NEPAL’S PASSIVE AGGRESSION TOWARDS INDIA (QPINION)

Our relations are not only historical and cultural, but also spiritual, and India can never forget it. How can relations between India and Nepal break!’, said Rajnath Singh responding to the Indo-Nepal border dispute.

As we evidently see a lack of conducive environment for dialogue by Nepal, we asked our readers about the reasons behind why the Prime Minister of Nepal, KP Sharma Oli, is displaying passive aggression towards India.

Swastik Sharma analyses the bilateral ties between China-Nepal ties and believes, ‘The Geo-Political motives of China have turned more vicious, with it making the poor subcontinent countries fall in their debt trap or OBOR policy. Their recent expeditions like military exercises in the Arabian sea, docking their navy in the Hambantota Port, recent military standoffs with India at the LoC, and now helping Nepal build its infrastructure, are a clear indication of Chinese motive to engulf India from all sides to have an upper hand in the subcontinent. Nepal’s PM has previously shown admiration for his Chinese counterpart and recently has allowed Chinese teachers to teach Mandarin in schools of Nepal. This brewing closeness to China has made Nepal more hostile towards India. The building of roads in the Kalapani region of Uttarakhand, which the Nepali people think is theirs, added fuel to the ongoing tensions. From the Nepali perspective, they are better off with China than India because China can lend them huge loans for their development purposes. India battling with its own economic distress, can’t afford to give loans or aid. Moreover, we see how socially, Nepalis are subjected to stereotypes and racism. Nepal’s PM showing passive aggression can be a result of their mounting unhappiness with the Indian people.’

Adarsh Badri, an avid writer, and political science enthusiast comments,’ Nepal has had a complex relationship with both India and China for decades now. This is largely because the country is sandwiched between two major powers in Asia. Nepal has been a friend of India since forever, as the country was ruled by the Hindu dynasty. Nepalese socio-religious society is largely based on tribal affinity, and the caste system that entrenches their society, and Hinduism. However, this does come with its own set of disputes with regards to the borders between both the countries and the religious myth-factories. In order to understand what is happening with reference to Nepal, it is imperative to look at its history. Since Nepal was ruled by Monarchs, the Communist party began their movement with the aim to topple the monarchs, and the subsequent democratic Govts. Nepal changed its constitution in 2006, with the Indian constitution as its reference. And it was subsequently replaced by the 2015 constitution. Nepalese society is multi-ethnic and the politics of appeasement is at peak. With China’s influence in the subcontinent in the recent past, Nepal has been sidelining India. More so, it has been dismissing India as a bully who holds its territory and influences its political choices.

With KPS Oli at the helm, who is also the chairman of the Nepalese Communist party, it is rather unsurprising that Nepal has been asserting its claim in the region. In doing so, it is also very much cautious of the influence India has on its political structure and public-opinion building. Oli has been trying to balance between, not-fuming-India and asserting-Nepalese-claims. But, it is interesting to see how this plays out for the Oli government.’

Arghish Akolkar analyses the reasons and boils them down to conclude, ‘CP-N (Communist Party of Nepal) right now is only standing together because of the efforts of the Chinese ambassador, she has played an important role in holding the party together by meeting various party factions to ensure that the communist-led government stays in power in Nepal; which has deep cultural and religious relations with India. The current situation of the Nepalese Government under Oli, no matter how you see, is facing a support crisis with the government’s mishandling of the COVID 19 pandemic, and various corruption scandals. Ergo, in order to still hold onto power in any way possible, the Oli government has allowed the thinking and strategic decisions to be under the goals of a pro-Beijing narrative- which is conveyed and controlled by the Chinese embassy in Nepal. This move by China is simply to undermine Indian cultural and political hegemony in Indian subcontinent’

Lastly, Rhythm Joshi has something interesting to say on this: ‘Oli seems desperate in front of the Nepali protesters pointing fingers at the government with respect to its response against the coronavirus. On the other front, he wants to extend his position as the PM in the current coalition government. The communist government surely tends towards the CCP due to “communism”. The CCP has in fact increased its involvement in the Nepal politics manifolds, and has even saved it from collapse recently. Some might say that Nepal isn't influenced by China influenced as it opposed both China and India in the 2015 Lipu-Lekh pass agreement. However, I guess international relations are really dynamic and we can’t deny the obvious based on a 5 years old obsolete event with different political conditions and international influences.’

In our opinion, Nepal has become a victim of peer pressure, and s/he should probably see a child psychologist. Right now, s/he thinks communism is the new “frat boy” thing, but wait for it ‘comrade’, everything comes at a cost and the sooner Nepal realizes that their best interest lies in upholding the spirit of democracy and not succumbing to China’s crafty policies, the better it will be. At the end of the day, being a democracy, they have to justify their actions to the public as well as the international community.