Big brother’ to ‘Brother’, a Nepal-India reset
- Relations between India and Nepal have dipped severely since 2015 when Narendra Modi and Khadga Prasad Oli were both Prime Ministers.
- The bilateral turbulence started with adoption of the new Constitution by Nepal’s Constituent Assembly in 2015, which New Delhi had wanted reworked.
- While perfunctorily pointing the finger at Madhesi activists of the Tarai plains, New Delhi slapped a devastating blockade on Nepal that lasted nearly six months and generated enough bad blood to last a generation.
Power and prowess
- The two Prime Ministers must use the opportunity of their elevation in Delhi and Kathmandu to clear the logjam.
- With his ‘Neighbourhood First’ initiative battered on all quadrants, Mr. Modi may want to start with policy corrections on Nepal as the nearest and closest neighbor.
- Indian exceptionalism having long preceded, going back to Jawaharlal Nehru’s diktats to Kathmandu’s bickering politicians, New Delhi should have known by now that manufacturing consent in Nepal is a lost cause.
- India’s relentless engagement with Nepal’s politics and governance goes against the principle of non-interference that is part of the Panchsheel doctrine.
- New Delhi should also understand that a hands-off policy will, ipso facto, lead to a politically stable and economically energized Nepal, which will in turn benefit India’s own national security and the economy of its Hindi heartland.
- Nepal is not the basket-case neighbor as perceived by many in India.
- It is the seventh largest remittance-sending country to India, helping provide for livelihoods in its poorest parts, from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, all the way to Odisha.
- Seen in this light, New Delhi’s overbearing attitude seems based on power, not prowess.
Playing the system
- Amidst unrelenting political chaos, the ability of Kathmandu’s political class, civil society, the bureaucracy and even security forces to speak on equal terms with Indian counterparts stands severely eroded.
- Mr. Dahal concluded a power trade agreement that allows New Delhi to refuse import from hydel plants built with Chinese loans or Chinese contractors under international bidding.
- As Mr. Oli takes over the reins in Kathmandu, he must discard the lethal diffidence of his predecessor, standing up for Nepal and speaking for South Asia.
- All bilateral matters that are hanging fire must be brought confidently to the table for airing and resolution.
- He must also convince Mr. Modi of the importance of reviving the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, for the sake of a South Asia that holds a fourth of the global population.
- New Delhi must understand that while Nepal’s friendship with Beijing is non-negotiable, it will never be at the cost of India.
- Up ahead, the Nepal-India relationship must be calibrated outside the two poles of imperious New Delhi and subservient, obsequious Kathmandu.
- The latter must find its voice, and New Delhi must reflect on how the failed policy of interference in politics and governance has left Nepal flailing.
A South Asia at peace
- The open Nepal-India border is the prototype for a future South Asia at peace, even though New Delhi analysts constantly harp on the insecurity it represents for India.
- In fact, it is Nepal which has suffered, with the Maoists using shelters across the unregulated frontier during their decade of insurrection against the Nepali state.
- Every summer, the Indian media goes to town about Nepal ‘releasing’ monsoon waters into the Ganga plain, but there are no significant storage dams in Nepal and the two barrages on the Gandaki and Kosi are controlled by New Delhi.
- ‘Nepal studies’ does not exist as an academic discipline in India, which is one reason Indian citizens think of Nepal as a poor, ungrateful and even malevolent neighbour.
- It is Kathmandu’s job to reach out, erase misconceptions and suggest possibilities.
- Exasperated Nepalis would like to see India convert from the ‘big brother’ avatar to simply being ‘brother’.
- New Delhi’s policymakers can do their part by accepting that Nepal is, after all, a separate country.