Peaceful coexistence among nations does not encompass coexistence between the exploiter and the exploited, the oppressor and the oppressed.
Earnesto ‘Che’ Guevara
The 1800km open border between India and Nepal has always been a matter of dispute between the two countries. While India has glorified the open border as its grace and gratitude towards a landlocked nation, Nepal has had to accept the miseries of sharing an open border with a bigger and powerful nation as a price for a trade transit. It goes without saying that whenever there has been a proposal or a debate within Nepal about the possibility of opening a trade route across the Himalayas to our north to capture world’s largest market for Nepalese goods, it has attracted serious concerns from the South block. Bonded by the unfair 1950 treaty which deprives Nepal from independently conducting its international affairs, Nepal’s ambition to exploit the huge trade potential with China as well as end the historical dependence on India has not been materialized yet. While the treaty gives India freehand to interfere into Nepal’s foreign affairs citing its own domestic security, it has seriously impaired Nepal’s right to trade access as a landlocked nation under the International Law. The treaty also stands in clear violation and entrenchment of a sovereign’s right to conduct its external and internal affairs independently. However, weak diplomacy on Nepal’s part and unsympathetic attitude on the Indian side has ensured that Nepal stays dependent on India for all its exports and imports.
Twenty districts of Nepal share boundary with India out of which 51 places in 21 districts are under dispute. Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, a noted border expert and former Director General of Department of Survey, Government of Nepal, says - as much as 60,000 hectare of land in these areas has been under intense debate between the two countries. As a member of the seven members Civic Committee for Border Concern team that visited Susta of Nawalparasi district in Nepal area to investigate the reported encroachment of Indian soldiers into the Nepalese territory, Mr. Shrestha said that 14,000 hectares of Nepalese land have been encroached upon. The team revealed that Indian farmers were found building houses in those areas and about 1000 Indian BSF were stationed there.
When the Parliamentary Investigating Committee comprising of Constituent Assembly members, Human Right Activists, Border experts and Journalists visited the border areas of Dang, Kailali and Kanchanpur districts in June after there were reports of atrocities from across the borders, the local people broke down before the camera. To the shock and horror of the entire country, the victims complained of the exploitation and abuse that they have been bearing for many years. As the television channels reported live, almost every village reported number of cases of torture and rape by the Indian BSF. Nur Jahan, a local resident of Susta was inconsolable as she revealed how Indian BSF would ransack the village and beat up poor villagers including women and the children. She complained that they sexually abused Nepali women and hit them in sensitive parts. But not everyone was as brave as Nur Jahan. The victims from areas like Lalbhuji and Bhajani of Kailali district and Laxmipur, Tribhuwan Basti and Kalika in Kanchanpur district complained of similar horrific incidents. Many were so petrified of the consequence that they refused to show their face in the camera. It was shocking to hear that men and women who went across the border for work or to buy goods were often forcefully detained by the BSF who demanded ransom from the family. Nepali women in these areas are terrified of falling prey to BSF abuses but are still forced to go across since it is only market in the area.
During my Stay in JNU, many of my Indian friends have asked me “We like Nepal and Nepali people so much. Why do you guys hate Indians so much?”
Actually, Nepalese don’t hate Indians. In fact, we love Indian food, we enjoy Indian movies and music and we support Indian cricket team with as much passion because we feel a sense of nearness that the shared culture and kinship across the border has brought. What we do hate is the fact that Indian State has never treated Nepal with the respect and dignity that a sovereign nation is entitled to. From Nehru to Manmohan Singh, India has always used diplomatic coercion to meddle into Nepal’s internal matters citing its security interests. Prof. S.D Muni, the renowned Indian scholar and an expert in Indo-Nepal relation, in his article “Dealing with the New Nepal” ( The Hindu, 15 September 2008) emphasized on the need for a change in the Indian attitude towards Nepal as he writes “India can no longer pursue its strategic and economic interests on the basis of its old colonial mindset and bureaucratised traditional tools of diplomacy.”.
Whether anybody in India wants to believe or not, India has been bullying Nepal all these years, influencing the formation as well bringing down the government. It is not a hidden fact that the Prachanda government had been unpopular with the South block after his statement that “Nepal from now on, will keep equidistance between its two neighbors and try to balance its interests.” Prachanda had made a historic blunder of having a dinner in Beijing before stopping by for Lunch in New Delhi for which he was ultimately made to pay the price. The South block saw these “radically changing air” in Nepal as a potential threat to Indian influence in the newly formed Himalayan Republic and Prachanda’s excitement over the prospect of opening a trade routes across the Himalayan frontiers couldn’t have made it worse. What followed then was one of the most blatant violations of diplomatic protocol by the present Indian ambassador Rakesh Sood, who went frantic making reckless statements in the media about an issue that was purely internal to Nepal, discussing the “grave issue” with the President and leaders from different political parties. Few people were surprised when Prachanda resigned from the government just before his much anticipated Beijing visit after the President bypassed his decision to remove the army chief and other political parties including the ones in the government refused to support him after the decision had been taken to remove the army chief. Debates on whether the decision to remove the army chief was right or wrong apart, what happened with the government proved once again that Nepal still has a long way to go before being sovereign defacto.
The bullying attitude shown by the Indian State at the diplomatic level has inspired similar attitude and behavior against the Nepalese at the local level - whether it is the misbehavior by the Indian BSF against the poor villagers in the borders, or a derogatory portrayal of Nepalese men and women in the Indian movies. It is wrong to say that India has imperialistic intentions against Nepal at policy level but it is also true that India has treated Nepal little more than a tiny buffer state where it can use its covert moves and its currency as it pleases. Today the truth stares right at the face of the Indian government as more and more victims have testified against the BSF assaults. People holding land certificates and living in the area for generations are being chased away from their land. Farmers who have worked sweat and blood in their fields have been robbed of their harvests. Even the Parliamentary investigating committee has gone on records saying that there has been encroachment and abuse by the BSF. But with the new government led by a rejected leader with no legitimacy to be in power, Indian Government will have little difficulty in ignoring the agony from across the borders. Ambassador Sood has already given his verdict nullifying all the victim pleas, claiming that these are only media rumors (may be he forgot to say that all those pleading victims were paid artists). And like an obedient pupil, Nepal’s new Minister for external affairs looked more like manager for Indian Affairs as she stood by his side acknowledging the verdict. However the recent visit from Indian foreign secretary is an indication that the agonies of the poor men and women in the bordering villages have not gone unheard and after disgraceful weeks of apathy, finally Nepalese government is trying to attract New Delhi’s attention to the case.
To be very honest, the present political crisis in Nepal is as much a contributor to what is happening in Susta and other border villages. Nepal is in a transition phase with law and order almost non existent in the country. These kind of tacit acts of aggression are not a new phenomena in International arena. It is Natural for Nepal to feel insecure being a smaller nation in the power equation. The present crisis has brought out strong national sentiments among the Nepalese which is manifested in the form of an anti-Indian sloganing in the country. Dejected at the incapability of its government to provide security to its people, the people are getting frustrated and taking to streets. Indian Embassy in Kathmandu witnesses protest demonstrations almost everyday. Any Indian that has been following what has happened in the last six weeks in Nepal will have little difficulty in understanding how Nepal has been denied a safe transition into a new republic and frustrated on all grounds with encroachment upon its government and the borders. The answer to question –“why my neighbor dislikes me so much”- will hardly need any answer then.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Swami, Sex and IPC 377
It was a hysterical hour of the night when I accidentally switched on my televison set and somehow the first thing I saw was Baba Ramdev ejaculating on India TV: “ ye prakriti ke niyam ke virudh hai , pashu me bhi aisi prabritti nahi hoti”. As I followed rest of the discussion (and the repeat telecast next day), I was shocked and pretty much pissed off. The hindu religious guru and self proclaimed healer, who claims to have treated thousands of their diseases for free, the Swami who is supposed to have renounced all the earthly affairs, devoting life to the divine service was whining and complaining against the Indian Supreme Court verdict on Article 377 of IPC - decriminalization of homosexuality.
In a discussion and debate which was more of shouting and cheap slanders, “Baba” Ramdev was totally involved in the legal affairs of the world with all the chauvinism, hostility and wrath that his ultra radical Hindutva could muster.
If calling homosexual relation worse than animal behavior wasn’t enough, he called it a mental disease and told them to see psychiatrists. If one believes the same channel’s figures of 40 lakhs Gays and 25 lakhs Lesbians, India’s 4-10 % population is definitely going nuts! What was annoyingly funny was that the man who claims to be a lifelong virgin (Bramhachari), was claiming that he can “treat and prepare” the homosexuals to have a “naturalized” sex. Wow! Now we have a 21st century virgin Kamdev (the hindu mythological sex God ) to the rescue of mankind.
What was ironic about Ramdev’s claims was that he was going on and on about havoc that the homosexuality will bring on the “family system”, “Social Fabric”, etc. He questioned the LGBT rights activists participating in the discussion : agar aapke maata – pita gays hote to aap kaise paida hote? …but he totally forgot that he also belongs to the section of population that is not making contributions to the “family system” that he so much worries about and that if his parents also belonged to the league he belongs to, he would not have been even thought of.
If Ramdev’s chauvinism wasn’t enough, the channel itself did all it could to create a panic among its audience with flashy questions scrolling on the screen and anchors repeating them at least a dozen times with background scores that would have made my little neice run away as she often does during a bollywood movie climax when the villain is after hero’s life. As soon as Ramdev made his comment, the anchors would start chanting them as if it was some mantra. The queer movement activists and the other guests in the studio, whose names were not shown in the screen and it was too noisy for me to figure out all of their names while they were being addressed, tried to protest against Ramdev’s humiliating remarks that the homosexuals were exhibiting behaviors worse than animals and were polluting the society (samajik vikriti).
An ex- police commissioner V.P.Singhal protested the homosexuality with his own unique understanding. He said, the fact that homosexuals practice anal sex is gross and unnatural because anus is not suitable for penetration since it is filthy with excreta. He very comfortably ignored the fact that anal sex is possible in hetrosexuals as well. Besides, if one is talking about the excretion, vagina excretes as much of a filth in the form of urine and menstrual fluid.
What was most heartbreaking about the comments of those protesting homosexuality was that they refused contextualize the issue beyond Sex. They refused to listen to the arguments being made by the activists that the decriminalization meant recognizing the social and political existence of a group that was forced to suppress its identity ever since the imposition of Victorian Law that the colonizers brought along. It was indeed very regrettable that none of them tried to look at the human side of the issue and accept the fact that an individuals cannot be humiliated and condemned in public for choices they make for themselves, choices that are totally their private affair and has got nothing to do with anybody else.
In their preposterous attempt to force an opinion, the channel ran a news footage which showed that a lesbian couple in Punjab who had recently got married, split within a month of their marriage. I must say whoever was behind the bright idea of playing the footage has some guts to believe that entire world is dumb enough to buy the argument that the only reason you should not have homosexual relationship is because you might break-up within a month….arrrrghhh!!! I wish somebody had told him about Britney’s less than 24 hour matrimonial gig.
Idiocy does not quite end there. “Swami” had a caution to make. He was now extremely agitated as he questioned actor and gay rights activist Sameer Soni, who joined towards the later part of the discussion on phone line : “Having understood the kind of damage it does to the social behavior, should we encourage such behavior (homosexuality)?”
The sarcastic actor and firstly surrendered to Swami’s intellect and then tried to explain him politely that homosexuality is not a behavior that one can imitate or learn from others but the way people are. But Swami was inconsolable. He knew for granted through some divine source (which he did not feel necessary to elaborate upon) that there existed only two kinds of bodies in human as well as in animals and that physical intimacy between the same sex is a mental sickness which has to be treated. Swami says his understanding into the matter is very Scientific. Hmmm! Divine Science. Now there is a real challenge to the WHO report!
Talking about divinity, an activist even requested Swami to respect God’s creation as his will since if they (homosexuals) were in violation of nature God wouldn’t have created them. But Swami was in no mood to give in. He looked as if he was going to declare a divine intervention into the matter, but to their relief Swami choose to threaten them with more earthly challenge from the Supreme Court. In this way, what started as a discussion on the SC verdict ended up into an ugly display of gender insensitivity and intolerance proving once more that inspite of its achievements in economic and technological fields, India is still nurturing a Victorian age feudalistic mindset which are very much a part of its religious, cultural and social institutions as well as its administration.
In a discussion and debate which was more of shouting and cheap slanders, “Baba” Ramdev was totally involved in the legal affairs of the world with all the chauvinism, hostility and wrath that his ultra radical Hindutva could muster.
If calling homosexual relation worse than animal behavior wasn’t enough, he called it a mental disease and told them to see psychiatrists. If one believes the same channel’s figures of 40 lakhs Gays and 25 lakhs Lesbians, India’s 4-10 % population is definitely going nuts! What was annoyingly funny was that the man who claims to be a lifelong virgin (Bramhachari), was claiming that he can “treat and prepare” the homosexuals to have a “naturalized” sex. Wow! Now we have a 21st century virgin Kamdev (the hindu mythological sex God ) to the rescue of mankind.
What was ironic about Ramdev’s claims was that he was going on and on about havoc that the homosexuality will bring on the “family system”, “Social Fabric”, etc. He questioned the LGBT rights activists participating in the discussion : agar aapke maata – pita gays hote to aap kaise paida hote? …but he totally forgot that he also belongs to the section of population that is not making contributions to the “family system” that he so much worries about and that if his parents also belonged to the league he belongs to, he would not have been even thought of.
If Ramdev’s chauvinism wasn’t enough, the channel itself did all it could to create a panic among its audience with flashy questions scrolling on the screen and anchors repeating them at least a dozen times with background scores that would have made my little neice run away as she often does during a bollywood movie climax when the villain is after hero’s life. As soon as Ramdev made his comment, the anchors would start chanting them as if it was some mantra. The queer movement activists and the other guests in the studio, whose names were not shown in the screen and it was too noisy for me to figure out all of their names while they were being addressed, tried to protest against Ramdev’s humiliating remarks that the homosexuals were exhibiting behaviors worse than animals and were polluting the society (samajik vikriti).
An ex- police commissioner V.P.Singhal protested the homosexuality with his own unique understanding. He said, the fact that homosexuals practice anal sex is gross and unnatural because anus is not suitable for penetration since it is filthy with excreta. He very comfortably ignored the fact that anal sex is possible in hetrosexuals as well. Besides, if one is talking about the excretion, vagina excretes as much of a filth in the form of urine and menstrual fluid.
What was most heartbreaking about the comments of those protesting homosexuality was that they refused contextualize the issue beyond Sex. They refused to listen to the arguments being made by the activists that the decriminalization meant recognizing the social and political existence of a group that was forced to suppress its identity ever since the imposition of Victorian Law that the colonizers brought along. It was indeed very regrettable that none of them tried to look at the human side of the issue and accept the fact that an individuals cannot be humiliated and condemned in public for choices they make for themselves, choices that are totally their private affair and has got nothing to do with anybody else.
In their preposterous attempt to force an opinion, the channel ran a news footage which showed that a lesbian couple in Punjab who had recently got married, split within a month of their marriage. I must say whoever was behind the bright idea of playing the footage has some guts to believe that entire world is dumb enough to buy the argument that the only reason you should not have homosexual relationship is because you might break-up within a month….arrrrghhh!!! I wish somebody had told him about Britney’s less than 24 hour matrimonial gig.
Idiocy does not quite end there. “Swami” had a caution to make. He was now extremely agitated as he questioned actor and gay rights activist Sameer Soni, who joined towards the later part of the discussion on phone line : “Having understood the kind of damage it does to the social behavior, should we encourage such behavior (homosexuality)?”
The sarcastic actor and firstly surrendered to Swami’s intellect and then tried to explain him politely that homosexuality is not a behavior that one can imitate or learn from others but the way people are. But Swami was inconsolable. He knew for granted through some divine source (which he did not feel necessary to elaborate upon) that there existed only two kinds of bodies in human as well as in animals and that physical intimacy between the same sex is a mental sickness which has to be treated. Swami says his understanding into the matter is very Scientific. Hmmm! Divine Science. Now there is a real challenge to the WHO report!
Talking about divinity, an activist even requested Swami to respect God’s creation as his will since if they (homosexuals) were in violation of nature God wouldn’t have created them. But Swami was in no mood to give in. He looked as if he was going to declare a divine intervention into the matter, but to their relief Swami choose to threaten them with more earthly challenge from the Supreme Court. In this way, what started as a discussion on the SC verdict ended up into an ugly display of gender insensitivity and intolerance proving once more that inspite of its achievements in economic and technological fields, India is still nurturing a Victorian age feudalistic mindset which are very much a part of its religious, cultural and social institutions as well as its administration.
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