FORUM (Spotlight Weekly)

For A New Era in Indo-Nepal Relations

By Nishchal Nath Pandey

"Suddenly, the positive developments seen in Indo-Nepal relations during the last 4-5 years seem to be vanishing. The relations even otherwise have been predisposed to a serious standoff once every decade", opined Former Prime Minister of India Mr. I.K Gujral during a seminar held in India on 'Reaffirming Indo-Nepal Relations' organized jointly by the Editors' Guild of India and the Indian Press Institute. It is not that an Indian politician or a so-called 'Nepal expert' that is trying to make terms for another round of tough negotiations that sometimes bewilder analysts but a person of the stature of Gujral known not only for his doctrine but also for his soft approach towards Nepal with his uncanny remark that worried the participants from Nepal. This is why one is tempted to presume that the bilateral relations may again be heading for a collision without of course not much perceivable on what the likely consequences will be.

Recalling his meeting with the then Nepalese Prime Minister K.P Bhattarai in 1990, right after the re-establishment of multi-party system in Nepal, Gujral claimed that he had accepted each and every item of the Nepalese Prime Minister's proposal, the list of which Bhattarai incidentally happened to take out from his coat 'during a breakfast meet just before the historic announcement of the status quo ante.' Although, why Gujral who was India's External Affairs Minister in V.P Singh's cabinet chose this time and rhythm to reveal a decade long chronicle may demand separate analysis altogether, he also informed that 'just before we shook hands after that breakfast session, there was only one plea that I made on behalf of the Government of India to Bhattarai-'that of being thoughtful towards the security related sensitivities of India'. Of course, even in a layman's guess his intent contemplated that Nepal has not been sensitive so far towards genuine Indian concerns pertaining to security aspects. He also mentioned as if as a bruise deep down inside that he had agreed on the Fulbari route despite objections from his bureaucracy but paradoxically, the road could not become beneficial for the Nepalese economy.

Not only Gujral, other participants including one from the South Block also had distasteful instances to recall during the seminar. One such case was that of Lakbir Singh, arrested a few years ago for possessing a huge consignment of RDX in Kathmandu but released within 9 months. S.D Muni, a noted writer on Nepalese affairs chose to remember the Nepalese government's request to India to arrest Dr. K.I Singh inside Nepalese territory while Shastri Ramachandran of The Times of India said categorically that basically Indo-Nepal relations is a 'relationship of shared grievances'. Royal Nepalese Ambassador to India Dr. B.B Thapa said frankly that it is difficult to get ample coverage of good news but the measure of publicity of a bad news was astonishing. This writer also recalled two instances as a testimony of the warmth and closeness enjoyed at the highest level between India and Nepal that was channeled down to lower levels, which evidently is not done these days.

On June 24th 1975, HMG/N had received an urgent message from the Prime Minister's office New Delhi stating that 'the Railways Minister Mr. Lalit Narayan Mishra would be arriving the same day'. All arrangements were hastily made at the Tribhuvan International airport but as soon as Minister Mishra disembarked at the TIA, he told officials that without wasting time he wanted to get a darshan of the Dakchhinkali temple. After taking the tika and the prasad of the temple, Minister Mishra took off for Delhi. As HMG/N had already anticipated of a major development in New Delhi, the very next day Mrs.Gandhi declared emergency in India. Another instance is of a senior Congress (I) leader who happened to possess land in Nepal given to him by his grandmother, a Nepali citizen. As per the Nepalese law, a non-Nepali was barred from possessing any property in Nepal. But such was the climate of Indo-Nepal relations that HMG sold that piece of land to a local buyer and the liquid assets was handed over to the Indian leader.

However, old-hangovers and accumulated experiences aside, there was a virtual outcry for a dire need of looking to the future rather than turning back to the pages of history. Clearly, the question arose on why we should remain prisoners of the past while mind-sets in both the countries had changed to a remarkable degree? A new generation has emerged and they demand a new meaning, purpose and direction to the relationship and justification of our deeds. They are no longer inspired by the fact that Nehru supported the Nepalese to oust the Ranas in 1950 or by the passionate solidarity the Nepalese politicians showed to end the British rule in India. The grandfathers of today's generation of Nepal may have followed Mahatma Gandhi to cram inside Indian prisons and the fathers might have studied in Banaras developing close intimacy with Late Jay Prakash Narayan but the new Internet generation with their free spirit and education in Europe and America are no longer emotional regarding this state of historical relationship.

Therefore, Indo-Nepal relations today certainly stand at the crossroads searching for a new purpose and a new identity. Easily turning back to the past and opening the ledger book of sour happenings and misdeeds will obviously serve no purpose besides adding salt and pepper to old cuts and bruises not to mention the capacity that we have in dawdling around with the cut and turning it into a malfunctioning limb.

A lot of this is due to the suspension of Indian Airlines flights and the bilateral talks failing to bring in tangible results. The suspension of flights of an airline cannot be compared to a sanction. Already, rumor of the resumption of the flights had been floating but a strongly worded statement of Nepalese Minister for Tourism (TKP April 11) has already extinguished such gossips. So what may be the future direction of events likely to occur in the realm of Indo-Nepal relations which have been compared with traffic lights?

The new government has a skilled former diplomat under the citadel of Shital Niwas. Minister Banstola will have to carry out the difficult responsibility of bringing back the confidence and the clarity of vision as has been apparently missing inside the forte of Indo-Nepal relations from the time of the hijack. The New Foreign Secretary Narayan Shumshere Thapa too is known for his realistic approach towards the diversified issues in foreign policy. He has served in the ministry for more than three decades. They both have not only to energize the existing characteristics but make a decisive turning point at which instant, nitty-gritty's will no longer pester the overwhelming prospects brought about by the new developments in the economic and technological fields. In fact, the real need is to forget the past, reset the minds and make a new start for a new era in Indo-Nepal relations.