Some of us get used to even slavery and domination. And when in such a state, we may reject freedom to find comfort in servitude. The above anecdote precisely explains the psyche of Nepal’s top politicians when it comes to dealing with world powers.[break]
Nepal, either for the bravery of our ancestors, or for the ruggedness of our terrain, or both, could never be colonized in the early periods of worldwide colonization. That, by some assumption, should have made us possessors of free souls – hard to be subjugated.
Then why could it not happen? Why is it that our leaders and rulers are always found ready to negotiate the biggest of national interests for the pettiest of personal ones?
The reason is not hard to find. This trait entered our DNA during the later period of the colonial rules when our rulers began and slowly mastered the art of handing out gifts – even Nepali sovereign land – to our colonial neighbors just to lengthen their stay on the Nepali throne. While Chinese and Indian popular leaders were fighting their foreign oppressors tooth and nail, our rulers/leaders were making all-out efforts to outmaneuver each other to become the favorite of the same colonial oppressors.
In 1857, for example, when the East India Company was facing the biggest threat to their existence from Indian sepoys’ rebellion, Jang Bahadur Rana, Nepal’s ruler of that time, fought alongside the British colonizers to crush it, and to earn their favors to lengthen his and his family’s rule in Nepal.
It is true that both our neighbors suffered long periods of foreign subjugation. Yet it is also true that they eventually defeated the foreign tyranny and earned a self-confidence that we the so-called unconquered could never earn.
Came the late forties and fifties, and the colonial rules in our neighborhood ended and even their influences subsided slowly. China and India both started to take, initially, baby steps, and then, giant leaps towards asserting their presence on the global scene. Their self-confidence continued to increase, and so did their stature in the international comity of nations.
Nepali rulers had no more to deal with colonial powers, or to follow the appeasement tactics they used in the past for meeting their petty interests. Yet, just as was in the case of the anecdotal story of the French prisoners, Nepali leaders could not enjoy/assert their ‘freedom.’ They kept looking for their place in those prison cells that did not even had doors. They chose not to fly out but remain entrapped in the cage. They continued to exhibit the mindset of a dominion.
Why would it happen? Why could not we produce a single leader who could talk to their counterparts or even their emissaries with his/her head held high even after the colonial period was long gone?
The reason is not difficult to find. The reason is that all the dozens of leaders that we as a society produced could not have a life beyond the proverbial prison cell. They all wasted their time with foreign leaders focusing on their own political careers rather than issues about Nepal and its people, and therefore, lost the much-needed moral standing. Unlike battlefields where firepower reigns supreme, when two allies or adversaries ‘talk,’ morality does count. Once we get dislodged from our moral pedestal we are only ready-to-be-abused negotiators to our counterparts. And in this age of ruthless competition, who would lose a chance provided on platter. The proverbial jailor happily puts the prison-loving returnees to where they belonged – inside the jail. We cannot at all complain of foul play. We cannot blame our neighbors or other world powers. It’s all our fault – only our fault.
The colonial period was followed by the Cold War years when suddenly the tactics of subjugating weaker countries became less physical and more diplomatic and economic. The colonized became the new colonizers – albeit in different ways. The servile attitude of Nepali leaders was a perfect fit for the neo-colonizers of the new world order. And every one of them happily got their piece, served on a platter by Nepal’s very own leaders.
Let’s make no mistake about it. The urge among stronger countries to subjugate poorer and weaker countries will continue until the concept of independent nation-states continues. There will be winners, and there will be losers, too. The only question is, on what side do we want to be?
We cannot simply keep complaining that we are a ‘small’ country. There came leaders in many smaller and weaker countries that could take the world stage, assert their rightful positions, powerfully articulate their peoples’ aspirations, and earn the concessions of the world – and do all of that while maintaining eye contact with leaders of much stronger countries.
David Ben-Gurion did it for Israel. Lee Kuan Yew did it for Singapore. More recently, Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives, a country of less than 400,000 inhabitants took up the cause of his country powerfully on the world stage, earning the respect of one and all. It is possible. But it is possible only when our leaders focus on the real issues and not their personal ones.
Small countries can extract much better terms for their people, merely because they are small. Particularly, Nepal has been blessed with the love and affection of the entire world that continues even today despite our endless squandering of global goodwill and financial resources.
China and India both have been rather generous to Nepal despite their own humongous challenges at home. Nepal shares a similar socio-religious lineage with its neighbors, China and India. The political relationship gets the support of people-to-people contacts immensely. In both India and China, Nepal holds a special place for multiple reasons with everyone respectful of Nepal’s age-old independent existence.
So where is the problem?
The problem is again with us. China and India are not humans. They cannot be termed good or bad. Thousands of people who hold powerful positions represent India and China to Nepal. The need is to pick the right people to befriend. The need is to bring progressive and substantial win-win issues to the table. The need certainly is not to keep playing the aggrieved party at home, and a cunning broker while traveling all the time, as these do not impress anyone much these days.
Our leaders do not have to run to India for enhancing their political ambitions – China cannot help, either. The political capital, locally or globally, in the longer run, can only be raised by championing relevant social and economic issues. Yes, you must run to India, but to negotiate better deals for Nepali trade and industry. You must run to China, but to bring their investments in Nepal. You must visit world capitals, but to learn from them, how they have made their systems run. You must get out of this master-servant mentality, as foreign powers consider you ‘servant’ only when you project yourself that way to them. Both China and India, indeed the entire world, are on a lookout for, and would love to find strategic and dependable partners among Nepali leaders.
The prison is broken open. Living in the open world may throw challenges, but they are better any day than living inside a prison. There are no colonial powers these days. We know you want to go back to your prison cell as then you would not have to earn your meal the hard way. But please, for heaven’s sake, give ‘freedom’ a chance. Go out in the open, treat your constipated mindset with a fresh breath of air. That will do a lot of good to us the commoners, too. Pick a genuine issue, find just not the problems, but devise solutions, too. Make friends with progressive leaders of the world. Be confident. People love you as they love Nepal. Use that goodwill to our advantage. And above all, please get out of this colonial mindset, as there are no more colonies and empires these days. Google if you do not trust us, the commoners.
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