Tuesday

Nepal transforms from Saffron to Red

Chinese outsmart Indian Intelligence

The Prime minister of Nepal Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda)  is scheduled to go to China shortly. The Indian observers in bureaucratic circles and media are anxious about this visit because Mr. Prachanda is a Maoist leader visiting  China. The concerns are due to growing influence of Maoists in certain pockets of India and their ideological affinity towards communist China; China is a regional power and a rival to India in military and economic activities and therefore  Nepal  getting closer to China  may become a conduit to fuel internal disturbances in India.

Nepal - the world's youngest republic is landlocked by its two neighbours China and India

A controversial debate on the future of a triangular relationship among India, Nepal and China began in Aug 2008 when  Mr Prachanda, after swearing in as Prime Minister decided to visit China first deviating from the tradition of Nepal leaders calling on India first.

For the last six decades India has shown a casual attitude towards Nepal since the Kingdom was ruled by Hindu Monarchy. This country with a small population of 27 million was not at all considered a security threat to India. Indian policy planners were lethargic as they believed that the Well water could not be carried away by the Floods. But ever since the Maoists fumed against the Monarchy this landlocked buffer state between China and India became a neighbor to be watched and dealt with care.

Unfortunately those in charge of Foreign Affairs right from Krishna Menon to Shiv Shankar Menon could have no imagination and forethought and have failed in their duties by implementing policies that have compromised the security of Indian people.

In 2005, when King Gyanendra seized power to rein over a Hindu kingdom of Nepal, the Maoists resorted to road blockade for 11 days against his coronation. Later they demanded the private schools in Nepal to lower admission and tuition fees scrap singing of the national anthem, stop teaching Sanskrit and remove photographs of the King. At that time about 1.5 million students studied in 8,500 private and boarding schools and 4.9 million students studied in 25,000 public schools. The owners of private schools opposed those demands.

The very fact that Maoists were demanding to stop teaching Sanskrit in schools showed that our Indian Political and Bureaucratic establishment were identified with the unpopular King and his religious and media protégées.

We can recall how Jeyendhira Saraswathi – The Sankaracharya of the Kanchi mutt who considers Sankrit as Deva Basha but failed to acknowledge the antiquity of Tamil was closer to the Nepal King. At the time of his arrest in the Sankara Raman murder case, there were rumors that he planned to escape as a refugee to Nepal to avoid arrest. Not long before,  many high level officers from several ministries of the central government were seen visiting the mutt as devotees of the Sankaracharya. No wonder, such policy makers could mislead our leaders and parliament. The sentiments over language leads us  to believe that these people might have tried to play with the language feelings of the Nepalese people.

But in contrary to the approach of India developing relation only with the creamy layer of the Nepal society, China encouraged contact with the common people and concentrated on the real issues confronting Nepal.

Supporters of Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) Chairman Prachanda listen as he addresses an election campaign rally in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

After the popular movements and protests by the Maoists, Nepal became a secular state in May 2006, declared itself a Federal Republic and abolished Monarchy in May 2008. The Maoists backed by China participated in the elections held in April 2008 and staged a democratic coup by capturing power. Mr Prachanda became the Prime minister of Nepal.

With the installation of Maoist Government in Nepal, China sent delegates of political and military experts and tried to cement the relation with Nepal. The Chinese delegates have even met Madhesi groups from the restive Terai region of southern Nepal, in the Indian border.

But Indians who are driven only by self interests could never learn a lesson. This is best exposed if we read the opinion of Tarun Vijay one of the opinion manufacturer found in the media reported like this even after the victory of Maoists in elections in Nepal: “Riding on the power of the gun, they seized control of half the Nepalese districts, murdered an inspector-general of police who had shown courage to take on them, banned Brahmins from having traditional tufts, stopped Sanskrit in schools and desecrated temples. Their ‘revolutionary zeal’ was never showered on any non-Hindu person or institution.”

Such a Hindutwa opinion shows where the truth is. They could not understand and digest that there is a change in the Nepal polity and continued to point out at the violent events in Nepal as if nothing such happens in Indian Democracy.

On the other hand, Chinese swiftly showed keen interest to develop good relation with Maoist coalition Government of Nepal in which India again lagged behind.

Now the Maoists are developing grass root level relation with the Communist party of China by sending delegates. Ahead of the Second visit of Prachanda to Beijing,  China has announced doubling of aid to Nepal amounting to $21.94 million.

Prime Minister Prachanda: Nepal's longtime rebel leader or 'the fierce one'

And on seeing India out maneuvered by China, the media in India has now started rumors about a coup by Nepal Army against Maoist rulers. The difference in opinion between the Government and Army about induction of Maoist activists in Army has been exaggerated and the visit of Prachanda to China has now been postponed. We can very well understand who is planning and planting such stories in Media- the still powerful status quoists in India and Nepal.  Even if it is true, any military coup in Nepal should happen only against the will of the people and will not last long.

We are deeply concerned and pained that Indian people are mislead and betrayed by insensitive  officials and media. No one is going to be punished for a failure in foreign policy and we are running a democracy without any democratic accountability, a shame.

We expect Indian Government to follow a transparent policy towards Nepal and other neighbors. We need more open discussion in all forums  about all our neighbors.  We should develop people to people relation by allowing and promoting interactions in Culture, Arts, Music and Dance. That is the way to have good relations with neighbors. India failed to respect the linguistic feelings of the people of Nepal and identified itself with Sanskrit and Religion which went wrong. We cannot forget that our only success story is the creation of Bangladesh by giving due respect to the linguistic feelings of the Bangla people who rose above their religious nationality.

Nepal and Ealem should be as good as Indian terrritories if dealt with due consideration for the aspirations of the people of those Nations. The Pro Sanskrit approach to Nepal and Anti Tamil approach to Ealem is proving suicidal to Indian interests in the region.

Alternate opinion is neglected and our policies are framed by horses of  narrow vision. Clandestine policies on foreign affairs under the pretext of secrecy in National Security have failed. There is no meaning in allowing a problem to expand by leaving the head and catching the tail. We should not consider the personal belief  and grievances of some leaders and officers to dictate our foreign policy.  Otherwise we will end up in a situation of a Nair holding the tail of a tiger.

We have no friends in our neighborhood.  This will hamper our Growth. If  not even one country along our boundary desires to have cordial relation with India it is only our fault. We have failed to do what is fit to do. And it will be even more harmful when  we are doing something which  is not to be done.

 It is ruinous to do what should not be done
And ruinous to leave undone what should be done.

–ThiruValluvar 466

A Showcase of Failure of Indian Foreign Policy

China – Tibet
India recognized annexing of Tibet to China. India should have bargained by delaying the recognition to settle the border issues.

China War 1962

Failure of Panchsheel policy followed by Jawaharlal Nehru. India was weak in military prowess and still chose to remain non aligned with no allies at the time of crisis at China border. India lost.

Pakistan- Kashmir

At the time of partition on achieving independence india agreed in UN for plebiscite in Kashmir. India should have asserted its rights over the Kashmir based on the instrument of accession signed by the ruler of Kashmir.

Pakistan wars

India failed to gain territories in Kashmir even after victories of war with Pakistan

Bangladesh

India could not develop a trusted alliance with Bangladesh although India was instrumental for the birth of Bangladesh. India is harboring illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Myanmar- Tamils

India failed to protect the interests of Tamils when Burma made lakhs of Tamils stateless. Further it is not at all concerned with the lakhs of Tamils living in Myanmar without any linguistic and cultural rights

Myanmar – China

India could not prevent China from making inroads in to Myanmar cultivating military and economic cooperation although India shares boundary with Myanmar

SriLanka – Plantation Tamils

India failed to protect the interests of Plantation Tamils in Sri Lanka when more than a lakh of them were striped their  Sri Lankan citizenship. 

Sri Lanka – Ealem Tamils

India – Srilanka agreement and sending IPKF was a misadventure. India fell into the trap laid by Sri Lankan President Jayavardhane. IPKF killed Tamils and committed atrocities against Tamil women.

In the subsequent Ealem wars India helps the Government of Sri Lanka against the interests of Tamils. A policy that may backfire and may encourage separatist movements in Tamil nadu

By these senseless foreign policies, India cuts its own flesh to bleed for what? 

Written by Malarthamil

Malarthamil is a civil engineer and writer-poet inspired by Thirukkural – a classical Tamil poetry that expounds various aspects of life.