MPPSC 2020 Prelims Paper-I · Question 11 of 100

Correct — D, Myanmar. On 1 February 2021 the Myanmar military (the Tatmadaw), led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, seized power, detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and declared a one-year state of emergency. The army alleged fraud in the November 2020 general election, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) had won in a landslide. This is the neighbouring country that faced a coup in February 2021.

• (a)Nepal — Nepal was in a political crisis — PM K. P. Sharma Oli dissolved the House of Representatives (December 2020), a move the Supreme Court later struck down — but this was a constitutional/parliamentary dispute, not a military coup; the Nepal Army stayed in its barracks.
• (b)Bangladesh — There was no coup in Bangladesh in February 2021; it had a functioning elected government under PM Sheikh Hasina.
• (c)Sri Lanka — No military takeover occurred in Sri Lanka in February 2021; its later 2022 upheaval was an economic crisis with mass protests that forced the President to flee, not an army coup.

A coup d'etat is a sudden, unconstitutional seizure of state power, usually by the armed forces. Myanmar has a long history of army rule (direct military government 1962-2011). The 2021 coup ended a decade of quasi-civilian, 'disciplined' democracy that had run under the 2008 Constitution — a charter drafted by the military itself that reserves one-fourth of all legislative seats for serving officers.

The trap is that several of India's neighbours saw turmoil around this time, but only Myanmar had an actual military takeover. Separate 'a coup' (army grabs power) from 'a constitutional crisis' (Nepal's parliament dissolution) and 'an economic collapse with protests' (Sri Lanka, 2022).

• Date: 1 February 2021; the Tatmadaw under Senior General Min Aung Hlaing seized power.
• Aung San Suu Kyi (State Counsellor) and President Win Myint were detained.
• Trigger: the army rejected the NLD's landslide win in the November 2020 election, alleging fraud.
• Myanmar's 2008 Constitution reserves 25% (one-fourth) of parliamentary seats for the military.

• Reading Nepal's December 2020 dissolution of Parliament as a 'coup' — it was a court-tested constitutional dispute
• Confusing Sri Lanka's 2022 economic crisis and protests with a military takeover

Usually a current-affairs one-liner: 'which country saw event X in month/year'. Lock Myanmar ↔ 1 February 2021 military coup.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Who led the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) in the 1 February 2021 coup?

  • (a)Aung San Suu Kyi
  • (b)Min Aung Hlaing
  • (c)Win Myint
  • (d)Htin Kyaw

  Answer(b) Min Aung Hlaing, the Senior General who became head of the ruling junta.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The 2008 Constitution of Myanmar reserves what share of the seats in Parliament for the military?

  • (a)10%
  • (b)25%
  • (c)33%
  • (d)50%

  Answer(b) 25% — one-fourth of the legislature is reserved for serving military officers.