Politicians, Academics, Artists Ask Govt to 'Stop Interfering in Nepal'

NEW DELHI: Even as Nepal is simmering under a wave of anti-India protests following strong-arm methods by the government to force the Nepalese leaders to delay and then amend the Constitution, academics, political leaders, journalists and others have come together to issue a statement with the single demand “stop interfering in Nepal.”

Diplomats unofficially admit that the government approach has swung the clock of bilateral relations back by several years, more so with the economic blockade because of which there is an acute scarcity of essential goods in Nepal. Kathmandu blames the Modi government for what it insists is an economic blockade, while New Delhi admitting that the trucks have stopped at the border attribute this to the protests and violence in the Terai region.

The statement reads: “After seven tumultuous years following the overthrow of the more than two century old monarchy which led to elections to form a Constituent Assembly, and many governments failing to fulfill the task of finalizing a Constitution, at last on 20th September the president of Nepal has promulgated the new Constitution amidst support from overwhelming majority of the CA and people. The Constitution creates seven states in a secular, federal system.

At the same time it is opposed on the one hand by the religious fundamentalists who want to make Nepal a Hindu state and on the other hand by the leaders of Madhes and Tharu sections in the Terai region bordering India, who demand recognition of more rights and representation in the Constitution.

Nepal is a small country of 29 million people sandwiched between its two bigger neighbours, China and India. While China has welcomed the Constitution, India has expressed unhappiness that it does not fulfill the aspirations of the Terai people. This has further embittered the relation between the two which is already not satisfactory due to the big-brotherly attitude of the consecutive Indian governments which the Nepalese people see as an expansionist policy. It is the right of the sovereign people of Nepal to elect their representatives, to decide what ruling system they should have, to frame the Constitution and to make any changes in it. The Indian government has violated this principle of peaceful co-existence between neighbouring countries.

We, the undersigned extend full support to the people of Nepal on the occasion of the promulgation of their Constitution. We oppose the interference of the Indian government in the internal affairs of Nepal. It is the right of Nepalese people including the people of Terai region to make any changes in the Constitution promulgated on 20th September. We extend warm greetings to the people of Nepal in this important phase in their struggle.”

The signatories include to the statement include S. Sudhakar Reddy, Gen. Secy. CPI; Amarjit Kaur, National Secy. CPI; Swapan Mukherji, Polit Bureau Member of CPI–ML (Liberation); K. N. Ramchandran, Gen. Secy., CPI-ML (Red Star); Debbrata Biswas, Gen. Secy., All India Forward Block; Akhilendra Pratap Singh, National Convenor, All India People’s Front; Sheomangal Siddhantkar, Gen. Secy., CPI-ML (New Proletarian); Raghu Thakur, President, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party; Arjun Prasad Singh of People’s Democratic Front of India among others.

More than hundred writers, journalists, academicians, filmmakers have endorsed the statement. Prominent among them are Anand Patwardhan (Filmmaker), Anil Sadgopal (Educationist), Amit Bhaduri and Nirmalangshu Mukherji (Academician), Manoranjan Mohanty (Political Scientist), S. P. Shukla (Former Finance Secretary), Kamal Nayan Kabra , Girish Mishra and Jaya Mehta (Economists), Shamshul Islam (Theatre activist) and the writers , poets, journalists like Asad Zaidi, Mangalesh Dabral, Pankaj Bisht, Vishnu Nagar, Neelabh, Pankaj Singh, Vishnu Khare, Ranjit Verma, Ujjawal Bhattacharya, Madan Mohan, Gautam Navlakha, Anand Swaroop Verma, Shastri Ramachandaran, Rahul Pandita, Abhishek Srivastava, Palash Bishwas, Javed Naqvi, Amalendu Upadhyay and others.