A zamindar from Bihar, he all but treated Nepal as an extension of his jagir and ended up antagonising a whole generation of Nepali politicians. There is a strong impression in Nepali minds that they have got the short end of the stick in almost every border river project-from Kosi and Gandaki in the past to Pancheshwar in recent times, All Himalayan rivers originating in Nepal drain into the Ganges.
When Indians try to tame some of these rivers, the trouble is transferred upstream, and submergence takes place in Nepali territory, the Laxmanpur Barrage being the most recent example. Rulers during the Panchayat years had a vested, interest in whipping up anti-India feeling nearly all the leaders of democratic movement had lived in self-exile in India. They were fancied "anti-national elements".
In March , India did not extend landlocked Nepali trade and transit treaties. Subsequently, Nepal faced an "economic blockade" when all but two border transit points with India were closed. The blockade inadvertently hastened the restoration of democracy, but it did not nuke India-Nepal relations any less rocky. Fast-foreword to the present. This paradox of the Nepali mindset, hating and loving India at the same time, must be understood by anyone who seeks to know the country and report on it.
This paradox manifests itself in oft-visible acts of political opportunism. The need to portray themselves as opponents of Indian interests in Nepal is paramount for the political survival of small left parties, particularly when they do not hold the deciding balance in government coalitions.
However, he did not have the diligence to vote against the overwhelmingly pro-India Mahakali Treaty signed some years ago. But then, personal opportunism and lack of principles and contemplation are the hallmarks of the Nepali politician today.
This xenophobic attitude perhaps exists strongest in the large pahadi hill population that migrated to the Nepal Tarai since the eradication of malaria, and which lives in close proximity to the madhesi plains-people and the Indians close by across the border. The attitude may also survive to a smaller degree in the original inhabitants of the Tarai, the indigenous forest-dwellers who have been squeezed out of their habitats by homesteaders from north and south.
However, in the wake of the events of late December, it would seem that the hub of this hateful sentiment is within Kathmandu Valley itself. The anti-madhesi sensibility of the original inhabitants of Kathmandu Valley was built up over history by rulers with a need to point at an enemy without.
Although no one seems to quite know the dynamics of this slippage, this was how a protest against Hrithik Roshan quickly snowballed into a targeting of Nepalis of Tarai origin. Take for example, the social currency given to the fiction that the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence is encouraged by the Nepali state itself to do mischief in the neighbouring Indian heartland. Indian media managers and scholars in centres engaged in research of neighbouring countries show a remarkable willingness to accept the position of the Indian state on this matter.
For long, Nepalis have told themselves that they are a peaceful people. Orientalist visions of the ever-smiling Nepali contributes to the durability of this self-image.
Even as this happened, in broad daylight, Kathmandu residents by the thousands chose to watch and not intervene. Why is it that such violence was tolerated by the same people who had only recently brought an end to a supposedly ruthless system? Do these killings constitute an aberration or are they evidence of deeply embedded violent tendencies in our society?
Anyone who cared to notice that the rioters in Kathmandu were overwhelmingly young and male would have to ask whether being young and male are significant for an understanding of violence in Nepal today.
They are. High levels of unemployment amongst semi-educated youth, easy circulation of pessimism in college campuses, and the macho ways in which personal and societal problems are solved in the universe of Nepali and Hindi films, have given birth to a highly violent masculine imagination among this segment of the population.
The rioters in Kathmandu were living that imagination. The events of late December prove that Nepalis, too, are also a violent lot, and any further exploration of the Hrithik Riots will have to begin with that acknowledgment.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Cover India Nepal. Tapan K. Bose Feb 01, Show your love for the Nepali nation. Is this the house of Mr so-and-so? Topics : culture , Hindi films , Kathmandu , media , press , Society , xenophobia.
A large section of the Indian media is misogynist and thrives in distortion. Nepalese people, specially those that are blinded by hypernationalism, always hated Indian media. This is a result of their partial exposure to Indian media. Nepalese audience end up interacting only with these spinners of non-facts; they are alienated from the professionalism of high calibre Indian journalists. Therefore, protesting against Indian media is no ant-Indianism; else hundreds of millions of Indians would be anti-Indian themselves.
Nepalese are only guilty of generalising the unprofessionalism of handful of foul-mouthed presenters. Both India and China were massively involved in helping the country at the time, winning hearts of the distressed victims of the mega earthquake. They were not used to being patronised by few mic-wielders from another country. The country has since healed but their digital legacy of hate rages on in social media even today with the hashtag being used by people in other countries.
Nepalese people who are not adept at following what is trending on social media elsewhere may not be aware that Indians hate Indian media even more than they do themselves. Indians pour their abhorrence all over the Internet. This is BS, to say the least. And most Indian media outlets deserve 2 b blocked in India, forget about Nepal! He was referring to trending social media videos that showed journalists with poor taste, and clearly lacking decency expected of news crew appearing on the screen of national television, making mockery of an ailing prime minister.
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