Birendra Prasad Mishra (2023), Strained Nepal-India Relations, Kathmandu, Shyama Mishra Publication.
Jagdishor Panday
There are a few professionals who jumped into sectors other than what they have been working on for a long time. Birendra Prasad Mishra, Professor of Philosophy is one of them. Recently, he published a book on ‘Strained Nepal-India Relations’ which reflected his ability to interpret and analyze Nepal’s geopolitics, especially Nepal’s relations with its southern neighbour – India.
Although Mishra has a teaching career, has served as an Election Commissioner from 1994 to 2000, and participated in Nepal’s peace process as a coordinator for the ceasefire code of conduct in 2006, he holds a good understanding of geopolitics, which we can read in the book.
Prof. Mishra starts with the background of Nepal and British-India relations, and most importantly, the resettling of Nepal and Independent India relations and the period of developing relations (1964-2004), explaining the relations with the Nepal-India 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship. He mentions that Nepal’s new ‘pointed’ map of May 2020, which includes its border lands Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura is yet to be recognized by India as India believes it to be a unilateral decision of Nepal. The government of Nepal recently decided to come up with a new Rs. 100 rupees note showing the new map. Prof. Mishra believes that Nepal-India relations are at the lowest ebb after India published its political map in November 2019 depicting Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as Indian territories. He emphasizes, ‘The crisis was compounded by the inauguration of the road being built by India towards Kailas Mansarovar by Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defense, relations hit the nadir when Nepal not only published its own map claiming these areas but also got it passed by both of the Houses of Nepali Parliament in June 2020.”
The India blockade in 2015 was another lowest point of Nepal-India relations when Nepalese people were vying for food, fuel, medicine and other basic necessities of daily use. Prof. Mishra sees blockade as the reason for strained relations between the two countries. ‘The Nepal-India relations suffered a setback in 2015 when India imposed a trade blockade on Nepal in the aftermath of the promulgation of the current constitution. Much earlier, ‘Indira Gandhi had threatened with suspension of trade with Nepal’, he illustrates. “The threat had been translated into reality by her son Rajiv Gandhi after more than a decade later to pressure Nepal but with limited success.”
The author in his ten chapters that include a conclusion explains different dimensions of Nepal-India relations. He covers the period of maintaining relations, the period of sliding relations, the intervened relations, the tilted relations, the role of diplomats and psychological barriers and others. In each chapter, the author has explained the topics with great detail which is of immense benefit to policymakers, researchers, journalists and diplomats.
In the third chapter, ‘The period of developing relations’ (1964-2004), the author explains it as the post-Nehruvian period of relations between Nepal and India. During that period of time, there were many ups and downs in relations, he highlights. Prof. Mishra analyses the foreign policy of 12 Indian Prime Ministers and their engagement with Nepal. He beautifully portrays Lal Bahadur Shastri’s Reconciliatory Policy to Indira Gandhi’s Aggressive Policy, Morarji Desai’s Easy Policy, Second inning of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi’s Reactive Policy, Vishwanath Pratap Singh’s Supportive Policy, Chandra Shekhar’s No Policy, PV. Narasimha Rao’s Quiet Policy, D.H. Deve Gowda’s No Policy, I. K. Gujral’s Liberal Policy and A.B. Vajpayee’s Developmental Policy. He has connected Nepal’s position in the policies of Indian Prime Ministers in detail.
In the fourth chapter, ‘The Period of Maintaining Relations’, which is between 2004 to 2014, the mentions that it is a period when a non-political figure, Dr Manmohan Singh was leading India and Nepal was suffering extreme instability. But after 2014, the new Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi emerged and started the new beginning of his Neighbourhood First policy. ‘The first part covers the period 2014-2015 starting with his (Modi) oath-taking ceremony to the passing of the new constitution in Nepal and the economic blockade. The second part covers the period 2016-2018 after the blockade to mid-2020, and the third part deals with his regional relations.”
Mishra also discusses about the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and their regional complications. He has covered some high-level bilateral visits including Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Nepal visit in 2019 and its implication for Nepal-India relations.
One of the important chapters in his book is the ninth one on ‘Psychological Barriers’, where he came up with 13 psychological barriers that affect the ties of both countries.
The book is beautifully analyzed, however, in places, there are not adequate references and examples to support the case strongly. The book could have been much better with proper copyediting as there are some errors.
Jagdishor Panday is the Deputy Chief Sub-Editor of the Kantipur Daily, a newspaper of Nepal.
