We can’t neglect the role of neighboring countries in the success of Indian foreign policy. Specially, a Nepali government more interested towards China, always be a prime danger for India’s regional interest and security.
-
Keerthiraj
(Assistant Professor in Alliance
University)
The Himalayan country
Nepal is once again going through political transition. Pushpa Kamal Dahal,
popularly known as Prachanda was elected as the Prime Minister of Nepal,
replacing Khadga Prasad Oli. This is for
the second time Prachanda will be serving as the Prime Minister of Nepal. A new
ray of hope emerged in India- Nepal relations with this change in the politics
of Nepali politics. Since last year, India and Nepal diplomatic relations has
been in a state of confusion and decline. But newly elected Nepali PM Prachanda
took some rational decisions to correct the mistakes of past and sent special
envoys to India and China.
India and Nepal are
more than just neighboring countries. They have much reason to remain as close
allies and this is proved by history. Since decades, India’s concern and
commitments towards Nepali defense elevated Indo-Nepal relations to higher
levels. Of course Nepal is a landlocked country, but in a true sense it is
Indian land locked country as it shares most of the boundaries with India. On
the other hand, Himalayan mountain range including the great Mount Everest
separates Nepal from China. Even during crises times India was there with Nepal
like an elder brother. When Nepal suffered a continuous Maoist war since 1996,
only Indian interference convinced Maoist party and other national parties to
end the war with 12 points agreement in 2004. But everything went wrong when
Nepal adopted a new constitution on 19th September 2015. Nepal government and
the new constitution neglected the protests of Madeshi, Tharu and other
ethnical communities living in border areas. India also raised serious concerns
about these ethnic issues.
Madeshi community has a
distinct cultural identity and it is clear that they are excluded by Nepali
mainstream society. Madeshis’ hope about new constitution perished like a moth!
Boundary lines of Madeshi provinces, citizenship problems of Madeshis left
unaddressed. New constitution of Nepal
became deaf and dumb to the problems of Madeshi community. The supreme text of
the nation remains silent regarding political and cultural hegemony of mainstream
Nepali society over their own people living in border areas. Nepali political
elites also sidelined the major demand of this oppressed community. Naturally
India backed the movement of Madeshis and advised the government of Nepal to
rectify the mistakes of new constitution. This moral responsibility of India
was intentionally misinterpreted and misunderstood by Nepal leaders. Then
Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli chose China for his first foreign
visit, it became crystal clear that both symbolically and practically Nepal
avoided India.
Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi openly condemned new Nepali constitution. And a series of
statements by Indian Ministry of External affairs backed the opinion of Modi.
Later days witnessed dark period of Indo-Nepal relations including an Indian
blockade against Nepal, Chinese hold over Nepal etc. While unofficial Indian
blockade against Nepal continued, Nepal faced an earthquake. During this
natural disaster, again India extended helping hands to Nepal in the name of
‘Operation Maitri’. Unfortunately, some
considered this humanitarian effort by India as an attempt to establish
hegemony in Nepal. Even Nepali government held the same view and disrespected
moral interest of India.
Indian diplomats and
strategy experts worried when a traditional ally of India continuously lurching
towards China. We can’t neglect the role of neighboring countries in the
success of Indian foreign policy. Specially, a Nepali government more
interested towards China, always be a prime danger for India’s regional
interest and security. No one can deny the possibility of China using Nepal to
achieve domination in South Asia. We should remember China already has doors to
South Asian politics through Pakistan. 2014 China (an observer in SAARC) tried
to push its interest to be a permanent member state in SAARC through Nepal!
Recent political
developments in Nepal removed Khadga Prasad Oli from power and established
Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) as Prime Minister. Newly elected PM of Nepal
sent Deputy PM Bimalendra Nidhi as a special envoy to India. This is tactical
step taken by Prachanda to reestablish lost relations of India and Nepal.
During his visit to India Nidhi expressed Prachanda’s view that development of
Nepal is not possible without Indian cooperation and a positive response from
Indian PM Modi shows Indo- Nepal Relations are back on track. Nidhi, himself is
a Madeshi assured to respect India’s concerns towards Madeshi problems.
Since 2014 the focus of
Indian foreign policy is its neighborhood.
Even though in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, India’s foreign policy achieved
notable success, Nepal remained as an exception since last year. Now once again
with the leadership of Prachanda, there is an attempt to reestablish this prime
relation. Prachanda will serve as the PM of Nepal for the next 9 months. After
that Sher Bahaddur Deuba will succeed Prachanda according to the coalition
compromises. Fortunately, even Sher Bahaddur Deuba expressed his views in favor
of better indo- Nepal relations. These developments ignited a new hope in the
relations of these two South Asian traditional partners.
KEERTHIRAJ (krj492@gmail.com)
· Currently serving as an Assistant Professor for International Relations and Political Science at Alliance University, Bangalore.
(This article was published in Central Chronicle newspaper on 3 September 2016)
