Aam adami Suyash Dixit became King Suyash the First over night. Well, Suyash didn’t marry a princess to get the royal title. Instead, he decided to fly down to the African continent and proclaim Bir Tawil as his kingdom on 7 November. It has been now renamed as Kingdom of Dixit. Psst! Prince Charles are you reading this?
Bir Tawil, an 800 sq miles of empty no man’s land, aka terra nullius that lies on the border of Eqypt and Sudan. That’s probably the reason, ‘no-man’ has heard about it except our friend Suyash Dixit. So obscure is Bir Tawil that even Sudan and Egypt don’t care about it much. Literally!
Who is King Suyash?
Indore-based Suyash Dixit is the CEO of Softinator – an advisory/outsourcing company offering business services and technology solutions.
He’s a big fan of veteran journalist Ravish Kumar and wished he could talk to Ravish on his extraordinary feat.
It’s amazing how Suyash, who for the first time bought a tatkal ticket from IRCTC in 2015, went on to own a kingdom in Africa in 2017.
And ladies listen up! King Suyash is single. How do we know? Well, the man couldn’t control his excitement while he was thanking the internet for making him so popular, that he happily announced his status to the world.
Who’s Bir Tawil is it?
‘Not Mine’!
Is what both Sudan and Egypt claim. But how is it even possible? Well blame it on Briton. In 1899, British Empire ki dadagiri expanded across the world including Africa. So the British being British drew the line between Sudan and Egypt and called the border 22nd Parallel. The colonial masters didn’t keep in mind their immediate reality, which included their geographical location and cultural links among other things. But in 1902, the vilayati babus had a change of heart and decided to redraw the border.
Now here lies the problem. Both the countries follow different border rules.
Egypt follows the 1899 border whereas Sudan follows the 1902 border as its official border. As a result, Bir Tawil got screwed because, both Sudan and Egypt believe that the 800 sq miles belongs to the other country.
Bachara Bir Tawil, lies in the middle of nowhere and it lacks infrastructure and resources. And no country is in a mood to do much gadha mazdoori.
Bir Tawil’s Game of Thrones
Sorry King Suyash the First, but long before you, there was American conquer, Jeremiah Heaton the Great, who travelled to Bir Tawil in June 2014 only to make his seven-year-old daughter a rajkumari. King Heaton named Bir Tawil the Kingdom of North Sudan. Apparently, the Kingdom of North Sudan is raising funds for an international research center to fight global hunger.
King Heaton was furious when he heard about the proclamation of Kingdom of Dixit, and ranted out against Suyash the First on social media. Heaton of the Kingdom of North Sudan called Suyash the First a “liar” and claims Suyash never reached Bir Tawil.
Just when you thought Game of Thrones 2.0 will begin. The two kings chilled out and sorted their differences on Twitter and decided to work together for the development of Kingdom of North Sudan.
In fact, so much was the pyaar that Heaton even deleted his previous tweets where he lashed out on Suyash. #ArtOfDiplomacy
Can someone please tell the two apparent kings that just by planting a flag on a piece of land or taking a selfie does not make it theirs. They aren’t playing monopoly here.
So How Do You Make a Country?
Well there are a few criterias for a country to be born: A permanent population (not just a day visit), a defined territory and some form of a government (a legitimate one). Under international law, only a state can assert dominance over territory, said law expert Anthony Arend in an interview to the Washington Post.
Errr! Better luck next time!
(The Quint has reached out to Suyash Dixit and Jeremiah Heaton for their responses. This story will be updated accordingly.)
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