The latest and big referent dates back to 2005 when India assisted the formation of the coalition between the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and the Maoists. By doing so India, no doubt, tried to kill several birds. That was a unique opportunity to vindicate itself from the blame of engineering an unfair treaty with the dying Rana regime in 1950. The vocal critics of the controversial treaty, which was to convert Nepal into a client state permanently, are the leftists, and India wanted to win the hearts of the Maoists by working as a catalyst for the alliance formation. The second and even more important was the opportunity to carve a permanent niche for itself in Kathmandu´s political ecology. But the precise impact of the second Delhi compromise has been contradictory, which is evident in the increasing anti-India sentiments and India-bashing in Nepal.
India-bashing reached a new high when Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal christened a new name for India – Pravu or God. That name became an instant hit, circulating in newspaper editorials, cartoonist musings, and even in the working-class eateries and pubs. Many feel an instant urge of denouncing the “world’s largest democracy.” With the latest Indian drama on the eve of the Constituent Assembly term extension, the Pravu talks have grown even fiercer. This time India-bashing looks like more than the usual Maoist hallucinations, and it appears it has new dimensions.
One new avenue has been the media reports that the Indian establishments are involved in seemingly criminal activities in Nepal. When media entrepreneur Jamim Shah was killed last year, almost all media directly or indirectly pointed their finger at the Indian establishments. There were even reports that the alleged shooter was a member of an elite Indian force. This time when one Singh shot and wounded another Muslim media entrepreneur Yunish Ansari, who has been serving a jail term at a country´s high security prison on a different charge, media once again pointed finger at the Indian establishments. Newspapers even said the investigating police officers had asked journalists not to talk over the phone because the officers feared that the telephone conversation could have been being taped (by Indians). A spate of blasts in Nepal´s Tarai few months back also raised concerns about Indian establishment´s role. News reports were more than explicit with senior security officials claiming that the blasts were India´s way of showing displeasure at the formation of the Khanal-led government. Even more surprising was the fact that India never refuted these serious allegations to the satisfaction of many in Kathmandu.
The criminal connection is not the only way India has been implicated in recent political maneuvers. Maoists have accused India of trying to take the place of the Royal Palace after the dissolution of the monarchy in 2008. Most noticeable, if media reports and insiders’ stories are true, is the penetration of the Indian establishment into the Nepal Army and Nepal Police. Connections between the army and Nepal´s aristocrats and Indians are not anything new. Nepal army gets bulk of its weapons from India. Most army officers are "trained" in India in one pretext or the other. Indian and Nepali media had reported a wide rift between the army, the political class, and bureaucrats in New Delhi during King Gyanendra´s rule in 2005-06. Many senior army officers and Kathmandu aristocrats have extensive marital ties with the rich and powerful in India. Miffed at the obsequious attitude shown by some army officers toward Indian agents in Kathmandu, a senior army told this scribe that this was something he had never seen during the monarchy, which jealously guarded the emergence of alternative and independent power centers within the army rank and file. Once it was free from the palace´s yoke of pseudo-nationalism, the army, according to senior officials, has fallen under the Indian spell. Similarly, many senior politicians and bureaucrats here are beholden to the Indian establishment for making available scholarships to their children in good Indian colleges.
India also seems to have cultivated new power networks in the post-second people´s movement period. The rise of ethno-regional parties in the southern plains has proved to be a boon to Indian maneuvers. It is hardly the case that India has any genuine commitment to issues being raised by these parties. In fact, many claim that India realized lately that one single federal province in the whole of Tarai would be detrimental to Indian “security interests” and that the Indian establishment has been currying favor with former monarchists and anti-federal elements in all political parties on the same ground. The CA elections routed several heavy weights in the old political parties. Sources say Indian establishments have developed a close rapport with these extremely unpopular leaders—monarchists and the defeated leaders in the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML, who have been frequenting New Delhi in an unusual way.
And this is evident by the roles played by the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) during the second extension of the CA term. Media reports said that the Indian RAW chief landed in Kathmandu on May 28 to implement the Indian design of dissolving the CA. The split of the Madhesi People’s rights Forum (MPRF) on the eve of the term extension, the unusual stand of the NC General Secretary Krishna Sitaula, who demanded that the Maoists surrender their arms for the CA term extension, and the cameo performance of the Madhesi parties in the last moment of negotiations process to disrupt the positive development for national consensus, clearly indicate how deep the Indian establishments have penetrated into Nepal´s political ecology.
There have been recent cases in which India´s role in Nepal´s political development and stability has been dubious. India supported King Gynendra on May 19, 2006 when he asked the SPA to form a government. When the second people´s movement did not wane and the political parties went a step ahead, an extremely embarrassed India had to hurriedly call a press meet to pledge that it would go with the "wishes" of the people of Nepal. This event must have been a lesson for India, but it appears India is genetically programmed not to learn from its past mistakes. India must definitely assist Nepal in resolving the current political mess. The best way for India to help out Nepal will be to Shut Up. This is the sure path that will help stem the growth of negative nationalism in Nepal. Else it will not take very long for both Pahadis and Madhesis, the supposed India sympathizers, to unite against India and form even more virulent negative nationalism.
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