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On/Off the Record

By P.R. Pradhan

 Swornim Wagle, an MP from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is an anti-Nepal leader. He is deadly against the industrialization of the country and the government’s investment in industries. He believes the government’s expenditure on the Nepal Army is unproductive, thus, he advocates for dismantling the Nepal Army. Now, he is advocating for Nepal to respect neighbor India’s spheres of influence. Clearly, he wants Nepal should remain as an India-protected nation.

When Wagle defended India saying, “We have to accept India as it is a regional power and should accept India’s interests in remaining the neighboring countries under the Indian sphere of interests”.

Citing global history, he talked about the Monroe Doctrine that James Monroe, the 5th president of the USA, opposed European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere.

“Any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers is a potentially hostile act against the United States”, Monroe, the US president had said in 1823 to the European powers for not intervening in the countries in the region as they lies under the US spheres of influence.

UML MP Radhuji Pant, condemning such a statement by Wagle, raised the issue in Parliament saying that Wagle’s argument was against the sovereignty and independence of Nepal.

Pant questioned why Wagle cited the Monroe Doctrine when India even has not talked about it!

Understandably, Wagle, in the process of pleasing India with the plan of developing his political career, advocated the Indian spheres of influence, however, he didn’t understand that in today’s world, none of the countries wish to remain under the spheres of influence of any other countries. Even Bhutan, which is an India-protected nation, is trying to get out of the Indian grip.       

If Wagle believes India is a rising power, then what about China? China is the second-largest global economy and also emerging as a global power. Nepal’s geopolitical location is very sensitive as the country is bordered by two giant countries, India and China. For Nepal, India is an important country, equally, China is. Therefore, Nepal should initiate its foreign policy by respecting the security sensitivity of both countries. Great king Prithivi Narayan Shah had thus described Nepal as a yam between the two boulders. King Mahendra introduced non-aligned foreign policy by maintaining equidistance relations with both neighbors. King Birendra proposed declaring Nepal a Zone of Peace. All these efforts by the kings were against remaining under the spheres of influence of any particular country.

No doubt, the Indians want to expand their spheres of influence in small South Asian countries, however, the mission will be counterproductive. Indians believe that “raw nationalism” is flourishing in small neighboring countries in the region. Wagle repeated the same words blaming those, who think about the nation’s independence and sovereignty, are suffering from the “raw nationalism” phobia. Those intellectuals, who advocate on behalf of India, also explain that nationalism with an empty stomach cannot sustain. Unfortunately, they have forgotten that Nepal was a prosperous country under the kingship, nevertheless, it is becoming more and more dependent on India as those leaders in “loktantra” have a slavery mentality and are keen to serve Indian interests.

How the Indian agents have failed, and how India is destroying its image in the South Asian region, can be judged from the election of an anti-Indian president in Maldives, and the topple-down of pro-Indian Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh!

India has initiated “neighborhood first” policy, in practice, anti-Indian sentiment is on the rise in the region.

We all are aware that India is spending a huge amount of money on political leaders, intellectuals and journalists in the neighboring countries just to intensify its influence, however, this effort has not worked at all.