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urlBlind leads the blind
Jaswant Singh
The 'non-Government' of Manmohan Singh, by 'outsourcing' India's Nepal policy to the CPI(M), may be wreaking the same havoc that Indira Gandhi had unleashed by sub-contracting policy on Sri Lanka to a group of politicians based in Chennai
The present non-Government in New Delhi has a non-policy on Nepal. I call it non-Government because of the extent of its not simply non-functioning, but also mal-functioning. I don't think there is an absence of policy with regard to just Nepal. It is also so with regard to all countries. It has an extremely limited focus, mainly on non-issues. For long, we did not even have a Minister of External Affairs. The Prime Minister chose to hold the portfolio himself. Finally, we now have an experienced Minister.
As a preface, I would like to say that it is a well-established fact that mistakes in the realm of international affairs affect many generations with the unresolved issues. In India's case, there are three issues that are still burning: Jammu & Kashmir, China and Sri Lanka. Now, coming to Nepal, our relations with that country are inextricably linked by geography and history. The devout do not consider pilgrimage to the four dhams as complete without a visit to Pashupatinath. You cannot obliterate it from the consciousness of the people of India.
I had, on several occasions, while witnessing Nepal's descent into chaos, appealed to Mr Manmohan Singh to take some initiatives to save Nepal. I also pleaded to him not to outsource the management of Nepal affairs to the CPI(M). Subsequently, out of frustration, I stated in Parliament that I once had the occasion to caution Mrs Indira Gandhi: "Madam please don't allow the foreign policies of India with regard to Sri Lanka to be made in Madras." What I said then was borne out by subsequent events. On more than one occasion, I had said the same to Mr Manmohan Singh.
Legitimacy of the present Nepal Government: Let us reflect on what has happened. The King has been unseated by what seems to be a groundswell of disenchantment. Thereafter, what followed was a series of events in which India was involved. But how were we safeguarding India's national interests to that they were not jeopardised in the evolving situation? The United States has become "active" in Nepal taking advantage of India's inaction. Britain was the only western power with a direct relationship with Nepal. India had inherited that relationship.
For a long time, the western world looked at Nepal through the Indian prism. When the NDA was in power, the US used to publicly state that it was India that should influence the situation in Nepal and Sri Lanka. This was recognition of India's geopolitical relevance in the sub-continent. But now, under Mr Manmohan Singh, India has abdicated its role and totally withdrawn from Nepal. Naturally, external forces have moved in.
Henceforth, we will probably see more activism by not only the US, but also China, Pakistan and Bangladesh. What the present Prime Minister of India does not realise is that there cannot be a vacuum in international affairs. If India does not act, then others will move in. The American foreign policy platform is currently in a shell-shocked state. I believe their experiences in South Asia - Pakistan and Afghanistan - is not every encouraging.
I don't think Americans have a Nepal policy as such. They have an ad hoc platform, which they wish to employ because now, for the first time, they are physically in the landmass of the sub-continent. They are in Afghanistan, they are in Pakistan. I am disturbed by their role in Nepal.
Dangers of the spread of Maoism: We must recognise the enormity of the challenge that we face today. I believe that the gravest internal challenge is the spread of Maoist violence. If the UPA Government permits this Maoist malignancy to combine with the Maoist element in Nepal, then that would be internationalising India's internal problem. I fear not only for the 168 districts that are currently recognised by our agencies as "disturbed" by Maoists, but the entire North-East.
I am not being alarmist, but simply underscoring a situation fraught with danger. It is the gravest internal challenge at the moment. How are we to recognise it unless we identify its contours and the dimensions and then address the many challenges it would throw up?
I also find it totally inexplicable that it has been found necessary to declare Nepal as a "secular" nation. If Nepal is not a Hindu nation, then what is it? It posed no challenge to anybody by upholding that status. Nepal has always been the most accommodative, unassertive country in the world. Anybody was welcome there. That is why it was home to the flower children, the hippies and the Dum-Maro-Dum types on the one hand, and the most ascetic, devout followers of Advaita on the other. I find the imposition of this new description a great loss. It was totally unnecessary. As in the case of India, you cannot just wipe out the consciousness of the citizens who are from the sanatana dharma. I believe that Nepal will always remain a Hindu nation and nothing less.
The future of the monarchy is really something for the people of Nepal to decide. It is my hope that they will decide wisely and with sagacity. I have always held the view that Nepal has two pillars of stability - a political and a social. A constitutional monarchy and an elected and responsible democracy. You cannot destroy either of these pillars and create a new Nepal from the debris. Both would give stability. Exactly what shape this constitutional monarchy would have is for the people of Nepal to decide, as, indeed, it is for them to work out how the future Parliament is to evolve.
Elections to the Constituent Assembly are due in November. I have no direct source of information as to whether the conditions there favour the holding of polls. The UPA Government seldom shares information with us. It is well-known that the disarming process of the Maoists was only in name and only a third of the weapons were surrendered. The activities of the Young Communist League are indeed worrisome. There are questions about delimitation that continue to hang. How do you hold elections when the forces of law and order enforcement have themselves been disenabled?
It is time India paid heed to the warning signs coming from Nepal. Its present policy is one of the blind following the blind.
-- The above is the summary of a conversation that the former External Affairs Minister and present Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha had with The Pioneer
