Nepalis Face Indian Military Threat

The Nepalis have felt a growing Indian military threat in the recent days. Dozens of criminal armed gangs specializing in robberies and killing and arson have been active in the Terai (the plain region bordering India) of Nepal. In March 2007, local eyewitnesses of Nepal did confirm that dozens of armed criminals from the orders of the northern Indian province entered Rautahat district and helped the Nepali criminal gangs carry out massacres and rapes at Gaur. It is known as the Gaur massacre. Eyewitnesses even confirmed that several Indian vehicles were also used for the crime. However, Nepal’s media highly influenced and manipulated by feudal elites propagated the Gaur massacre as clash between two armed groups. In fact, no field reports prepared by Nepal’s human rights institutions have proved that there was any clash between two armed groups. Instead, their reports categorically referred to it as ‘Gaur massacre’ carried out by one pre-planned armed criminal group against unarmed political activists who gathered for their purely political mass meeting.

Earlier than the Gaur massacre, Nepalgunj, an important western city of Nepal, suffered from communal violence in which widespread robberies and arson, organized and pre-planned, caused Nepal losses worth billions. Since Nepal entered into strategically vital peace process, communal violence has been forcefully initiated at the initiative of extremist Indian Hindus. They want to expand their Hinduist politics across Nepal with the help of feudal monarchy. This is the root of communal violence they want to institutionalize in Nepal in the manner they did in India. For example, more than 2,000 people died in Indian in the communal violence in 1992. Hindus and Muslims there had a dispute regarding whether the land of Ram Janam Bhoomi Babri Masjid belong to Hindus or Muslim. Just in the name of Ram Temple or Babri Mosque, that many people died.

The Nepalis have proofs that certain Terai leaders, who enjoy privileges in Kathmandu, have clandestine relationships with extremist Hindus belonging to the Vishwo Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rastriya Swayam Sewa Sangh (RSS), the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Shiva Sena (SS). Upendra Yadav, Jwala Singh, Jaya Krishna Goit, Laxman Karna and several others carrying Nepali political tags frequently hold meetings with India’s extremist Hindu party leaders and take direct instructions from them as to how to conflagrate conflicts in Nepal.

Shiva Sena leader from India, while in Kathmandu, openly told a former Royal ADC and current World Hindu Federation Chief General Bharat Keshar Singh to raise arms for protecting feudal monarchy in Nepal. This can show some kind of hidden desire of Indian Hindu extremists. In this context, the official version of the Indian government is definitely different. No country officially declares its policy against a neighboring country’s sovereignty. But what happens at informal levels greatly affects the attitude of people in both countries concerned.

In the recent Kapilvastu massacre, too, many civilians of Nepali origin were killed in the communal violence. The Nepali government has mischievously tried to cover up the number of deaths. Informal sources based on local informants have already indicated the number of deaths as more than 34.

There was no culture of ruthless communal violence among the Nepalis in the whole anthropological history of Nepal. But the imported communal crimes are almost daily taking Nepalis’ lives. As India has already been plagued with communal violence, it is beyond control. The Indian government and Indian leadership have even ceased to discuss and debate about them. The agenda of communal violence have been quite minorized in India where there is a population of 1.15 billion. But if communal violence is conflagrated in Nepal, where there is a population of only 30 million, it can communalize the nation’s politics and everything. Besides, as Nepal has open borders with India, the country’s nationality researchers have already pointed out that Nepali citizenship certificates have at gunpoint been awarded to more than two million Indians. If this research outcome is accurate and demographically verified, it is huge threat to Nepali sovereignty.

Indian elites usually undermine Nepal. For example, the Nepalis protested when an Indian film actress Madhuri Dixit, during her visit in Nepal several years back, said Nepal was a province within India. Indian secretaries undervalue even Nepal’s prime minister. They frequently meet Nepal’s prime minister and issue political instructions to Nepali political parties. Anyone interested in Indo-Nepal disputes and issues can easily have access to Indian and Nepali media where there is confirmation of this point. Nepal has nominal trade with China. Nepal is the largest market for Indian businesses. The imbalance like this in Nepal’s trade relations has even affected Nepal’s negotiating power. Indian movies and music have captured more than 90 percent market in Nepal. Culturally, Nepali psychological tastes have been molded indianizedly.

Politically, capitulationist leaderships time and again by hook or crook reach power and sign illogical water treaties with India.

Thus, India has deepened its political, cultural, geographical, economic and other influences in Nepal. When General Ashok Mehata, a defense advisor and expert on Nepal told the BBC that India can without hesitation send its troops to Kathmandu. This cannot be ignored only as a piece of personal expression. It is a sign of something being cooked in India regarding Nepal. As Nepal has been entrapped in a political impasse, this is what others may try to benefit from. But the Nepalis are the staunchest and fearless fighters of the 21st century and they have proved this globally even today. They are capable of defending their national sovereignty and identity. This is their strength. While respecting interdependence, they are conscious enough to protect their nation. At present, they are struggling against two forces: feudal rulers at home and the threat from external aggressors.

The crux of the current political crisis the Nepalis face is status quoism. After they replace the most corrupt, morally and politically bankrupt leaderships, they will be able to accelerate their multidimensional progress. At present, they need to take the side of overall transformation defeating all kinds of subtle feudalistic efforts.

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