Interesting editorial in an Indian Newspaper. A re-think, a double-think, or a NDA-think ?
Our loss in Nepal
The Pioneer Edit Desk
By choosing to isolate King Gyanendra of Nepal and support discredited, thoroughly corrupt politicians and the Maoists after last February's palace coup, the UPA Government adopted a disastrous policy whose impact is now beginning to take shape. Faced with total non-cooperation from India, especially after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his team decided to suspend arms supplies to the Royal Nepal.
Army which were needed to combat the Maoist terrorists, King Gyanendra has been forced look towards China. Ironically, while India decided to break with its long-standing policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of another sovereign state and, to an extent, successfully lobbied with the US and the EU to put pressure on the King for restoration of democracy, China refused to take a moral position.
The real contours of Beijing's disinterest have now begun to emerge with the arrival of truckloads of arms and ammunition for the Royal Nepal Army. With New Delhi abdicating its responsibility to actively engage with the King and provide him with the wherewithal to fight the Maoist menace that is as much a threat to Nepal as, it is to India, and Washington and Brussels remaining aloof since their stakes in the world's only Hindu kingdom are marginal, Beijing has decided to step in and make its presence felt.
It is nobody's case that the Communist Party of China is interested in propping up direct rule by Narayanhity Palace, but it is obvious that New Delhi's cussed response has provided Beijing with an excellent opportunity to grab the space vacated by us. And, it does not require a soothsayer to predict that if China continues with its policy of engagement, then a day shall arrive when New Delhi can claim to have won moral victory but the strategic victory will be of Beijing.
Between February and November, the UPA Government has managed to squander India's advantage and spike the policy that had been painstakingly put in place ever since we managed to dissuade King Mahendra from cosying up to the Chinese in the early-1960s. The net result of this folly is manifesting itself in the rapid shrinking of India's sphere of influence in the region, such as it was to begin with.
There is time yet for the Prime Minister to undo the mistakes of these past months and retrieve some of the ground we have lost in Nepal. For that, he must scrap the policy of disengagement, drop the contrived demand for restoration of democracy and instruct his advisers not to cut deals with politicians who have lost credibility with the masses and survive on Government of India largesse or criminals like Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Comrade Prachanda, who heads the Maoist terror brigade.
If the Prime Minister can so enthusiastically participate in dialogue with a military dictator masquerading as 'President' in Pakistan, if the Government can do business with the regime in Myanmar and if we do not sit in moral judgement on the presidents, kings, princes, emirs and sheikhs who rule Arabia with tyrannical fervour, then there is no reason why we should be so fanatically obsessed with restoring democracy in Nepal.
This is not to suggest that King Gyanendra can turn the clock back and return to the days of absolute monarchy. But to mollycoddle the Maoists and allow the Chinese to consolidate their hold over Narayanhity Palace are not the best tactics to prevent King Gyanendra from doing precisely that.
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