Strain in Nepal-India ties!

The worst has happened yet so much could be done to control the injury that has been caused to the traditional and age old Nepal-India bilateral relations in the recent days specially after the Indian Airliners' hijacking that unfortunately happened minutes after the IC 814 flew from Kathmandu airport. There is nothing to panic as it has been seen in the not distant past that as and when minor or for that matter even major irritants have jolted the bilateral ties, the timely intervention of the "matured" leaders of both the countries have successfully averted the crisis. Our relations are such that neither India can afford to lose the friendly support of Nepal-as she has been perennially enjoying since ages- and act like an enemy nor Nepal can do so. The multifaceted ties that we have compel us both to move cautiously for the improvement of the bilateral ties. It is not for nothing said that one couldn't change her neighbour. Good or bad, a neighbour remains a neighbour. This applies both to Nepal and India. This might be our compulsion but the hard fact is that this is a fact.

Understandably, the Nepalese media is still in its suckling stage comparatively the Indian media as it stands today. Scores of seminars and lectures have been conducted of late in Nepal and in India as well on how the media organisations of the two "friendly" countries could support their respective government's efforts in enhancing the bilateral ties so that the whole outcome, according to Ambassador Rajan, benefits the poverty stricken millions and millions of their citizens lying on both sides of the borders. It is not that that a sizeable section of the Press from both the sides of the border have acted in the stated manner but the tragedy is that the Indian media, gigantic in size and reach, have more often than not bulldozed the Nepali feelings through their unilateral propaganda which thus presumably sent a feeling among the common Indians that Nepal behaves like an enemy when it came to the preservation of their 'national and security interests' in this country. The question arises why should Nepal be unfriendly towards India and further what benefits, albeit political ones, Nepal will bag by providing sanctuaries to elements that are allegedly inimical to India. Perhaps none. India should mind the grand reality that it is only this country in the entire globe that has yet to define her 'national interests' well even after fifty years of her independence from the clutches of the Rana regimes. So there should be no suspicion regarding the genuine motives of this beleaguered Kingdom. This nation is already burdened with so many internal problems that the system now in place appears to be heading towards doom which perhaps the Indian establishment fully understands.

Again coming back to the Indian propaganda machinery that deliberate or otherwise projected this country with full force after the IC 814 hijacking as the worst tourist destination in the world forces the Nepali media men to think that when it came to the preservation of the Indian national interests, their Indian counter parts can go to any extent and length to damage, whosoever it is, the prestige of the other side come what may. The manner the Indian media, specially the Z TV, tarnished the image of an innocent Nepali passenger of the ill fated Airbus dubbing him as one of the accomplice in the hijacking drama, perhaps speaks of the kind of journalism that is practised in India. As yet, the Z TV has not apologised for this misinformation and will perhaps not. The doyen of the Indian media who commanded profound respect in Nepal as well, late Nikhil Chakravorty, to recall, had told once that the Indian media now must reject the traditional thinking that "good or bad, our government".

Even at the time when the Indian media had begun a tirade aimed at maligning Nepal, the Nepali sagacity towards the Indian establishment was amply evident. Look how the Nepal Television interviewed the Indian Ambassador in Kathmandu and facilitated him to submit his remarks in the episode that shook the world for a complete eight days. However, the same gesture could have been offered to our Congress "picked Ambassador" Dr. Thapa by the Indian Television wallahs. Shame on our Ambassador who instead of retorting to the continued Indian media allegations at that time, preferred to put his subdued views to Nepal Television whose reach is not even up to Nepalganj, our own territory in the West. A man who should have been in Delhi was relaxing in Kathmandu. Shame on Nepalese diplomacy.

It is not the first time that the Indian media has hurted the sentiments of the Nepalese people, but several times in the past they have summarily insulted Nepal and her people. The fresh media campaign against Nepal being the climax of all the previous media onslaughts. Some cases have admittably been from our side as well but the damage has every time been little comparatively speaking.

We have listened to the sentimental speeches of Ambassador Rajan in which he has invariably told the pressmen from both the sides to contribute to the consolidation of bilateral ties. During these five years or so of his stint in Nepal, the Indian envoy perhaps understands the capacity and the capabilities of both the media in Nepal and India and he can hence conclude his findings. More so, he has also visited places outside Kathmandu valley and has mingled with the local people and perhaps well remembers the kind of respect he and his country command from the media men and the intellectuals there.

No Nepali is anti-Indian provided we the Nepalese people are given the honour and prestige we deserve as a sovereign nation. We have no ill feelings towards the Indian people. What we all need is the reciprocity from the other side. After all what is left with us except the past pride and honour.

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