Volume 2, No. 2, February 2001

The seething anger of the Nepalese people against the Indian expansionists, burst into the open on December 25 last year. It took a mere comment by an Indian film star to ignite the spark. And then all Nepal burned for five days with Indian establishments and Nepali stooges being singled out for attack. The people of Nepal once again asserted their self-respect, while the Koirala-type chamchas continued to grovel before their Indian bosses.

The Indian ruling elite displayed increasing arrogance and contempt for the Nepalese people with Hritik Roshan refusing an apology, the Indian media blaming the ISI for the outburst, the BJP and Congress organising demonstrations against Nepal, and a top BJP chieftain virtually calling for the annexation of Nepal. The Indian expansionists, having looted and robbed Nepal for decades, reducing it to one of the poorest countries in the world, now seek to dismiss opposition to their domination by branding it as ISI-inspired. Such callous disrespect can only enflame anger further within Nepal.

On December 15, the "Chitwan Post", a small Nepalese daily from Bharatpur (Morang district .... the home of PM Koirala), carried the report of the said interview of Hritik Roshan on Star Plus TV presented earlier in the month, where he is said to have made disparaging remarks about Nepal and the Nepalese. Angry protestors first took to the streets in Navalparasi, close to the UP border. But it was a week later that demonstrations intensified in Morang district. The agitations on December 24 got splashed in Kathmandu-based dailies and it immediately sparked off similar protests all over Nepal. By evening December 25 Nepal was aflame.

Demonstrators were joined by artists, writers and unionists. There was widespread stonethrowing as students and others attacked Indian establishments. Shouting slogans like "Down with Indian Hegemony" demonstrators specifically targeted cinema halls screening "Mission Kashmir" in which Hritik is the hero. Indian businesses and shops were attacked and the panes of the State Bank of India and Indian Airlines booking offices were smashed. Slogan-shouting students marched to the Indian embassy where they were fiercely tear-gassed and lathi charged. Nearby, at Lainchur, the police fought back students for over six hours to prevent them for reaching the embassy. At a cinema hall that was partly burnt down the police resorted to firing, killing a boy of 11 and a girl of 14. Demonstrations spread to other districts and by the second day, four people had been killed in police firing.

The panic-stricken government banned all films of Hritik Roshan and demanded a public apology from him. Cable operators withdrew telecasts of all Indian channels. Indian embassy officials were forced to move about in unmarked cars or with heavy police escorts.

As demonstrations gained in intensity 5 left student unions called a two-day general strike. Demonstrators rented their anger at the police, responsible for killing four people. Entire Nepal was paralysed with clashes taking place throughout the country. Agitators burnt the central office of the pro-India Nepal Sadbhavna Party. Homes of three leaders of the ruling party became the target of bomb attacks. The CPN (Maoist) claimed responsibility and called upon the people "to unseat the corrupt Girija (Koirala) which is an agent of Indian expansionism."

Meanwhile 56 MPs owing allegiance to the Deuba-Bhattarai faction of the Nepali Congress demanded the resignation of Koirala and a change of leadership. Bhattarai, seeking India’s support for his plans, blamed Koirala, and not India for the present unrest. Though their attempt failed, January 1st witnessed yet another all-Nepal strike calling for the resignation of the Koirala government.

With Hritik Roshan’s father involved in underworld squabbles, and the new star being portrayed as the Hindu mega-star of the future (as opposed to the Khans), the entire Indian media sought to portray the Nepal outburst as some ISI-plot to attack the Hindu stars and whip up sentiments against India.

The BJP (and media) further developed this ISI-plot scheme, by linking it to the Indian Airlines hijacking which took place exactly one year earlier. Without any logic to this argument, they probably thought the ISI considers anniversaries as auspicious for such ‘anti-India’ activity in Nepal. Besides, by putting the blame for the outburst on ISI operations in Nepal, the Indian rulers sought to further pressurise Nepal to obey its dictates.

The Indian government openly threatened that those who want to whip up anti-India sentiments in Nepal will end up doing more damage to its economy — reminding Nepal of the 1989, 18-month-long economic blockade. RAW and other wings of the Indian intelligence, circulated rumours that the ISI had infiltrated the left organisations in Nepal, which, they claimed, are being used to print and distribute fake Indian currency....thereby laying the basis for Indian intervention against the ‘left’ organisations in general, and the Maoists in particular. During these disturbances, a top BJP ideologue, K.R. Malkani (one-time editor of the Jan Sangh mouthpiece ‘Motherland’) went so far as to state (in a chat with a web edition of ‘India Today’) that "the then King of Nepal had offered to accede to India during the early fifties, but Nehru declined .... Nehru had made a very serious and foolish mistake .... if this mistake had not been made Nepal today would be much like Sikkim, a part of India." This is Indian expansionism put crudely !! Though this statement was disowned by the BJP, for public consumption, it reflects their actual thinking and desires.

Vajpayee arrogantly called up his counterpart, Koirala, ordering him to take steps against the violence and to set up measures to prevent its recurrence. The Government of Nepal then hurriedly set up a high-level committee to investigate the violence and assured India that it would take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of Indian citizens.

No doubt the Indian and Nepalese compradors were worried about the strikes and violence as it came at the peak of the tourist season. Thousands of Indians cancelled their trips to Nepal effecting the tourist industry on both sides, and causing losses to Indian Airlines flights that were going empty. Also, many Indian tourists fled Nepal, with the outbreak of violence. Besides, worried at the repercussions, the Indian government has delayed delivery of a consignment of AK-47 rifles. These were specifically meant to kill the Maoists fighting a people’s war in Nepal.

Indians control nearly all business in Nepal — not only big industry, but also major shops. They are into everything from export-import to breweries to the health sector. 80% of the trade is controlled by them. They own factories making steel, carpets, garments, mineral water, biscuits, noodles ... and control foodgrain supply and even the aviation sector. With the ‘reforms’ they have, of late, even entered banking and the media. They are to be found in all important towns of Nepal like Bhadrapur, Birtamod, Biratnagar, Birgunj, Bairhawa, Nepalgunge and Hetanda. Most shops in the posh commercial areas of Kathmandu are also owned by them. With such a tight control over the Nepalese economy it is quite natural that the people resent such domination. In addition, Nepal is locked in on three sides by India (the North, through China, is inaccessible due to the high Himalayas). Nepal’s trade life-lines are thereby controlled by India, which has used this to blackmail the country into subservience.

Besides, issues like Kalapani (which has been forcibly occupied by the Indian army); the Laxmanpur Barrage (which results in the flooding of Nepalese villages), the Mahakali treaty (which is loaded in favour of India) and the hysterical projection of Nepal as a base of the ISI — have fuelled anti-India feelings. To add salt to the wound, the 1996 trade treaty and Koirala’s recent trip to India has further bound Nepal to India’s interests.

Nepal belongs to the Nepalis, and they have full justification to kick the Indian expansionists out of their country and annul all the unequal treaties. Their anger is at the Indian expansionists not at the Indian people, who have a common suffering at the hands of the Indian ruling classes. The Indian rulers are the most vicious enemy of the entire peoples of South Asia. While lording it over the Indian people and exploiting them ruthlessly, they seek to extend their tentacles to entire South Asia to expand their markets by oppressing the people throughout the sub-continent.

While the masses of India face the brunt of the attacks by the reactionary Indian rulers; the people of the neighbouring countries also have to face the bullying and oppressive policies of the Indian expansionists. The struggle against the Indian rulers is therefore common for the entire peoples of South Asia. That is why, the people of India support the just struggles of the Nepalese people against Indian expansionism and fights shoulder to shoulder with them and all other peoples of South Asia to oppose Indian hegemony and domination. The Indian people, unlike its rulers, fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all neighbouring countries. A relationship built on genuine equality and mutual respect, is the only guarantee for peace in South Asia.

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