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The political enigma continues
Why should he ignore the golden opportunity to hunt for blessings from his Indian colleagues? He went there after all the Nepali leaders made a pilgrimage to their Mecca, read Delhi, because it was his turn at last.
The most conventional and the noted conspiratorial brain of Nepali politics, Surya Bahadur Thapa, is currently in New Delhi, a place that has long been considered by our politicos as the "power giver" and thus prefer more often than not to visit the Delhi temple even unwelcome. This has been their convention and the receiving end in Delhi also treats them as Nepali Bahadurs (private political armies) who could be dictated terms and conditions that suited to New Delhi's interests.
But Monsieur Thapa is bit different than his friends in the Nepal's political circle. Many would not know perhaps that Thapa has been toeing the Indian lines and dictates since the bright and the sunny days of late Indira Gandhi, the illustrious despotic daughter of yet another Indian political personality, Jawahar Lal Nehru, who envied the growing popularity and the visionary leadership of late Bisheshwar Prasad Koirala of Nepal. In effect those in the knowledge of the then history of the Nepal-India ties whisper that King Mahendra did away with late Koirala's premiership in 1960 only after under the idea furnished to him by late Nehru. It was altogether a different matter that late King Mahendra took presumably one step forward than what he was advised by Nehru and did away even the then parliamentary system. It was Nehru who should have been the most pleased one in Delhi after the 1960 political changes in Kathmandu which the Indians deny and opine that that event was a "set back" to democracy in the Himalayan Kingdom.
Not so many people know that Nehru's most infamous "Nehruvian doctrine" envisaged a greater India, The Aryavarta of the Pandu fame, by assimilating all the neighboring nations into the Indian Union. The doctrine was coated with sweet but inside was very bitter indeed. However, as the luck would have it, Indian game plans were aborted by the changes that were in vogue that time and the Indian leadership have had to consider of yet another formulae which was later known as the theory of Indian security umbrella wherein it was concluded that all the Himalayan territories adjoining to Indian landmass should be of prime security interest to the Indian Union. Under this scheme fell poor Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal. The fate of the erstwhile Kingdom of Sikkim is not a secret. What Bhutan is in the eyes of India and the world every body knows. It was only Nepal that was saved to a greater extent by the sinister game plans of the then Indian leadership but then India very cleverly signed several unequal treaties which have become the hallmark of Nepal-India bilateral relations sine 1950, to say the least. No wonder that Nepali leaders out of weakness or for that matter under duress or under the influence of free scholarships bow to Indian interests as if their motherland has changed from here to there.
Thapa, a maverick politician indeed, who possesses the distinction of being in the good book of the Indian leadership, more so of the South Block since the bright and the sunny days of late Indiara Gandhi is once again in the Indian capital to seek favor so that he could bounce back to power in Nepal. Either this could be the primary reason of his fresh Delhi visit or at best he could have gone there with a message from King Gyanendra suggesting the Indian leadership there that whatever Nepali politicos were saying were not the truth and that the truth were some what different than what could have been described by them. That Thapa could have gone this time around in Delhi with King's diplomatic message becomes clear when Thapa said to the Delhi media men that "he had not come to Delhi with king's message". In the diplomatic verbiage what you say is not the truth. What is truth is what you prefer not to say or distort while saying.
Let's presume that wisdom prevails in the minds of the Indian leadership and they try to understand the Nepal realities as they are on ground.
Any ploy to exploit from our standard weaknesses would expose India over and over again. Let India not forget that she got exposed from tip to toe this time when the Indian media itself brought to light that a powerful section of the Nepal's Maoists insurgency was backed politically to the hilt by South Block. Is that not enough to feel awkward in the comity of nations? Perhaps sensing all these India maneuverings and well-structured manipulations the US Ambassador Moriarty also warned India that the escalation of Maoist insurgency in Nepal might become a destabilizing factor for India as well.
In saying so Moriarty hints India to refrain from playing double in the case of the Nepali insurgency and concurrently indicates that if India failed to support Nepal in this particular case will have to bear the brunt at a later stage. Donald Camp's visit this time to Kathmandu also should be viewed in this light. This visit does tell that the US will not compromise with Indian double standards vis-à-vis the Maoists insurgency. It is time now that the US indicated India that either you are with us or in the Maoist camp?
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