Nepal is the undeclared colony of India

With Dr. S.M. Habibullah, Head Department of Political Science, TU

There are 5 dimensions in the relations between India and Nepal: geographical, cultural, religious, political and economic on which are based particular affinities.

It is interesting to check the historical data to see whether the Nepalese rulers were of Indian origin, or at least if they were pretending to be so. There have always been strong links between India and the Nepalese monarchs indeed. Prithvi Narayan Shah, the unifier of the Kingdom, himself had a second wife who was from Benares. It is still true today, and the role of the King of Nepal is even more important to Indians as being mostly Hindus than to Nepalese. This is the reason why India has constantly helped the Nepalese monarchy and the people of this country after 1950. Indians have never been against the Nepali monarchy and it was Nehru himself that preserved it by saying that "King Tribhuwan should stay at the head of Nepal".

Moreover, Nepal has no access to the sea or to the rest of the world except through India, and therefore there has always been an economic dependence of Nepal on India. Today around 90 % of the economy is in the hands of Nepalese of Indian origin. In Nepal, food, material to build houses and clothes among numerous items are being imported from India. There is also a dependency for manpower, as for long education was necessarily Indian and the only educated Nepalese were trained in India. For the illiterate as well, India was the destination and India has for long solved the unemployment problems of Nepal by absorbing the extra manpower.

Naturally those who control in this way the economy and culture of a country will try to control the political scene.

That is why Nepal is the « undeclared colony of India ». Even the political movements in Nepal are backed by the Indians, except the Maoist one. The Maoist movement does not have its roots in Indian influence but the fact is that the very hopes and the aspirations of the people have not been fulfilled even after the restoration of the democratic order and thus the Maoist movement could have surfaced in the country. The fact is that Nepal is still characterized by a « hegemonial or monopolistic » system. 90 % of the leadership is indeed occupied by the, as usual, upper classes and castes that did not accept to give up their power, positions and privileges, whereas the immense majority of the population is ethnic and poor and thus helpless.

Nepalese leaders have failed to provide good governance. Corruption is widely spread and frustrations have risen resulting in the lack of popular participation in the system of governance of the country. The economic impoverishment has provided a chance to the Maoists to capture and cash in on these sentiments especially in the neglected areas, as democracy has failed to identify the urgent needs of the people.

The irony is that the negotiations have become difficult, as the upper classes want to maintain their previous status and are not ready to give up their acquired facilities, advantages and power. As well all the development organizations are closer to the rulers than the people.

But India does not want the Maoists and has not backed them.

There are three main reasons for conflicts in Nepal-India relations. The first one is the question of water resources, as India wants to use Nepalese waters for her own benefits. Secondly, the open border is a subject of perennial tension. Nepal is indeed an Indian economic colony. Whereas India wants the monopoly on Nepalese economy, from the point of view of the World Trade Organization, Nepal has to diversify its exports. But there are several problems, as Nepal has few things to export and many things to import. Moreover exporting means necessarily crossing the Indian border, which expose Nepal to the obstacles India can put on its way. The third subject of concern is social. Actually, as the population is more and more afraid, in few years there will be no more Nepalese in Nepal. As the population is more and more spreading throughout South Asia, in few years there will be no adjustment problem for Indians in Nepal.

Nepal with certain reasons has not achieved total political independence as Bangladesh or Pakistan have. Therefore, there is no economic independence for Nepalese. All the development agencies for industrial growth have suffered from the occupation of ruling elites coming from traditional families.

Moreover, the question of human dignity has not been addressed, because genuine people are not ruling the country. How could there be democracy where the Constitution is framed without the consent of the citizens?

Nepal is still a country of idealism and has not entered the era of modernism as Western Europe did. Like in most Asia and Africa it is still characterized by autocracy and the fact religion plays the role of state ideology. Indian state ideology itself, in spite of its denial, is still Hinduism.

Nepal is torn between these contradictions and conflicts between autocracy and democracy. It remains up to now a clientelist society.

(Amandine is a French student of M.A Political Science currently an intern at The Telegraph Weekly conducting research on Nepal-India Relations)

Headline | Opinion | National | Dateline | 5 Question  | Editorial | Letter | 2nd Impression | International | Past