Rajkumar Siwakoti, Advocate
(Courtesy: Telegraphnepal.com)
Rajkumar Siwakoti, originally hails from
Morang district of eastern Nepal,
and is a social activist. Now in Kathmandu, Siwakoti has completed Bachelors in
Law (BL) and also has received Masters Degree in Social Anthropology from
Tribhuvan University (TU), Kathmandu.
He is one of the general members of Nepal Bar
Association and has been engaged in several research activities on social,
political and legal issues.
Sujit Mainali for The Telegraph Weekly and
its online edition telegraphnepal.com talked to this bubbling lawyer on several
aspects of Nepal's
politics. Below the excerpts of his exclusive interview: Chief Editor.
TQ1. How do you analyze the saying of S.D. Mehta- the consul for political affairs at the
Birganj Consulate Office, who had reportedly provoked some leaders from Nepal’s
Madhesh to bring in a sort of political blizzard in entire
the Madhesh much ahead of May 27, 2012?
Siwakoti: I out rightly ridicule the
provocative remarks of Mr. Mehta. His behavior has breached the norms, values
and universally accepted code of conduct of the diplomats. The way the Indian
diplomat poked nose into the internal affairs of Nepal
has exhibited that India
doesn't want to accept Nepal
as a sovereign nation. This is a very unfortunate situation.
TQ2. During the absence of Chinese Ambassador, Indian diplomats
are overly maneuvering and trying to exploit from the fragile political
situation of Nepal.
Is this a mere coincidence or something else?
Siwakoti: We should be clear that China does not have any interest in the internal
affairs of Nepal.
Beijing wants
Free Tibet campaign to be earnestly curbed from the Nepali soil. If this is
ensured, this is perhaps sufficient for Beijing.
But New Delhi has been dictating Kathmandu's political affairs since 60 years or so. The
continuation of this unwarranted behavior has revealed that India is hell bent on weakening the territorial
integrity and sovereignty of Nepal.
Media report published some days ago had revealed that Indian
Ambassador Mr. Jayant Prasad had facilitated, May 2, 2012, the major political
parties of Nepal
to reach a consensus to form 11 federal provinces. Now, another diplomat from
the same country is trying to provoke Madhesh against the recently reached
agreement. Don’t you think it to be an insane act? India
is playing double in Nepal.
I suspect that India
is aiming at creating protracted instability in our country.
Or else why its diplomats should try to penetrate on all possible
fronts of Nepal?
Why they play double so often? India
wants to control Nepal's
sovereignty and desires to impose its so-called supremacy upon us. New Delhi is still not ready to treat Nepal at par on
reciprocal basis as it should have been.
This event has reminded me of Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel who in a
letter to the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had told the former
to forcefully make Nepal a part of the Indian union reiterating that
significance of Nepal to India was very much similar to that of the security of
Tibet to Beijing. Time has changed, but the psyche of the Indian officials has
remained unchanged. Indian officials are still guided by the imperial British
Colonial mindset. Very sorry to say
this.
TQ3. Mr. Siwakoti, what India
will achieve by promoting/nurturing instability in Nepal?
Siwakoti: Indian officials' activities towards Nepal are
guided with hegemonic intent. They want to keep Nepal under their firm grip.
Frankly speaking, up to some extent they have succeeded in this regard. But at
the same time, the hegemonic policy of New Delhi
has badly damaged the image of India
among Nepali population. India's
soft power in Nepal
is gradually getting eroded.
The instability of Nepal
will negatively impact the prosperity of the adjoining northern India in the
long run. Its spillover effect will trigger unrest along the border areas of India. It will
ignite the sensitive heterogonous demography of India and may invite grand
upheavals' inside there.
Apart from this, the third countries will get favorable
opportunities to speed up their maneuvering in Kathmandu if Nepal is
engulfed into political fluidity. This will limit the grand say of New Delhi. India need to
realize this fact and should immediately formulate new policy recognizing the
ground realities and act accordingly to meet the expectation and aspirations of
the Nepali population. This will benefit both nations.
TQ4: Can you name some third countries who will try to foster
their maneuvering if our country becomes more unstable?
Siwakoti: US, some European nations, Pakistan and of course, China will increase their activities in an
unstable Nepal.
TQ5: What will be their respective interests? Your comments
please.
Siwakoti: The US
and some European nations believe that unstable Nepal can provide them with
favorable ground to support the Free Tibetan activities from the Nepali soil. China in turn, will tighten its belt to contain
the influence of Western countries in Nepal
in order to safeguard its soft southern underbelly, Tibet. Beijing,
in that eventuality, will remain in an alarmed state not only in the northern
belt of Nepal,
but also in the southern belt in order to protect its political and security
related interests in the whole region. In that situation, Pakistan also will try to tease India from Nepal
on the issues related to the Kashmir.
Apart from this, the ultimate aim of the third nations will be to
bring the resources of Nepal
under their control. They want to expand and impose their business, technology,
idea and philosophy in this strategically significant Himalayan nation.
TQ6: The loose alliance between Madheshi and different ethnic
groups has foiled the attempt of major parties of Nepal to carve out 11 states for the upcoming federal setup.
What message this event has ventilated? Do you have any idea?
Siwakoti:
If you see this event from the post-modern lenses, you can see that the
center is gradually getting eroded and is losing its strength to dictate, guide
and fulfill the aspiration of the periphery and marginalized sectors. Power
centers of the Center including national political parties and the security
agencies are gradually losing their monopoly to exercise the political and
military authority. Regional and ethnic groups are gaining in strength and
stamina. Right now also, they are in a position to challenge the central
authority in a collective manner.
The most loud and clear message ventilated by the
foiling of idea of having 11 federal States is that, the constitution will not
be drafted on the stipulated time i.e. May 27, 2012. At least I am convinced on
this.
TQ7: Can you suggest a model of federalism which you
think will suit our country?
Siwakoti:
The Unified Maoists advocated the form of restructuring of the state and
federalism in an immature manner due to which perilous crisis is approaching
closer. The idea advocated by the Maoist was not clear, yet it successfully
galvanized the ethnic and marginalized population and gained their sympathies.
The Maoists nurtured the idea of ethnicity, nationality and right to self
determination without considering the existing psychology of our society; the
geography, geostrategic and geopolitical reality of our nation; and the
changing regional and global power politics. In the coming days, whole Nepali
population will have to bear the brunt created by the juvenility of the
Maoists. Its symptoms have begun surfacing.
If the essence of the decentralization is followed in a
creative and effective manner and local bodies are empowered with excessive
rights, it can address the aspiration of whole Nepali population. The Interim
Constitution of Nepal has already declared that Nepal will adopt a federal order,
and hence, no point is left to negate the idea of federalism. But while
creating the federal structure, we need to be sure that each federal unit must
be stretched from the south to the northern frontier of our nation. To be more
precise, if each development region of Nepal
is made a separate federal unit, it will benefit Nepal a lot.
TQ8: The activists of Brahmin and Chhetri community
have accused UN, US and the European Union (EU) for fueling ethnic animosity
among Nepali population. Mr. Siwakoti, do you agree with them?
Siwakoti:
Up to some extent, their assessment is correct. Agencies of the UN, US
and EU, including other donor agencies’ funding campaign with anti-state and
anti-social structure is in an overwhelming manner. Their funding is largely concentrated
on making non-state actors stronger. The Brahmin and Chhetri community might
have considered this fact and may have made such accusations.
Exclusive for telegraphnepal.com
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