OPINION: Is Nepal Coming Out Of China’s Pernicious Embrace

The recent visit of Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Parchanda' to India came as a pleasant surprise to those who have been stressed about the tension and mutual distrust that have defined the ties between the two neighbours over the last three decades. During his 4-day (May 31-June 3) stay in India, Dahal was a changed man.

The 68-year-old ex-revolutionary and once a fire-brand communist leader was in a completely new avatar, triggering speculation in informed circles that Nepal may be in the process of moving out of China's pernicious embrace and mending its fences with India. Of course, one would have to wait and watch for the final outcome.

What are the possible reasons for Dahal's shapeshifting? The answer probably lies in the changes that have occurred in the political discourse in India and Nepal during the last one decade. Under the UPA I & II dispensation, India was not only seen as distancing from its Hindu identity but also appeared to be embarrassed about it. The then ruling establishment in Delhi tried to manufacture the myth of 'Hindu terror' and went to the ridiculous extent of claiming that Bhagwan Ram was a non- existent entity. The public discourse in Nepal during the last two decades too was affected by China's malignant influence and corrosive communist ideology.

Communism is inherently divisive, it pits humans against each other. Violence is central to its paradigm. Hinduism encapsulates the entire universe and is plural in essence. It willingly embraces diversity in matters of traditions, faith and other facets of life. The Congress in India has for long outsourced its ideological moorings to communists.

The dominance of the Left narrative in India and Nepal hit hard the cultural ties that glue them together. The popular greeting 'Sita-Ram' defines ethos of both -- India & Nepal. While Ram is born in Ayodhya in India, the birth place of Sita is in Janakpur in Nepal. Gautam Budhha spent most of his monastic life in India, breathed his last in Kushinagara in Uttar Pradesh and was born in 623 BC in the sacred area of Lumbini, in the Terai plains of southern Nepal. It's impossible to list all such inalienable relations, spanning over a millennia, in an article.

India and Nepal share an open border of 1,850 km and have deep intertwined history and religious-cultural ties. However, the close ties between the two countries have come under stress. Opposing and abusing India have dominated Nepali public discourse for decades now, and Dahal himself is a product of such anti-India politics.

This is Dahal's fourth innings as Prime Minister since 2008. However, during his current visit to India, he was careful not to talk about any of the contentious issues, which are usually used to embitter India-Nepal relations. The revision of the India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 was not raised, perhaps for the first time in recent years. The report of the Eminent Persons' Group (EPG) available since 2018, which has recommendations the Indian government is not enthusiastic about, such as turning the existing open border into a regulated one, was not pursued.

The inconvenient issue of the recruitment of Nepali Gurkha soldiers by the Indian Army, in the wake of the Agnipath scheme adopted by India, obviously didn't figure in the talks. The question of air routes between the two countries has been a major irritant in the bilateral ties. As Nepal sought India's help to ensure the economic viability of its two new airports built by China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured his counterpart Dahal that New Delhi would positively consider approving more air routes for entry and exit of aircraft to and from the neighbouring country.

Dahal's recent visit had clearly two facets -- cultural and economic. In the three one-to-one meetings that the Nepal PM reportedly had with PM Modi, several significant outcomes were achieved. These include a long-term agreement which is targeted at 10,000 MW of power supply to India in a 10-year time frame against the current 450 MW. Nepal will be able to supply initially about 40 MW of power from India to Bangladesh, which is an important breakthrough.

The ambitious Pancheshwar 5,000-MW hydro-project, which has been on the cards since 1996, is to be fast-tracked. The Transit Treaty between the two countries has been renewed and Nepal has now been given access to India's inland water transport network which will enhance its connectivity with India and presumably to Bangladesh, though this has not been specifically stated.

The existing Motihari (India)-Amlekhganj (Nepal) petroleum products pipeline will now be extended to Chitwan and a second pipeline from Siliguri (India) to Jhapa (Nepal) has been agreed upon. These will greatly enhance Nepal's energy security and provide it with efficient, safe and secure supplies. Several cross-border rail connectivity projects which have been completed or are under construction and the existing and proposed border Integrated Checkpoints (ICPs) will ease travel and cargo movement between the two countries.

Apart from adopting a pragmatic approach on bilateral economic issues, Dahal made obvious efforts to emphasise the cultural ties between the two countries. Earlier, Dahal would only wear Western dress to emphasise the revolutionary break with feudal tradition, but this time he was seen donning the traditional Nepali dress 'datura suruwal'.

Another first was Dahal's visit to the Mahakaleshwar temple, one of the 12 'jyotirlingas' in the country. The temple, especially its Nandi Hall and the sanctum sanctorum, was decorated with flowers. A red carpet was laid in the temple premise to welcome the Nepalese PM and his delegation. Priests blew conch shells to welcome the guests from the neighbouring country. Dahal offered 100 'rudraksh' and Rs 51,000 at the temple during the visit.

Before Dahal paid his obeisance at Ujjain on June 10, he had paid his first-ever and much-publicised visit to the Pashupatinath temple in Nepal. Accompanied by several Cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat and Foreign Minister N.P. Saud, Dahal had visited the famed temple, situated on the banks of the Bagmati river, and is a UNESCO heritage site.

Taking note of Dahal's temple visit, PM Modi said, " Prime Minister Prachanda ji, you will visit Indore and the religious city of Ujjain tomorrow. I am sure your visit to Ujjain will be full of energy, and you will also have a spiritual experience in this journey from Pashupatinath to Mahakaleshwar."

If India has changed during the last one decade (shedding its anti-Hindu bias), Nepal too isn't what it was two decades back. The novelty value of communism is getting over gradually. Its mask of social justice and equality has worn off, and its ruthless pro-China face stands fully exposed. The deposed King Gyanendra is attracting huge crowds during his tours of various parts of the country. There are frequent demands that the country reverts back to its formal constitutional position of being a Hindu nation. Dahal, is obviously not oblivious to this changing ground reality.

Referring to the strained relations with India during his first term as PM in 2008-09, Dahal had said in 2016: "At that point, the impact of the revolution and war was very strong on my mind. I needed more time to understand the nuances of politics. After the ups and downs of the past decade, I think I will be able to strengthen relations between our two countries with more maturity."

But Dahal's successful India visit is being termed as a "surrender", at home. The communists in Nepal have gone to the town painting it red. "The Prime Minister has taken a very hollow position in Delhi. He could not raise the concerns and issues that matter to us," former PM and Unified Marxist Leninist chair K.P. Sharma Oli said in the parliament there. His image as a "revolutionary" fighting against an "expansionist India" is getting increasingly diluted. May be, he himself wants to distance himself from his past, move on and re-establish himself as a 'responsible and mature' leader.

An average Nepali is proud of the fact that Nepal in its entire history has never been colonised. After the collapse of the bipolar world, China has come out with its own brand of colonisation -- using time-tested Shylock techniques to subjugate the victims, through debt traps. One can't miss how have Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the neighbourhood been suck bone dry by China, reducing them to destitution. Can a changed Dahal save his country from sinister Chinese hold?

(Mr. Balbir Punj is a Former Member of Parliament and a Columnist. He can be reached at: [email protected])

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