N.P Upadhyaya
Kathmandu: The sudden arrival of the Pakistan Prime Minister Abbasi to Nepal on a formal visit and the kind of reception and welcome he was accorded while being in Kathmandu has almost broke the vertebral column of the Indian regime to the extent that someone called Arun Bajpayi, a retired army man, has almost lost his common sense when he says that Nepal is trying to project itself as an Independent foreign Country. Perhaps he has gone senile in that he has yet to be told by South Block mandarins that Nepal stands tall as a sovereign nation since the notion of nation state came into existence and that Nepal has never been a colony of the outside forces to which India was for more than a few centuries.
Nepal was the 21st. nation-state in the world then.
Nepal stands tall among the comity of nations as an independent and sovereign nation since the beginning of the civilization to which today’s India can just imagine of.
This disturbed Indian brain in a small write up published recently not only undermines Nepali sovereignty but also advises his government not to get lured by the new Nepali set up under KPS Oli.
He says that KPS Oli wishes to make India and China fight with each other and extract benefits for Nepal. Well to be candid, it is diplomacy but Nepal has no wish as such as stated by this retired army man.
This perturbed Indian national takes Nepal as an Indian protectorate a la Baby Bhutan and suggests his government to rethink its policy towards Nepal. Fine and good. This is what Nepal wants in the changed context. Nepal wants abrogation of the previous treaty to be replaced by a new one wherein Nepal is an equal partner.
This annoyed Indian national says that Nepal now sits in the lap of the Chinese regime but forgets to mention as to why Nepal prefers now to forget the black past when she had to obey to the dictates of the Indian regime beginning early 1950s-to be more precise after the 1950 peace and friendship treaty which neither promoted peace nor friendship with the contracting partner.
Prachanda rightly said once that the best help from India would be no help from Hindustan. Perhaps he spoke correct even as the things stand today.
Maneuvering and coercion continues. The style though may have changed of late. The hatred thus is increasing in Nepal. This is what India should understand and find out as to why is this hatred?
The 1950 treaty is a treaty that humiliated Nepal since the day it was signed and continues to pain each and every Nepali soul even as of today. The upset Indian national is against regulating Nepal-India border and says that if Nepal wishes to do so then India should ban the entry of the Nepali nationals and impose work permit system.
And this is what Nepal too needs. Go ahead.
He fears that the Expert group from Nepal may wish to overhaul the 1950 treaty much to the detriment to the Indian hegemony and security interests in Nepal. In saying so the writer prefers the continuation of the Nehruvian doctrine in Nepal that practically controls Nepal in each and every sector of development.
Sorry. No more. Enough has already become enough. Let’s treat each other on equal basis.
The writer appears terribly shaken with the grand entrance of China in Nepal but ignores the reason as to why Nepal had to invite China to assist the former in its infrastructure development to which China has given its positive nod a la Pakistan.
Repeated economic blockades tortured Nepal had no option left other than to find a reliable partner in China and thus a clever KPS Oli exploited the opportunity and convinced China that India could never be a real and reliable friend of Nepal and thus China too sensed that it was the right moment to extend its helping hands. Since then China is in Nepal and will continue to be in Nepal despite bad mouth from men like Bajapayi and his class scattered all over the Indian republic born 1947.
To sum up, the writer, Mr. Bajpayi, is scared of the Chinese entrance in Nepal and thinks that the entire world has gone down under deep blue ocean for India.
Furthermore, he in his height of nervousness, that could be sensed while reading this piece, advises his regime to behave with Nepal having stick in its hand. This is the height of nonsense of the writer in that in today’s world playing with stick is considered to be a game played by dirty players or for that matter dirty and ugly countries. It is up to the Indian regime as to how she should present herself?
The writer spits venom against Nepal Prime Minister KPS Oli for reasons unknown and has thus joined the Indian team of Oli haters in India like Bharat Bhusan, Kawal Sibbal and Ashok Mehta and et al to name a few among the crowd having close ties with the RAW and the South Block.
The writer has special hatred for China and Pakistan which could be well understood as it were these two countries with whom India have had several fights in the past with no substantial results rather had a devastating humiliation a la 1962, and Kargil to recall.
For him Pakistan is a sworn enemy. Interestingly, Pakistani writers have never taken India as their sworn enemy as this writer proudly claims. The Pakistani academia is comparatively sober. However, he says that Nepal and Pakistan have nothing notable in common. It is here that the writer appears to have gone senile.
Nepal and Pakistan are two different sovereign nations. Sovereignty is common. What is common in them also is that both have been tortured by India since decades and decades. What else commonality this writer would like to have than this? Yes, indeed China now has brought these two countries more closer through her several initiatives now in action. Yet Nepal has to make more courageous efforts to what Pakistan has already accomplished and is soon to reap the mega benefits. Pakistan within a decade or so will become a game changer in this part of the world. Guaranteed.
Articles as this one by Mr. Bajpayi should be well analyzed by Chinese authorities and do the needful in order to make Nepal self reliant as they have been doing by assisting Pakistan. Nepal too needs Chinese expertise to free itself from Indian hegemony non stop.
Mr. Bajpayi’s hatred towards China is understandable as China is a country now aiming to compete with the United States of America while his own country is just the tail of the US. This is the fact. Bajpayi should gulp this bitter pill easily.
For Pakistan the China Pakistan Economic corridor is a game changer as stated in previous articles. The intolerance exhibited by Mr. Bajpayi speaks the very mindset of average Indian academia. So nothing new in it. Let him and his ilk cry as much as their physical health permits.
The fact is that Bajpayi and his ilk are not happy with the grand entrance of China in Pakistan and now in Nepal. But China has already made a place in Pakistani hearts and so it is with the Nepali people. People here in Nepal wish China to announce mega projects so that we could lessen our over dependency on India. This is urgent in that we have felt the brunt of several economic blockades in the past. The 2015 NAKABANDI was the daddy of them all and thus if Nepal seeks substantial support from China to do away with Indian arm twisting then it is permissible. India would do well if she recalls the naughty acts done to penalize Nepal under this pretext or the other. Enough should be enough and thus Nepal has the right to go in search of a trustworthy partner. If it is China then why is the hullaballoo here and there more so inside India?
Despite the hatred exhibited against China and Pakistan, the Deputy Chairman of the Pakistan planning commission, Sartaz Aziz, says, in part, “CPEC is not against any country but for peace and prosperity. CPEC is not just roads and infrastructure but it is all about people to people connectivity for the brighter future of the world.
This is not all. An Albanian expert, in the mean time has said that China’s reform in new era bodes well for the entire world economy and for the global stability.
Observing things in a twisted way has become the hallmark of the Indian diplomats and the South Block briefed academia and the media as well.
No wonder, we too possess in abundance such twisters at various places who use the eye glasses made in India. So be it. However, these domestic writers too should think first of Nepal and then of the countries of their choice. They should think first of their country’s overall development. Envelope journalism shall not last longer.
If China assures Nepal that she would do all to help Nepal to develop, like what is in Pakistan, then why not? Yet care must be taken that we should not make our immediate neighbors to fight with each other. We need India also but the helps pouring in Nepal must be with “no strings attached” or without riders. Remarkably Indian assistance is always with strings attached.
And now for the Road: “China will never become a global hegemony. Its aid to developing nations is politically unconditional. We can take on duties that match the status of a developing nation. To see this as strategic expansion is a misunderstanding”.
This is what the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has recently said. Source Twitter.
Speaking at the closure of the 13th national people’s congress Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a confident, nationalistic speech, emphasizing China’s desire to take up its “due place in the world”. ( Source CNN).
So Mr. Bajpayi nothing to panic. Bear with it. The all powerful Chinese President Xi Jinping is all set to visit Nepal this year. Broaden your mindset. Congestion is bad for health. China is advancing. China is in Pakistan and now in Nepal and in other South Asian nations as well. Take it easy.
Text courtesy: The People’s review weekly. Thanks.