Is Madhav Nepal A Puppet?

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

We have been hearing the leaders of the United Communist party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist) saying the current coalition government led by Madhav Nepal is a puppet. Some members of the legislature-parliament have been even urging them to stop saying the current government is a puppet, as it is not sober. Former Prime Minister Prachanda loved to say the current government is run by a remote control. Let us see whether the charges lodged by the Maoist leaders are true or false.

Immediately after the resignation of Prime Minister Prachanda protesting the unconstitutional move of the ceremonial President on directly writing a letter to Chief of Army Staff Rukmangad Katuwal fired by Prime Minister Prachanda on May 3, 2009 stating to stay on in the job, the external intervention in the internal affairs of Nepal has intensified. Possibly, the external agency particularly the Indian embassy must have been waiting for this moment. If the Nepalese political leaders have continued the consensus politics none of the external forces would dare to intervene in the internal politics. Unfortunately, making room for the foreigners to play in the Nepalese politics, the so-called leaders have shown their political immaturity and could not continue the consensus politics despite the fact that they would not be able to manage the current political situation without the consensus politics.

The Indian diplomat called Rakesh Sood has played a crucial role in garnering the required majority for forming a new government after the resignation of Prime Minster Prachanda. Two major political parties such as Nepali congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) had difficulty in garnering the majority required for forming a new government. They required the support of the Madheshi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) for garnering the majority in the legislature-parliament to elect a Prime Minister. Then, Indian ambassador Rajesh Sood shamelessly and even abusing his diplomatic status had engaged in garnering the majority in the parliament forcing the MPRF leaders to support the NC and the CPN-UML coalition despite the fact that both the NC and CPN-UML were deadly against the demand of the MPRF leaders for autonomous Madhesh Province.

MPRF leaders have paid a high price for supporting the NC and CPN-UML coalition in terms of breaking up their parties into two fractions: One led by Bijaya Gacchedar and another by Upendra Yadav. Bijaya Gacchedar could buy the majority of the members of the parliament belonging to the MPRF at the cost of the Indian diplomat. Bijaya Gacchedar also got the position of Deputy Prime Minister and met his ambition to be closer to the Prime Minister. However, Gacchedar has become the puppet of the puppet government.

A few days before the visit of the Indian secretary to Nepal obviously to calm down the media uproar over the Indian encroachment on the Nepalese territory and the harassment of Nepalis living in the Nepalese territory on the Nepal-India border by the Indian Border Security Force, after the meeting with Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood, Nepalese Foreign Minster Sujata Koirala denied any Indian encroachment on the Nepalese territory and the harassment of the Nepalis by the Indian Border Security Force. Prior to the meeting with the Nepalese Foreign Minister, Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood had said that the Indian encroachment on the Nepalese territory and the harassment of Nepalis living in the Nepalese territory on the Nepal-India border by the Indian Border Security Force was the making of one political party; no such things had happened.

On June 20, 2009, Indian Foreign Secretary Shivashanker Menon arrived in Kathmandu for a two-day visit. Upon arrival of the foreign Secretary at the Kathmandu International Airport, a group of people showed black flags to the Indian Foreign Secretary protesting the Indian encroachment on the Nepalese territory and the harassment of Nepalis living on the border area by the Indian Border Security Force.

The state-run newspaper ‘Gorkhapatra’ of July 9, 2009, published the news item on July 8, 2009, stating Chairman of the Committee on studying Nepal-India border problem and sufferings of Nepalis living in the border areas, and leader of the study team Padma Lal Biswokarma submitted the report on “study visit to the border areas and the harassment of Nepalis by the Indians” to the legislature-parliament. The report stated that India has encroached on the Nepalese territory in the border areas of the Bara and Dang districts, and the Indians have harassed the Nepalis living in the border areas, and looted livestock and have sexually abused the Nepalese women. The report also stated that while the team was in the field, in an attempt to cover up the Indian encroachment on the Nepalese territory, Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood and Indian Foreign Secretary Shivashanker Menon issued an irresponsible statement in which they said, “the border problem is an inciting political issue made up by a single party.” The report also stated that Nepal and India need to restore the border pillars following the border map prepared by Nepal and the then British-India government from 1816 to 1875, as most of the pillars are either disappeared or dislocated in the areas the team has visited.

Some of the members of the legislature-parliament demanded the government to act strongly against the Indian diplomat and even asked the government to send back Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood for saying India has not encroached on the Nepalese territory and the Indian Border Security Force has not harassed Nepalis, and the Nepalese members of the legislature-parliament have been lying about the Indian encroachment and Indian harassment.

The Madhav administration did neither take any actions against Foreign Minster Sujata Koirala nor took any explanations from the Indian Ambassador Sood for not speaking the truth of the Indian encroachment on the Nepalese territory and the harassment of Nepalis by the Indian Border Security Force not to mention sending the Indian diplomat back to his country and fire the Foreign Minister for her irresponsible statement on the border issues. Obviously, Madhav Nepal has become the Prime Minister with the favor of the Indian Ambassador Sood. So, it is quite clear that Madhav Nepal is the Prime Minister sponsored by the Indians. How could Nepalis expect anything good from the India-sponsored Prime Minister Madhav Nepal?

Then, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal sent his Defense Minister Bidhya Bhandari to India evidently for purchasing weapons on July 20, 2009. Her Indian counterpart agreed on lifting the embargo on shipping weapons to Nepal from India. On July 22, 2009, during the long telephone conversion, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal attempted to convince Former Prime Minister Prachanda of not importing weapons from India but bringing the weapons suspended by the Government of India during the autocratic rule of Former King Gyanendra. However, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal had to go to the legislature-parliament to tell the parliamentarians that his government was not bringing in any weapons from India.

Starting on August 18, 2009, Prime Minster Madhav Nepal made a visit to India but he did neither take up the issue of returning Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal for about twenty years to Bhutan while talking to the Indian leaders nor the Indian encroachment on the Nepalese territory and the harassment of Nepalis by the Indian Security Force. The Indian-sponsored current Bhutanese government has been adamant that it would not take back Bhutanese refugees forcibly sent out in the course of the ethnic cleansing in Bhutan. The Indian leaders have not shown any interest in this issue, as they do not want to disturb the Bhutanese government as long as it is loyal to them ignoring the sufferings of millions of Bhutanese taking refugee in Nepal. Prime Minster Madhav Nepal failed in taking up the issues such as the Indian encroachment on the Nepalese territory and the harassment of Nepalis by the Indian Border Security Force.

Indians have been expert in puppetry to set up their puppet governments wherever possible in the neighboring countries. Certainly, it is easier for the Indians to extract as much benefits as possible from such puppet governments. So, it is no wonder Indians have been even spending so much money on setting up a puppet government wherever and whenever possible. They face challenges from the nationalistic government. So, they are not concerned with the democratic or autocratic the governments are but they want these governments to be their puppets. It is a shame that the so-called largest democracy in the world indulges in such a dirty politics.

So much involved in the Nepalese politics even abusing his diplomatic status, the Indian ambassador did not have concern for the Nepalese ceremonial President overriding the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 and violating the basic values of democracy by directly writing a letter to Chief of Army staff Rukmangad Katuwal fired by Prime Minister Prachanda for indiscipline, and stating him to stay on in the job. Some people even believed in that it was the India-sponsored political tricks the pro-Indian Nepalese politicians have played on the Maoists. Riding on the shoulders of the Indians, they wanted to corner the Maoists and finish them off, as the Sri-Lankan government had done to the Tamils. So, the leaders of the so-called largest democracy did not bother to show any concern for the violation of basic democratic values in Nepal. However, the Americans had even written a letter to NC President Girija Prasad Koirala urging him to go to the Supreme Court of Nepal rather than leading the ceremonial President to violate the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. Founder members of Nepali Congress Krishna Prasad Bhattarai did not want to comment on the president’s unconstitutional move but Nepali Congress Leader Narahari Acharya had openly said that the ceremonial President violated the Interim constitution of Nepal of 2007 directly writing a letter to the Chief of Army Staff for which the Nepali Congress secretariat had asked Mr. Acharya for explanations.

The state-run newspaper ‘Gorkhapatra’ of May 9, 2009 quoting Dr. Suresh Chalise, Foreign Affairs Adviser to Koirala wrote that on May 8, 2009, American Ambassador to Nepal Nancy Powell has delivered the letter written by Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher to Former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. In the letter, Mr. Boucher has stated that in the current political situation, Nepal has no alternative to the consensus politics, and also advised Former Prime Minister and President of Nepali Congress Koirala to take any issue to the Court if any constitutional problem arises.

In August 2009, the Nepalese media have reported that the Madhav administration has sent a team to recruit Indian priests to work at Pashupati in Kathmandu provoking Nepalese priests appointed by the Maoist-led government to the positions vacated by Indians in December 2008 but not allowed to work for more than a week to announce a movement against the appointment of Indian priests to work at Pashupati. At that time, the pro-Indian politicians such as Ram Chandra Poudel and Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat of the Nepali Congress marched from the International Convention Hall to Pashupati to protest the appointment of the Nepalese priests to work at the temple to Lord Pashupati. It has hurt all Nepalis with the nationalistic feeling that the pro-Indian politicians could not see Nepalese priests working at the temple to Lord Pashupati. Certainly, most of the Nepalis with the nationalistic feelings would support the Nepalese priests for their movement against the Indian priests working at the Pashupati temple.

Taking the pulse of the Nepalese politicians, the Indian authorities have shown the courage in proposing the Madhav administration to set up the Indian Security at the International Airport in Kathmandu. The Indians dared to do so as their ambassador has played a significant role in installing Madhav Nepal a Prime Minister. So, they have anticipated something significant from Madhav Nepal in return for the favor the Indian diplomat has done to him. Consequently, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has been a moral disgrace for the nation.

Having the lackluster interest in taking up the issues such as Nepal-India border and Indian harassment of Nepalis living in the Nepalese territory on the Nepal-India border, tolerating the lying of Indian ambassador Rakesh Sood and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala about the Indian encroachment on the Nepalese land and Indians harassing Nepalis, sending a team to recruit Indian priests to work at the temple to Pashupati, and not taking up the issue of returning the Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal for almost twenty years to Bhutan, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal gives the impression that he is really sponsored by Indians. In addition, the Indians have proposed Prime Minister Madhav Nepal to set up an Indian security at the International Airport in Kathmandu diluting the sovereignty of Nepal. So, it won’t be too much wrong calling him a puppet. However, 22-political parties have been giving support for such a puppet. Is it not the misadventure of the Nepalese politicians?

August 29, 2009.