Guwahati: Explaining "Democracy in South and Southeast Asia" and "India and Asia", the two major sub-themes of a two-day international seminar at Gauhati University, Prof. Emeritus from JNU, S.D. Muni, said "the whole of South Asia is painted as democratic" but it is far from the truth.

"Nepal and Bhutan are two unique examples of such democracies which have not got enough attention, either in academic or even in policy circle. Nepal is a 10-year-old absolutely ruthless and violent democracy. In contrast to that we have the Bhutanese democracy, which is topped down, where one section of people says they want democracy and another section doesn't want it," Muni said.

Muni was addressing the valedictory session of the two-day conference.