The India that India wants to be contradicts the India we are now seeing (in its overt dealings with its closest neighbor Nepal).
India wants to be one of the most prosperous nations in the world by 2050. That is why India has recently built an ambitious, vibrant "Act-East" policy. It is looking to build a strong economic relationship with its neighbors towards the east by relying on three pillars of engagement: Commerce, Culture and Connectivity.It has directed its best diplomats towards this. It is helping build Asian super-highways to connect East India to Myanmar, then to Thailand reaching all the way to Vietnam. It is working with its eastern neighbors to explore oil and other vital resources to build a prosperous neighborhood. It is assertive and welcoming and balanced, and matured in its approach. It wants the world to take heed of the "Rising India". It wants to establish the 21st century as "the Asian Century" through its "Act East" policy.
Incidentally, the first country to the east of Delhi is Nepal. Therefore, it's self defeating for India to adopt a hard-line on Nepal. ASEAN countries will closely watch how it treats its small neighbor as most of them are comparable to Nepal in size and geography. They are now certainly watching closely the steps India takes to build better relationship with Nepal, culturally, commercially and in terms of connectivity.
Nepal is important to India culturally as most of us share the same religions, similar traditions and strong family ties in some cases. We are an important spiritual center for over a billion Indians.
Nepal is also important to India commercially. Nepal, for instance, is the seventh highest remittance source for India (Indians working in Nepal send US $3 billion dollars back).
Nepal is important to India connectivity-wise because it wants better trade with China to offset any security threats. It needs all the connectivity it can get. Fear is never a good strategy when it comes to building prosperity.
So Nepal is a test case for India. Over the past two weeks I invested some time trying to understand India by visiting India as a part of 14 Asian and American leaders' delegation which met with various Indian political, social and business leaders.
The India I observed is not the India I found when I returned to Nepal. The India I found on my trip was vibrant, building prosperity all around, taking concrete steps to uplift its citizens from abject poverty. From spokespersons of ruling BJP to opposition Congress party, the focus was on how to build a prosperous, inclusive India. How to bring in investments to create opportunities for its millions desperate for any dignified jobs.
We met Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Admi Party, who is adamant on making a 'servant government' role model for Delhi. Listening to Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, talk about building 22 smart cities around Mumbai and uplift the situation in Asia's biggest slums like Dharavi gives the image of India we all would like to root for.
At the ministry of external affairs in the South Block, bureaucrats talk only of enhancing economic ties and India's foreign policies are focused on this. India seems to have lofty ambitions to lead the world. And when asked directly by the 14 visiting Asian and American leaders, they state, "India doesn't have a policy to prescribe democracy to any country".
Ironically, the step India took last week in Nepal contradicts its own noble ambitions, hopes and desires to lead the world which Nepal ardently supports and encourages as it itself undoubtedly will benefit from prosperous neighbors.
After observing closely, I have come to a conclusion that there are two key reasons behind self-defeating steps of India in Nepal: Indian bureaucracy/diplomats handling relations with Nepal and Nepal's own incompetent political leadership.
I believe Indian bureaucracy and diplomats who handle foreign relations with Nepal do not have ground-level information on 21st century Nepal because they rely on their outdated contacts, many of whom are cronies who have ruled Nepal/Madhesh for a long time and are mistrusted by their own citizens. Sadly Nepalis are compelled to vote them to power each time because no winnable alternatives are allowed.
Withholding local elections for 17 years has delayed the creation of a critical mass of new generation leaders. It is unfortunate that Indian diplomacy is based on understanding Nepal from its network of outdated politicians in their 60s when more than half of Nepali is below 22. In short, Indian diplomats who handle relations with Nepal get outdated, ill-informed and misguided information from their sources.
Nepal's current leadership also has limited diplomatic prowess. In fact, I question if they even have the skills and confidence to negotiate on a dignified level, one sovereign country to another. Nepal's current leaders in the center and in Madhesh do not have the integrity to share our internal problems and solutions objectively with our immediate neighbor. Hence the contradictory and petty interest filled messages that Nepal's leaders send confuses India and encourages it to take skewed decisions that turn out to be counter-productive. The recent 'unofficial' blockade is the best example of this.
Undoubtedly, Nepal has deep-rooted problems with its own syndicate of 'rulers'. Our rulers constantly over-promise and under-deliver. Taking turns at power, they divide and suppress their own citizens by ruling with such arrogance that makes many of them feel like they are second or even third class citizens in their own country.
There is a new generation of 21st-century leaders brewing outside the mainstream political forces, who are perfectly capable of pulling the country out of this mess. Nepal's new generation believes that to build a prosperous Nepal we need to help build a prosperous India and China. Nepal's new generation wants to engage with our neighbors, just like India, through commerce, culture and connectivity.
To conclude, if India wants to bring its 300 million-plus citizens out of poverty, it must begin with creating the right image to bring more investments, partnership and trust. That trust begins with India's relations with Nepal. The world is watching.
The author is the Chairperson of BibekSheel Nepali Party
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