There are four burning
issues at the moment demanding our immediate attention — King Gyanendra's imminent
visit to New Delhi; the public call by the coalition Deuba government to the Maoists for a
dialogue and the response by the Maoist Supremo Prachanda setting forth six conditions
which are beyond the incumbent government to comply with; the invectives against the
monarchy and the Supreme Court by Girija Prasad Koirala, the octogenarian politician who
is being blamed for the political and economic disaster the nation is facing today after
the restoration of democracy fourteen years ago and the ever soaring ambition of India for
a permanent seat in the to be expanded Security Council of the United Nations Organization
— all are of vital importance to us. But we have allotted top priority to the King's
forthcoming visit to India. The other issues we will deal with by and by. Ever since King
Tribhuwan returned to Nepal from his four month long voluntary exile in New Delhi after
dethroning the Ranas from their 104 years old despotic regime in 2007 B.S, we have
witnessed hundreds of State, official and good will visits by our Heads of State and heads
of government to New Delhi. And each of these visits is supposed to have contributed to
cementing, the age old friendly relations between the two neighbors according to the
declaration at the end of each visit. This way, the relations should have become rock
solid. Strangely enough, this is not so. Unfortunately, they are never free from severe
strains and misunderstandings. Fissures in the relations keep cropping up turning the
vociferous protestations of the cementing of relations into vacant and senseless
rhetorics. Consequently, it is high time for both the countries to realize the futility of
such unproductive pretensions and sincerely endeavor to iron out all vexing differences.
Despite being at the receiving end, Nepal could play a very effective role in keeping the
relations at even keel, if only she knew how to play her foreign policy card the right
way. Since Nepali politicians have always been servile and submissive to win India's favor
to climb to power, more so after the restoration of democracy fourteen years ago, India
naturally has exploited the situation to her own advantage. And this has invited bitter
accusations from ultrapatriotic Nepali community, even to the extent of calling India a
'cheat'. Perhaps, we have not been able to swallow the naked truth that Nepalis themselves
are to be blamed for the sorry situation existing today in our country. Instead of
punishing them for their quislingism, our intelligentsia, most callously follows our
corrupt, immoral and unscrupulous political leadership even when they are tirelessly vying
to turn Nepal into Bhutan. What for? For obtaining a sinecure. Knowing well that India is
playing a double game in the Maoist imbroglio, neither our political leadership nor our
statesmen have the courage to charge the Indians for this unfriendly behavior. If the
foreign minister of Bangladesh can publicly accuse Delhi of attempting to destabilize his
country by harboring insurgents, why are Nepali politicians so shy even to raise the issue
publicly that has not only wrought havoc on the economy of the country but brought the
country to the brink of virtual disaster? This forth-coming visit to New Delhi would be
King Gyanendra's third in as many years. But, since this visit might bear a far reaching
importance in the bilateral relations, King Gyanendra would be well advised to tap all
potential sources that could offer him valuable advice and suggestions so that he might
achieve unprecedented success from the visit. And this makes it imperative for him to
dismiss this government and form a strong government of clean and honest men who can
defend the country's interest. Moreover this is a time when he has to rise above all
subjectivism and guard himself against all kinds of sycophancy. The anti-King
Politicians are poisoning the minds of the people feeling that King Gyanendra is trying to
usurp the sovereignty of the people King Gyanendra must be able to give a clear message to
the Nepali people that he is trying to defend the sovereignty of the nation which the
unscrupulous politicians are bent on gambling away. As a wise and experienced monarch he
must be well aware that his real strength are his people and the love and respect they
bear for him and not the sycophants. History is witness we have never been able to score
over the Indians. We have gained enough experience by now. If we cannot gain, we must not
lose. And we know, we have strong pressures to withstand. Needless to emphasize India's
sincere goodwill and cooperation is the sine qua non for our peaceful existence and
economic development and we have to win that without sacrificing the nation's interest. As
such, we have to make the best use of every ounce of our diplomacy. Unfortunately, this
has been our Achilles heel all the time for more than five decades except for a short time
during King Mahendra rule in Panchayat days. Since we feel the projected visit of King
Gyanendra to New Delhi is not only of prime importance but might even set the trend of
future relationship, we have taken the liberty of offering this unsolicited piece of
advice. We do hope this gets home. |
