Praying at Pashupatinath:

August 04/2014 :  While India and Nepal are seeking to reinvent their bilateral relationships,  enthusiasm is palpable on both sides. That was evident in the visit that external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj undertook a week ago to prepare the ground for a supposedly new era of friendship and cooperation, and it is equally visible in the two-day visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since Sunday. Prima facie, it may appear as if a period of estrangement might have helped the two sides to look at the bilateral ties in a more realistic manner.

The fact that no Indian prime minister visited Nepal for 17 years is itself indicative of the chill that has developed in the relations.For long years, India had been looking at Nepal as its most dependable ally. The friendly relations continued that way until long-time ruler, King Birendra, was assassinated in a midnight family shootout, a virtual coup, and his brother Gyanendra ascended the throne at the turn of the century. Gyanendra could not rise to the expectations of the people. That in due course hastened the downfall of the monarchy, leading to the dawn of democracy and end of the Maoist violence by 2006. In fact, India supposedly helped in this process. Maoists led by Prachanda formed part of the democratic process and shared power for a period. Today, he is the leader of the Opposition in the assembly and more realistic in his approach to various issues. A constituent assembly is in a long-drawn-out process to draft a new constitution for the country. However, despite improvements in social indicators, the overall economy of Nepal remains in a bad shape. It is here that both the Indian and Nepalese leaderships pin great hopes for cooperation in multiple ways, including, as suggested by some in India, laying an oil pipeline through India to the Himalayan nation.

Both India and Nepal stood to gain from their long-held relations.The  fraternal feelings were strong and the two nations maintained strong religious ties as well. Four-fifths of the population in Nepal is Hindu. Family relationships cut through the border, and royal families on both sides too have had occasions to marry into each other. One fifth of Nepalese live and work in India under a 1950 treaty, that however does not allow the same privilege to Indians in Nepal. The Joint Commission meeting held last week in the presence of Sushma Swaraj has decided to rework the treaty in mutually beneficial ways. That Narendra Modi is taking along with him a business delegation to explore business opportunities is significant. Apart from his puja at Pashupatinath, Modi might be able to broker business deals that could help his crony capitalists. 

A primary area of cooperation, that should be of great benefit to Nepal in particular, is in using Nepal’s rivers by building dams for production of electricity on a large scale. Power, thus, is high on the agenda of the Modi visit. This can bring economic benefits not only to Nepal but also help India get green energy and save some northern states like UP and Bihar from regular crippling floods from these rivers as well. 

The chill that has developed in the relations between the two countries has also to do with the closer relations that Nepal has built with China. Chinese investments have multiplied in recent years. Large numbers of Chinese tourists are landing in Nepal on a daily basis, which has also to do with the economic prosperity that China is witnessing in recent years. But, hopefully, Nepal may not be willing to put all its eggs in one basket. The recent permission that the Sushil Koirala government gave for the cremation of a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Nepal’s soil is seen as a significant signal. Realization is strengthening within the Nepalese leadership that the time has come for them to re-engage India in meaningful ways. That Prime Minister Koirala is putting his best foot forward to receive Modi is heartening. However, as a matter of fact, the increasingly warm hands of friendship that Nepal had extended to China in recent years had also to do with growing feelings among sections of the people that India was taking Nepal for granted. This feeling was not limited at the government level. For decades, Indian tourists who used to flock to places like Kathmandu and Pokhara, behaved in very reprehensible manner with the locals. Instead of building cultural bonds, tourism emanating from India helped destroy the goodwill that the average Nepali had for the neighboring giant. Incredulous as it may seem, every inpidual Indian contributes in creating international bad will for this country. Great examples can be seen in the arrest of two senior Indian Olympic Association officials at the Common Wealth Games being held at Scotland past week. However, the last elections showed Nepal's voters by and large rejected the anti India propaganda of the Maoists. The Nepalese Congress that won the polls is not seen to be anti-India in its attitudes. 

Prime Minister Modi has an opportunity to explore to the fullest in ways as would strengthen the fraternal feelings among the peoples of both the countries and at the same time cement the relations between the two countries in the best possible ways. Whether Narendra Modi's agenda is to further strengthen India's ties with her neighbors or simply build avenues for business growth for his funding buddies is something time alone will tell us.