I spent much of my early childhood terrified of the Yeti. The hairy abominable snowman, I was told, would creep down stealthily from the peaks and whisk children away to its caves to do its bidding. Every time I looked up at the mountains, an adult invariably pointed out to me where a Yeti was lurking behind a lofty peak ready to snatch me away.
I took every precaution I was told would help. I folded my clothes neatly in the cupboard and put my toys away. The Yeti, I was told, picks on children that strew their things about and refuse to clean up. I drank my milk promptly without a fuss whenever directed. Apparently, the Yeti seeks out weak children that can be carried away easily into its caves in the lofty peaks. I did my homework meticulously without fail. The Yeti of course looks for derelict children who avoid their studies.[break]
deviantart.com
By the time I reached my teenage, I realized that the Yeti’s existence was at best questionable. I was even beginning to believe that perhaps the monstrous Yeti might have been a ruse invented by adults to make me do certain things, which I felt didn’t seem to be very different from the Yeti that would have stolen me off to its cave.
Thankfully I have overcome my fear of the Yeti. But now in my adult life, as I invent my own Yeti stories for my son, I am gripped by another fear—the fear of mysterious foreign powers that will supposedly swoop down and force us to their bidding.
Ominously, the Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid arrives in the capital today. What could it mean?
Like the Yeti, the fear of foreign powers crept into my consciousness from repeated stories I had heard about how they were dictating our national politics. Like tales I heard of the Yeti, our political discourse is full of narratives about how mysterious foreign forces are waiting to swoop down and carry us off to their caves like a Sikkim or Tibet. Every time I look South or North, or nowhere in particular for that matter, there is always a politician ready to tell me about foreign powers ready to whisk our country away.
“It is obvious that Nepal is a playground for foreign forces. The concerns of outside forces have prevailed visibly in Nepali politics,” UML Secretary, Shankar Pokharel, said in an interview to The Kathmandu Post on May 13, 2013. The statement was part of his response to a question where the interviewer had alleged that the UML had “officially admitted to foreign influence in [Lokman Singh] Karki’s appointment while other leaders [had] said that they were compelled.
There is no reason to single out Pokharel. Such statements are routinely bandied about in Nepal’s current political discussions.
“The formation of a government under the sitting Chief Justice itself was an unusual move. Forces behind the scenes made efforts to prevent the political parties from reaching an agreement, which has been a major obstacle to institutionalizing the achievements made so far,” Pokharel said in his interview.
As Pokharel spoke of “forces behind the scenes,” I recalled my childhood, when an adult would point towards the lofty peaks behind which the Yeti lurked.
“What is the force you are referring to?” the interviewer asked Pokharel.
“Naturally, there are forces that are concerned about us. It is not appropriate for us politicians to name them all the time,” Pokharel replied.
Pokharel’s remarks about “forces” that need not be named took me back again to my childhood fear of the Yeti. For me, the fear was there not because it had a name. It was because it was repeated enough times, with someone always pointing to the lofty peaks behind where it lay in wait of its prey.
That’s the thing about scary stuff—they are always just out of sight, never to be seen, never to be heard, but always waiting to pounce.
In the interview, Pokharel offered his glimpse of the “forces behind the scenes”.
“Both our neighbors are equally important as we cannot change them. Their interests have roles. There is the Western perspective based on the wider Asia strategy and the Indian security strategy. The Indian security strategy has played as much of a role as Western interests under the Asia strategy,” he explained.
With our neighbors, India and China, and all of the “western interests” exerting their influence in Nepal, as Pokharel suggested, exactly which country of substance in this world is left? By that definition, Nepal should be the centre of the world.
For too long, Nepal’s political discourse has been overshadowed by claims of overbearing foreign powers that lurk behind every decision and every development. In the reckoning of political parties, there is nothing that 26 million Nepalis have ever decided on their own. Everything has been decided for them by Manmohan Singh, Xi Jinping or their predecessors.
It is unclear what India and China, or any other foreign power, could possibly gain from deeper leverage over Nepal’s social, political or economic development. We have no known natural resources of significance, no economy that is showing signs of taking off, no technology, no nuclear arsenal and no labor force that offers a unique competitive advantage. Perhaps some water, but unfortunately water always flows downhill.
Our neighbors are already deeply entrenched. Our currency is pegged to the Indian Rupee. Our oil and energy sources all comes from there. We watch Bollywood like crazy. All of our products and machinery come from China. What more could these countries want for influence? More importantly, why would they want it?
Nepal offers nothing more than headaches. Our neighbors have plenty of it in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Tibet. Why do they need more?
The rhetoric around the fear of foreign powers has simply become a political instrument of convenience. The influence of foreign powers is just one of those things that can be blamed anytime a party wants to oppose a decision for no other reason than to oppose it. It can be used anytime a party cannot explain to people why it hasn’t been able to reach agreement. It can be used anytime it can to further a narrow political interest.
The influence of foreign powers is just one of those things like the Yeti that does not have to be visible but is always lurking behind a lofty peak.
“We can resist foreign influence in three ways: awareness among the people, unity and trust among the political parties and building capacity to resist unreasonable demands,” Pokharel said in response to the interviewer’s question on what could be done to resist foreign influence.
I have one more suggestion. It would help to stop perpetuating the myth, to stop exploiting the rhetoric of foreign powers for political posturing.
I got over my fear of the Yeti. Our political leadership should get over theirs.
bishal_thapa@hotmail.com
Related story
Sanima General Insurance and Yeti Airlines introduce ‘Yeti Extr...
-1200x560_20230115125633.jpg)
