- By Uttam B. Khatri
Some Background
Nepal is
believed to be one of the ancient if not the oldest country of South Asia. This
Nation has been mentioned in the Hindu epics such as Ramayan, Mahabharat,
Bhagbat Gita, Vedas, etc. The Himalayan Kingdom extended more than fifteen
hundred km from east to west and about four hundred km wide from north to
south. This country was protected by the mighty Himalayan range in the north,
Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers along with dense forest in the south.
Historically, Nepal was extended up to Assam in the east and Kashmir in the
west. Over a period of thousands of years, Kings and Rulers changed. Kingdoms
were divided and united and divided again and so forth. The rise and fall of the dynasties took
place. However, big or small in size at times, Nepal remained as an independent
country for hundreds and thousands of years.
Across the border on south, numerous kingdoms of different shapes and
sizes rose and fell at different time periods.
With the
decline of the Mughal Empire in South Asia which is today’s India, the
Europeans began to arrive in large numbers as traders through the coastal
ports. The Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English traders competed to
establish their colonies. Eventually, they started to land in thousands with
modern arms such as guns, cannons, and firepower using new navigation systems
and improved ships. The Europeans clashed in different parts of India for trade
and land grab. The British proved more cunning, formidable and gradually they
prevailed as master of colonies. They got more organized over time and
established the East India Company. The trading company in disguise brought
thousands of pirates and soldiers in and slowly but steadily colonized hundreds
of kingdoms large and small. After the battle of Plassey in 1757, the British
military strength grew big and they spread all over and created a colony of
India.
The Unification
Prithvi
Narayan Shah, king of a tiny hilly Kingdom of Gorkha saw what the British
colonial power was up to in the south. He envisioned that if the small kingdoms
did not get united and become a bigger and stronger force, the British would
also head north and colonize all the small hill kingdoms. The young King at an
early age of twenty started the unification campaign in 1744. He brought
numerous provinces and kingdoms under his control. In many cases, he conquered the small states
without violence, the use of brutal force, and with minimum casualties. For
example, Prithvi Narayan’s conquest of Kathmandu valley was accomplished almost
without bloodshed. The king extended his kingdom as far as Darjeeling, Sikkim
in the east, up to Gandaki region in the west of Gorkha and to a large area in
Tarai in the south. Prithvi Narayan moved his capital to Kathmandu and the
Kingdom of Gorkha was turned into the kingdom of Nepal. It is obvious, if
Prithvi Narayan Shah had not unified and created a new and strong Nepal, more
than likely there would no Nepal today. Unfortunately, Prithvi Narayan’s
untimely death at the age of fifty-two brought the newly expanded Kingdom to a
halt on its unification campaign for the time being.
Pratap Singh
Shah, Son of Prithvi Narayan ascended the throne upon the death of his father.
Young Pratap Singh’s sudden death after two years on the throne created a power
vacuum in Nepal Darbar. As a result, Prince Bahadur Shah, the younger son of
Prithvi Narayan was destined to take control of the Kingdom at the critical
time. In the meanwhile, on the south and
west of Nepal, the British were advancing very aggressively in defeating the
kingdoms and merging them in their colony. Bahadur Shah realizing the threat
from the British aggression was determined to defend the newly unified Nepal.
In 1785, he took the regency on behalf of infant Prince Rana Bahadur Shah and
continued further unification of the country that was begun by his father.
During his regency, Kumau and Gharwal
came under the control of Nepal and the western border of the country
was extended as far as Sutlej river. Those kingdoms had some domestic political
conflicts and they were merged into Nepal without engaging in major battles.Besides,
unification of Nepal was being carried out between small provinces and kingdoms
mostly in the hilly regions. India did not exist in today shape and size at
that period. As such, Nepal deserves the right to claim the land colonized by
the British before they created India as a colony.
The Anglo-Nepal War of 1814-1816, and
Treaty of Sugauli
The newly
unified Nepal plunged into disarray followed by Bahadur Shah’s death, divided
military chiefs, state of a bad economy, and above all, the absence of strong
leadership in Nepal Darbar turned out to be major a factor. The ambitious East
India Company was watching the events and the political instability in Nepal.
They obviously took advantage of the situation and started making excuses in
creating border disputes with Nepal. The British declared war against Nepal on
November 1, 1814. Although with much less number of fighting army and with
mostly antiquated arms against a large number of the British army, equipped
with a huge supply of modern arms and resources, Nepal repulsed the invading British Army in all three mid and eastern
fronts. Great warriors of Nepal such as General Amar Singh Thapa, Sardar Bhakti
Thapa, Balbhadra Kunwar and many others fought an exemplary war with the
invadors. However, In the far western frontiers of Kumau and Ghadwal , Nepali
Army was outnumbered by four to one and had to bear the defeat. In the
aftermath of the War, the British force imposed a very unjust, unequal, and
deceitful Treaty on Nepal which is known as the Sugauli Treaty. After the
Treaty, the company occupied about half
of Nepal’s territories from Sutlej to Mahakali river in the west, from the
Mechi river to Nagarkata some 70 km east from the Tista river and very large
territories all along Tarai, north of Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers. Nepal
became virtually landlocked, surrounded on three sides by the British colony of
India.
After the
Kot massacre of 1846, Jung Bahadur Rana rose to power and established Rana
oligarchy that lasted for one hundred and four years. Although Jung Bahadur
ruled as a dictator with an iron fist, he made a great contribution to his
country by the return of four districts of Banke, Bardia, Kailali and
Kanchanpur from the British. Although Jung Bahadur tried to regain all the
territories that was occupied by the British after the treaty of Sugauli, the
colonialist would only return those four districts of western Tarai, only after
a couple years intense negotiation in 1860. Company returned at least some of
Nepal’s lost land in gratitude of Jung Bahadur’s assistance in suppressing the
Indian mutiny of 1857.
British Colonialism
After the
end of the Second World War, the British could no longer sustain the colonies.
They had already decided to end their colonial rule in India. In 1947, two
countries of Pakistan and India were created and granted independence on August
14 and August 15 respectively. Pakistan had two wings, West Pakistan and East
Pakistan. East Pakistan became Bangladesh with the instigation and military
assistance of India, later in 1971
Although it
may sound it hypothetical and wishful thinking at the present time, however,
the British Colonial Government made a very unjustifiable and deceitful
decision regarding its relationship with a long-time friend and ally Nepal.
Because if the British Government could partition the colony of India into two
countries of Pakistan and India and divide them into three parts, why would not
they return Nepal’s land they occupied and merged into the colony since 1816.
Instead, the British left most of Nepal’s colonized land in India and some in
East Pakistan.
The British
not only annexed and colonized Nepali territories but also exploited Nepal and
Nepalis in many ways. They made the Rana regime loyal to them and kept Nepal in
semi-independent, landlocked and isolated status from the rest of the world.
They misused Nepal’s forest resources in laying railroad sleepers across India.
They exploited Nepali youths in hundreds of thousands in the name of Gurkhas to
fight the war to save their Empire. As a result, hundreds of thousands of young
Gurkhas sacrificed their lives for the British Empire in World War I and World
War II. Even after the Second World War, the British used Gorkhas to fight
their war against the communist insurgents in Malasia, Sarawak, Borneo in late
during forties and fifties. The British used Gurkhas to fight their war in
Falkland off South America. They were still using the Gurkha blood in Iraq and
Afghanistan as recent as a few years back.
The British
call themselves the mother of democracy and champion of human rights. They have
proved they were false. Because they had been paying the Gurkha soldiers less
than ten percent of what the British Army’s salary was until recently. This is
such a blatant practice of discrimination on their part. The British, since the
period of East India Company down to the present time, exploited the Gurkhas
and their motherland Nepal to a great extent. If they had returned even some of
Nepal’s colonized territories back to her and extended Nepal’s border up to
Bangladesh, Nepal would not have to be an India locked country. In this regard, the British Government made a
huge mistake and a great injustice to a friendly country whose hundreds of thousands
of young citizens sacrificed their lives in order to save their empire.
Indian Neocolonialism
The
historical events show that ever since the British de-colonized India and
granted independence in 1947, India has been harboring an ill design upon
Nepal. India’s independence had contagious effects on the politics of Nepal as
well. Nepali people were fed up with over a hundred years of Rana oligarchy.
Some Nepalis living in India during that country’s freedom movement were
influenced greatly by Indian freedom fighters.
One of the
famous Nepali political leaders Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala was born and raised
in India. He grew up in Banaras, had his education there and in Calcutta,
developed an interest in Indian politics and was obviously influenced by
Gandhi, Nehru, Jayaprakash Narayan and other leaders of the Indian freedom
movement. He was an active participant of the Indian National Movement and a
member of the Indian National Congress. He spent two years in jail in India.
Later BP quit Indian politics and got himself involved in Nepal’s political
movement. Koirala apparently developed a close association with other Nepali
leaders such as Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Subarna Shumsher Rana, Tanka Prasad
Acharya, and others who had started organizing against the Ranas. In 1947, BP
founded the socialist Nepali National Congress in India. Later he left India,
moved to Nepal, and got involved in Nepali politics, full time. After the
Indian independence, political movements against the Rana regime started taking
shape gradually within and outside of Nepal.
At the same
time, Leaders of India such as Gandhi, Nehru, Ballav Bhai Patel, Jayaprakash
Narayan, and others who fought for freedom from colonialism, seem to have
inherited the colonial mindset of the British. They looked at Nepal through the
colonial eyes. They would not talk about returning Nepal’s colonized land but
made an agreement to divide between India and Pakistan. Because of a lack of
strong leadership with a loud voice, Nepal’s right to regain her lost land got
suppressed. No Nepali leaders including BP Koirala could show courage to voice
for the legitimate claim for the country. If some strong Nepali leader could
have raised a loud voice for the return of Nepal’s land at the time of the
partition of India, Nepal would definitely be in better shape than that she is
in now.
There were
different but important players involved in Nepali politics. The Indian leaders
and the Government, The Rana regime, King Tribhuvan, and the political leaders
of Nepal, each had their own agendas and interests. Prime Minister Mohan
Shumsher wanted the continuity of his regime, King Tribhuvan needed to get rid
of the Ranas and have his monarchy restored and the political parties wanted
democracy to be declared so that they could take over politics of the country.
With the different interest groups fighting with each other for their own
interest India got the upper hand to intervene in Nepali politics. More
importantly, when the King sought Indian refuse at the Indian Embassy and
accepted their offer for help, India obviously could elevate her own political
interest in Nepal, considerably.
During King
Tribhuvan’s exile in New Delhi, the Rana regime, Nepali political leaders, the
King himself, and the Indian leadership, and its Government had intense
negotiations for establishing their own respective interests. The Indian
establishment is even said to have put pressure on the King, in private, to
merge Nepal with India. Let alone return of Nepal’s colonized land since the
treaty. Therefore, a very important
chance for the restoration of unified Nepal was lost. An honest and serious
negotiation between all the parties involved including the leaders of Pakistan
could have resulted in a just resolution of the issue of colonialism. Instead,
India had an upper hand on the negotiating process compelled Prime Minister
Mohan Shumsher Rana to sign a treaty in 1950 which is called the “Peace and
Friendship Treaty” between India and Nepal. This is an unfair and unequal
Treaty. There are many terms and conditions on this treaty that they benefit
only India, not Nepal. This Treaty either needs to be completely rewritten or
it needs to be void.
The
coalition government formed after the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950 under
Mohan Shumsher as a new Prime Minster which was brokered by the Indian PM Nehru
lasted just a few months. After Mohan Shumsher resigned, King Tribhuvan
declared Democracy in Nepal on February 18, 1951. From this day onward, Indian
influence in Nepal kept growing until King Mahendra took a bold step and dissolved
BP Koirala’s government on December 15, 1960. Some of the main events and
changes that took place in the country could be summarized as follows.
King
Tribhuvan did not have power in a real sense. Nehru’s Government basically
guided Tribhuvan to run the country. Since India played a major role in the
restoration of the King on his throne, he probably had an obligation to the
Indian leadership and had to go with what they counseled him to do. Even King
Tribhuvan’s advisor/secretary came from New Delhi. There were instances that
king Tribhuvan would fly to New Delhi even when he had to make changes in
cabinet ministers. However, there were no means of communication that the King
could use that are available at the present time.
Matrika
Prasad Koirala was appointed Prime Minister on Nov 16, 1951. During his
premiership, Nepal was coerced to hand over the Koshi river to India in 1954.
India has remained the main beneficiary of Koshi, river. Nepal has almost no
control over this project. Koshi is one of the first river resources that India
has captured since the political change that came to Nepal
India
grabbed another big river Gandaki of Nepal during PM Bisheswar Prasad Koirala’s premiership in 1959. India has
monopolized most of the use of hydroelectricity and irrigation projects out of
this river as well.
Another
Koirala brother, Girija Prasad Koirala became Prime Minister of Nepal four
times from 1991 to 2008 after the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990.
Many important projects including hydroelectricity and irrigation projects such
as Tanakpur Barrage and Pancheshor Multipurpose Project were handed over to
India during Girija Koirala‘s tenure of office. These projects are still in
limbo after fifteen years of signing of the agreement with India.
Again, on
February 12, 1996, India and Nepal signed another treaty in harnessing the
power and for irrigation of agricultural land. After Twenty four years of the
signing of the treaty by Sher Bahadur Deuba, Prime Minister of Nepal, and
Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narshimha Rao, the project is nowhere near
completion. It makes abundantly clear that India either wants to take most of
the benefits itself or hold Nepal’s resources and derail the development
projects in Nepal.
Above
mentioned projects are just a few examples of Indian attitude and behavior towards
Nepal. A few more turn of events regarding Nepal-India relations over the
period of seventy years since 1951 should not be out of place to include in
this perspective.
As already
mentioned above, it is so unfortunate that Nepal is surrounded by India on
east, west, and south and virtually India locked except in north with
formidable mighty Himalayan range. Every time there is some change, India
becomes the main actor. For example, in 1951 when the Rana oligarchy was
demolished, King Tribhuvan had to seek India’s assistance. Taking advantage of
the situation, India helped Nepali political leaders with all kinds of supports
with money and materials. As a result, they could stall or dismantle the
Government in Nepal as they wanted.
In 1990, the
Panchayat system of Government was replaced with a multi-party system of
democracy. When the ruling Government in Nepal does not comply with Indian
interest, they instigate the dissident political forces and assists them with
money and materials to topple down the ruling Government. In order to create
instability and political disorders in Nepal, there are examples of Indian
political leaders coming to Nepal including Kathmandu, and incite the general
mass with political speech to revolt against the Government. This is exactly
what happened when the Indian party leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan,
Chandra Shekhar, Sitaram Yechuri, and many others came to Nepal and encouraged
and instigated Nepali people to revolt. This is just an example of Indian
interference in Nepal and this is what they did in Nepal in 1990.
Another
glaring example of Indian interference in Nepal was during the Maoist
insurgency of 1966 to 2006. The Maoist were not happy with the multiparty
system of Government, they started the rebellion against the democratically
elected Government under the Monarchy. After thousands of dead on both sides of
the conflicts, the Maoist took refuse in India and waged their so-called
revolution from bases in India. For the first few years, India had declared
them terrorists and had tried to destroy them. However, when the Maoist leaders
such as Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” and Baburam Bhattarai went to Indian
leaders and the Government office and singed papers not to hurt Indian interest
in Nepal if the Indian Government let them continue their revolution from their
land against Nepal. India made a deal with the Maoist of Nepal.
Since India
had always had the Monarchy a stumbling block against their interest in Nepal,
they found out that the Maoist revolution could be a very effective force to
eliminate Monarchy from Nepal. India already had a bitter experience with the
Kings of Nepal. King Mahendra always stood firm against Indian hegemony and
exploitation in Nepal. King Birendra rejected their proposal to bring Nepal
into the Indian security umbrella. When the King did not agree with what they
wanted they imposed an economic blockade on Nepal. When more than one hundred
seventeen countries endorsed Birendra’s proposal to declare Nepal as a zone of
peace, India did not accept the proposal.
Instead, they assisted the Maoist with money, materials, training, and
the base in India with a plan to eliminate Monarchy from Nepal. The Maoist,
after ten years of killing and destruction in Nepal finally realized that their
so-called revolution was getting them nowhere. They were compelled to find a
way out of their failed revolution. They got together with the Nepali Congress,
U.M.L, and other parties under the auspices of India and decided to give up
violence. India brokered the peace for them and had all the main rival parties
come together to New Delhi. India had them sign a 12 clauses peace accord. Again, India has proved itself as the main
actor in the episode of Nepal-India relations. In the past three decades or so,
India has been the most effective factor in bringing a new Government and
toppling it down mostly at its will. Ironically, Baburam Bhattarai, a hardcore
communist, and a Maoist, who was on his official visit to India as the Prime
Minister was apparently forced to sign BIPPA treaty favoring India at the cost
of Nepal’s interest. He even stated he found out that the Government of Nepal
was controlled remotely by the foreign power. He said The Nepal Government’s
Key was in the hand of a foreign power. Comrade Prachanda, on the other hand,
also on his visit to India as Prime Minister was obligated to sign some
documents authorizing India to dictate Nepal on some crucial foreign relation
matters.
Just about three years ago, an unusual alliance between the
Maoist of Nepal and the United Marxist Leninist Party of Nepal formed Nepal
Communist Party. NCP won the election and Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli became the
Prime Minister of Nepal. The country has witnessed a lot of political
overtures. A large number of criminal cases, an unusual number of cases of
corruptions, mostly within the administration itself, a number of controversial
bills that the Government was forced to withdraw had been public. The Prime
Minister Oli telling stories on imaginary development projects, day dreaming and
false promises has tired the general public. For the past few months, the
Carona virus has created extreme fair and uncertainty amongst the people. On
top of all the problems, India has challenged the Oli Government with the
occupation of Nepali land at Kalapani, Lipu Lekh, and Limpia Dhura of Mahakali
river of Nepal. This is the latest colonial adventure of India in Nepal. In
other words, India has been playing a major role in the internal affairs of
Nepal since its independence in 1947.
India must stop its strategy in creating an unstable Nepal and keep it
economically poor and undeveloped so that exploitation of the country could
continue.
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