pushpa-column By PR Pardhan What is the foreign policy of Nepal, one cannot say so easily. Or, it would be better to say that we don’t have any foreign policy and the foreign policy is guided by the mood of our leaders. We saw many odd things during the visit of Indian President Pranav Mukharjee. Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal spent all his efforts to give the message that he has very, very high regards for the Indian leaders. These efforts were made just to please the Indian leaders. First of all, Dahal’s government announced a national holiday on the day of the arrival of the Indian President. He also announced that if the Chinese President will visit Kathmandu, on that day also, a national holiday will be announced. But what policy will the government maintain when heads of the state and government from other countries pay a visit to Nepal? Secondly, Mukharjee is a lame-duck president who is going to complete his tenure in eight months. He was elected the President at the time when there was the Congress I led government. Mukharjee is known as a strong critic of BJP in India and he is just a ceremonial President. May be Dahal wished to please the Indian bosses but Mukharjee is not the right person. Our mentally-sick leaders developed the idea of inviting the Indian president only after the Chinese President, who is supreme leader of China, wished to visit Nepal in connection with President Xi’s policy for establishing good relations with all the neighbours. Our leaders decided to invite the Indian President earlier for the visit than the Chinese President. This policy is based on total surrender-ism. Of late, the Chinese President decided not to visit Nepal due to the attitude of our inefficient leaders. Otherwise, the Chinese President was likely to visit Kathmandu on his way to Goa, India to attend the BRICS Summit. President Xi, instead of visiting Nepal, visited Cambodia and Bangladesh. During president Xi’s two day visit to Bangladesh he gave an economic aid of 380 billion dollars of which 244 billion was as soft loan and the rest was given as economic aid. In a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between 13 Chinese and 13 Bangladeshi companies there is a point regarding economic investment. This is one of the largest aids given to Bangladesh in its history. In the same manner President Xi visited Cambodia on October 12th and 13th. During the visit China offered a soft loan of 237 million dollars and a military aid of 94 million dollars. At the same time China wrote of a loan worth 89 million dollars and promised an economic package worth 60 million dollars and a scholarship for 500 students. In this way China has given priority to Bangladesh in South Asia and to Cambodia in South East Asia. This clearly shows that Nepal has lost its opportunity as China has given preference to other countries rather than Nepal. Prachanda, the commander of the bloody “people’s war” which had claimed above 17 thousand innocent people’s life, had formulated the Prachanda Path by announcing a verbal war against India. He had said that he would construct a tunnel to fight against India. The very Prachanda has now performed naked surrender to his Indian bosses, which is being quoined as “Lampasharbad” (total surrenderism) to India. Social networks are full with different comments on Prachanda’s “Lampasharbad”. The government sources have given justification that due to the security reasons – because of open borders with India and present dispute with Pakistan, high security was maintained during the visit of the Indian President. National holiday was announced to curb security threat. But the entire nation and all our diplomatic missions abroad remained closed on the day of the Indian President’s visit. Is there any meaning to announce a government holiday? And, the entire Kathmandu Valley was paralyzed for three days when Mukharjee was in town. Forget about vehicle movements, even people were not allowed to walk in streets. Residents around the roads being used by the President were asked to close windows of their houses. When the capital city was paralyzed even during the visit of one head of state, what will be the situation here if head of the state and government from other countries will frequently visit Kathmandu? This is total failure of the government in managing the VVIP visit in proper manner. The government was on high alert that no one should demonstrate black flag to the VVIP. Even one lady clad in black dress was arrested by the police. Also, the security had arrested Greater Nepal campaigner Fanindra Nepal as he had announced that he was going to demonstrate a black flag to protest the Indian attitude. The Indian President had arrived here along with his security personnel (commandos) equipped with sophisticated arms. By allowing the Indian security force with arms, the government has itself proved that it was unable to provide security to the VVIP guest. This is a great insult on our security organs. Now, the question arises, has Prachanda become successful to please his Indian bosses by performing his new theory – “Lampasarbad?”. Of course, the visit was very much successful for India. By viewing the comments expressed by the people in social networks, one can reach to the conclusion that the Nepali people have not forgotten the trouble faced by them during the India imposed blockade. Furthermore, although, it was claimed that the visit was very much successful, Prachanda and his government has become naked from Prachanda’s “Lampasarbad” attitude. The Indian President, during his stay in Kathmandu, has clearly conveyed the Indian government’s message that after the 12-point agreement between the seven parliamentary parties and Maoists (SPAM) in Delhi, Nepal has gone under the Indian grip. Therefore, the leaders should not try to make any attempt to defy the 12-point agreement. The message is that India considers Nepal a country protected by India like Bhutan. In conclusion, the visit was very successful for India and our leaders were even unable to recall Indian bullying and months long economic embargo!