

Though the British found it difficult to govern the Terai and restored some of it to Nepal, Darjeeling, Kumaon and Garhwal remained part of British India.

When India obtained independence in 1947, Nepal hoped to get back its wrested land but did not.

Since then, the dream of achieving a "Greater Nepal" some day in the future with the lost area still remains in the mind of the Nepalese.

Royalists had been demanding a Greater Nepal and the Maoists, the opponents of the royalists, want it as well, demanding that the Sugauli Treaty be scrapped.

There has been no formal treaty between Nepal and India after 1947, even after Sikkim's merger with India in 1975, which Nepal regards as the annexation of Sikkim.

Nepal still does not formally recognise Sikkim's "annexation", nor has India sought recognition from Nepal.

Therefore Nepalis still regard Darjeeling as a part of Nepal that should be restored and Prashant Tamang is considered a Nepalese.