Incident of Indian Airliner hijacking proved significance of regulating Nepal-India border

-Dr.Suresh Chalise

He is the one scholar among the many who bluntly admits that he is a political animal and has served the Nepali Congress under the former Prime Minister K.P. Bhattarai since the restoration of the democratic order in the Kingdom. His long association with Krishna Prasad Bhattarai allowed him to travel with Bhattarai to places as Japan, South Korea, and Thailand to attend the third International Peace Conference organized by the International Federation for World Peace-IFW.The scholar also had an opportunity to address the United Nations general assembly-UNGA- in 1994 where Dr. Chalise talked on olitical de-colonization and Socio-economic Development. Dr. Suresh Chalise hails from the Nepal's Tarai plains and is fully aware of the problems and the prospects of the region. Dr. Chalise obtained his doctoral degree from Benaras Hindu University in the discipline of Political Sociology in 1990. After the advent of democracy in the country Dr. Chalise offered his services to the Party as the Secretary in the Central office of the Nepali Congress. It was here that Chalise got the opportunity to work under K.P. Bhattarai as the latter inducted him in his secretariat.

After serving for a couple of years, Dr. Chalise proceeded to Germany for his advanced studies enjoying the Friedrich Ebert Foundation' senior research scholarship and the topic being " Coalition Governments and Political Acculturation in Germany" at Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.

Dr. Chalise has several books to his credit. Among them, Sociology of Legislative Elite in a developing Society' has been duly prescribed by the T.U for the students of Graduation courses. He has also penned several research articles that have duly been printed in national and international journals.

He has freshly returned from Germany after completing his postdoctoral research on Ethnicity and Class in an Asian Parliament: Nepal in Perspective, at Dortmund University. He is also the winner of prestigious international award of "Alexander Humboldt Stiftung".

Dr. Chalise, to recall, was the carrier of the letter of K.P. Bhattarai's express historic resignation from the post of central member of the Congress Party when a tussle of the recent sort had taken place prior to the much publicized Godavari accord as back as in 1997.

Dr. Chalise was once interviewed by the Telegraph in these columns a couple of year's back. Last week, we approached him for a fresh interview to which he pleasingly accepted. Below the results: Chief editor

TGQ 1: Dr. Chalise, I'm told that you are a die-hard NC activist. We also understand that you have trained yourself under the leadership of the former Prime Minister K. P. Bhattarai. Given your long association with the old boy, you should have helped him being at the Premier's official secretariat? Will you Dr. comment please.

Dr. Chalise: (Smilingly) I wish you to ask this question to the Bhattarai. I think he is the proper person to answer this question. Nevertheless, I'd like to bring to your knowledge that all the big political personalities of the contemporary society have a number of cards under their sleeve. And they take into account each of them according to the situation and the needs. As I understand former Premier K.P.Bhattarai is also not exception to the phenomenon. Yes, I'm in oblivion at the present moment.

TGQ 2: A couple of months back the two old boys of the Congress entertained the nation through their political tussle. Why it is that the Congress, a party that definitely possesses a very long history in Nepal, always quarrels for power purposes especially when the party is in the helm of state affairs? Do not you think that the people ultimately will dub the party as a conglomerate of power mongers and seekers?

Dr Chalise: Look Mr Upadhyaya, I totally disagree with you that the two top leaders of the Nepali Congress are power mongers. Besides, you termed the differences of opinion, between the two towering political personalities of the Nepali Congress, on the style of working of the government as well as its party, a as quarrel. But, to my knowledge, as you also said that the Nepali Congress has a long history of struggling for democracy and also for working as a democratic party, in a democratic institution, differences of opinion is quite obvious. Hence, such a difference gives added strength to any democratic organization. You must have noticed, as it is proved by the history also, that the differences in the congress have always amicably managed. Members of the pickup the problems, in order to latently create norms for the institution, and resolve them without the help of others. This has been the culture of the Nepali Congress. Whereas, differences of opinion in other political parties have always culminated into their vertical splits. Look, how the Congress crisis then had been settled and further united the party with new hopes and aspirations?

TGQ 3: I remember K.P. as the interim Prime minister who exhibited his political acumen superbly. The same personality exactly after ten years has become a matter of severe criticism from all and sundry including the international community. He talks light from the Chair to which people reject to accept. As a close associate of Bhattarai why don't you suggest him to talk sense as befitting the nation's former Prime minister. After all, good or bad, he is our leader. Your remarks please.

Dr. Chalise: First of all I would like to clarify you that I am not, of course currently, one of his close associates. Yes, I worked with him from 1991 to 1998. Now, Bhattarai has got other persons who are serving him more sincerely and very closely than me. As far as subject relating to his light talks is concerned, what I could say is that he is a man with immense humor and wittiness. Sometimes he prefers to speak bitter realities existing in the contemporary society through ironical languages. Perhaps, the enigma is that either his expressions are being misunderstood or misinterpreted. Let me make you and through you to the readers of this newspaper very clear that Bhattarai is one of the senior most and seasoned politicians living in this part of the world. However, I do not disagree with you that mainly owing to the old age factor, he is not always alert when he passes ironical remarks in the public. I think, it should be considered as one of the limitations of his personality traits.

As regards to your first part of question, yes, not only me, all agree that Bhattarai successfully steered the nation through the turbulent interim years when he remained instrumental in drafting a people sovereign constitution of 1990. However, one should also not forget that there were so many other political forces, including the institution of the monarchy, that contributed in the process of the promulgation of the constitution now in-force. There was a consensus among all the political actors for giving a birth to a most democratic constitution to the nation. In deed, those days were different than what we have to day since all the political forces have now been divided for their partitioned objectives.

TGQ 4: We were told that a small coterie had encircled former Premier Bhattarai that was more interested in enhancing their personal ends at the cost of national exchequer. Mind it that such coterie(s) arranged the grand collapse of the last system. The coterie, if it really existed, should have suggested the then prime minister to go in for initiating people centered programs in the remote parts of the nation where the problem is of two meals a day. Consider if you were an advisor to the Premier, what measures you would have taken in this regard?

Dr.Chalise: Look dear sir, academically speaking, be it in the case of an administrative domain or political realm, the coterie process is natural and universal phenomenon. The boss of any institution is generally encircled by a certain coterie. But one has to see whether the coterie is responsible or not. Therefore, I do not wonder and personally I think that there is no harm if Bhattarai was also being surrounded by a formal coterie. To my knowledge, informal coterie is often much more dangerous than that of the formal one. I never mean here that the formal coterie is always unharmful to the boss. As regards to the second part of your question, since it is hypothetical in nature, it would be nice on my part to quip it.

TGQ 5: A few months back, former Prime minister Bhattarai is learnt to have told in Parsa district that Nepal-India border needs to be regulated, was it, as usual, a off-the–cuff remarks or it contained the determination to influence the establishment to act so? Also tell us, is K.P. is a pro-Indian man, as he claims or is something else. Do not you think that he should have claimed himself a "pro-Nepal" political personality? Finally, will you enlighten the readers about some peculiar habits of Bhattarai that might have touched you most during your long stay with him in the party? Any event, for example, if you remember?

Dr Chalise: What I can say, in response to your these questions, is that, as I remember vividly in 1994 in the month of April, one day at the central office of the Nepali Congress party, at Baneshor, Mr KP Bhattarai referring to the recommendations in the report of Dr Harka Gurung on the Demography of the country, that advocated for the closure of the Indo-Nepal border, during Partyless Panchayat regime, spontaneously remarked that Dr Gurung was a nationalist. Perhaps, this should amply speak of what Mr Bhattarai is, at bottom. Now, it is for you and the people in general to judge whether he is a pro-Indian or a thorough pro-Nepali leader! I think, also in view of the fresh incident, though a ticklish one, of Indian Airliner hijacking, the significance of regulating the 1700 hundred-kilometer open Nepal-India border, has been proved.

With regard to your last query, yes …I do have noted a number of events in my personal diary that have touched me by the peculiar acts of Hon. Bhattarai. One of them if I am exactly remembering is that in 1995. We were stationed at the Nepalese embassy in Japan. Mr Bishnuhari Nepal was our ambassador there. One morning, after we finished our breakfast, the ambassador's wife who was a very social kind of housewife, came to Bhattarai and politely asked from a little distance,'' What do you prefer in the lunch?'' In reply Mr Bhattarai said'' Yeh….Ye Naani, do you have a Kaalo Daal here? Ambassador's wife replied in affirmation. Hon. Bhattarai said OK then prepare that Kaalo daal in Kaalo Karahi. But contrary to his wish, she said that there was no such Kaalo Karahi available in the embassy! Bhattarai who had developed a certain taste of eating black pulse cooked in black utensil, knowing it, was visibly sad for a moment. Ambassador and me looked at each other and smiled which Hon. Bhattarai could not notice.  

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