The lessons of the 1934 great earthquake were lost on us Nepalis. Just a few years after the disaster, we continued with our lives as though nothing had ever happened. Between 1934 and 2015, Nepal has produced thousands of scholars, scientists, architects, engineers, doctors and other professionals who were fully aware of the fact that Nepal lies atop an active seismic zone and a devastating earthquake can occur at anytime. Yet, when the quake struck in April this year, the lack of preparations on the part of the government as well as the enlightened citizens was all too evident.

Likewise, in the 1970s the then Panchayati national legislature known as Rastriya Panchayat adopted a resolution condemning the annexation of Sikkim by its Southern neighbour. India, however, termed it a ‘merger’. The resolution angered India so much that the Indira Gandhi government publicly stated that it was no longer able to supply petrol and diesel to Nepal due to a foreign currency crunch. As there were only a small number of vehicles in this country 40 years ago, Nepal could and did use foreign currency to import petroleum for a limited period of time. To add fuel to the fire, king Birendra’s proposal that Nepal be declared a Zone of Peace met with stiff opposition from India. The southern neighbour never supported the proposal perhaps fearing that its support would effectively terminate India’s ‘special’ relations with Nepal. The king’s proposal won the support of over 110 countries in the world including that of China, the US, the UK and France. In the late 1980s, the Rajiv Gandhi government imposed yet another undeclared economic blockade on Nepal citing Nepal’s alleged import of arms from China as the reason. Yet, we failed to learn a lesson from these incidents too.

Prostrating before Delhi

Of late, whenever our political leaders suffer from severe headaches, stomachaches and even heartaches, the remedy to those illnesses lies not with the doctors and hospitals in Nepal but with those in New Delhi. For the top Maoist leaders, India was a safe haven during the decade-long  insurgency in Nepal. In a television interview, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ revealed that he was in India for eight out of the 10 years of the Maoist war. Our current leaders make a beeline for Delhi at the slightest pretext. They seem to forget that nothing comes without a price, specially in relations betwen two countries. And New Delhi, whether it was the Indian National Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party in power, always saw Nepal’s monarchy as a stumbling block andswanted to get rid of it. The post-2006 era effectively fulfilled this goal.

The Panchayat regime formed a commission under Harka Gurung to look into the population problem. But the commission’s recommendations were never implemented.After the restoration of democracy in 1990, no matter how pertinent the recommendations were and how important they were for the survival of the country, there was not the slightest chance for them to be implemented by those who rush to New Delhi for power. That the Girija Prasad Koirala government would grant citizenship to over three million people was a foregone conclusion but now we can see the consequences for our failure to learn from the past.

And now, many parts of southern Nepal, particularly the eastern region, is in turmoil which is the result of a lack of any foresight on the part of top leaders. The leaders, particularly those belonging to left, made promises to the people that their demands relating to ethnic and linguistic identity would be addressed through the new constitution. But they miserably failed to take the minorities into confidence before rushing to enforce the constitution. Instead, they pushed the statute based merely on the strength of the Constituent Assembly (CA). It would, however, be a mistake to think that only the Madeshis and Tharus—who have been so vocal and taken to the streets—are dissatified with the constitution. But like all good citizens, most have remained quite, hoping that the constitution would be suitably amended in the near future. The silent majority do not disturb the peace nor hinder the free flow of goods and services. Still, had the leaders acertained the wishes of the people through rederendum on some basic provisions of the constitution before rushing to promulgate it, things could have been different. So the argument that since an overhelming majority in the CA approved the constitution, it reflects that the wishes of the people could not be further from the truth.

Nosy neighbour

Still, the current inference of India in Nepal’s internal matters is unwarranted. People of Nepali origin have been driven away from far-east India and many who remain there continue to be subjected to ill treatment. They are, for all practical purposes, Indian citizens of Nepali origin and yet they are treated as less than second-class citizens. The Indians of Nepali origin in West Bengal have been waging a struggle of their own to create a new state within India. What have our leaders done to help them? Even if they did, they would face a tough reaction from New Delhi since it is India’s internal affairs.

Therefore, Nepal’s new constitution, though not liked by many, is also its domestic affair. So the undue pressure from its southern neighbour in the form of economic blockade is uncalled for. But such a situation will continue to repeat itself in the future if we fail to learn from our past experiences and easily give up on our issues of national interest like Kalapani, Lipu Lekh and the Zone of Peace proposal simply because our neighbour is opposed to them. Sadly, this is exactly what our leaders of all hues are doing.

While its true that we cannot choose our neighbours, antiquated theories on strategic security are a thing of the past. While we might have waged a war against China and British India and lost in the past, we have always been valiant. If only our political leaders had at least learned something from our past, things would have been a lot better today than they currently are.