Kazakhstan’s longtime leader is gone, but still seemingly everywhere

Thursday, 27 January 2022newsdesk

For three decades, Nursultan Nazarbayev was seemingly everywhere in Kazakhstan, the country he ruled with an autocrat’s clenched fist. The capital’s airport was named after him, as were the city’s best university, a group of elite high schools throughout the country, well-endowed foundations and wide boulevards.

New Delhi, 27 January 2022

As per news report of The Indian Express, Nazarbayev designed a futuristic white steel tower in the center of the city, with a gold orb on top. Inside, visitors can place their hands in a giant gold relief of Nazarbayev’s own hand, his fingers pointing out the plate-glass windows to his presidential palace in the distance. He stepped down as president in 2019 after 28 years but retained power and influence as the official “Leader of the Nation.” His rubber-stamp Parliament renamed the capital city in his honor. It was an open secret that he was the one still calling the shots. Now the man who was everywhere and who controlled everything has all but vanished after violent protests this month that spread like wildfire and marked the country’s greatest political upheaval since it became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Source - The Indian Express