A day after welcoming the royal proclamation of handing over power to the people, the government of India has said King Gyanendra needs to do more and that India supports democratic forces in the Himalayan kingdom.
Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference at the Foreign Ministry on Saturday—a public holiday—hours after the seven party alliance (SPA) in Nepal rejected the offer of the premiership, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said, “We have always felt that political power should be exercised by the representatives of the people, and it is for them to really decide what the future of Nepal is going to be.”
“As a close neighbour of Nepal, as a country which has very very intimate cultural and ethnic links with this country, it has always been our wish to seek peace and prosperity in Nepal because stability in Nepal is in the best interests of India. We have also believed that democracy in Nepal is the best guarantee of such stability,” Saran added.
Indicating towards what could be important policy shift in the Indian policy towards Nepal, Mr. Saran said, “When we said India stands for multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy, we were reflecting nothing more than what the people of Nepal themselves and the political parties themselves had committed to. So, you should not take this as something that was prescribed by the Government of India. With respect to what will be the future political arrangement, this is really a matter for the people of Nepal to decide, not for India to decide.”
Responding to reports saying that India was supporting the king at the expense of pro-democracy movement in the kingdom, Saran said, “There was a misrepresentation of India’s stand by some elements who were perhaps hostile to the very close and friendly relations between India and Nepal. There is no doubt of India’s commitment to democracy in Nepal and to our support for the democratic forces in Nepal. I think this message should go very loud and clear to the people of Nepal,” he added.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India could “not afford” to see Nepal becoming a “failed state.” Talking to reporters on his way to Germany, the Indian premier welcomed the royal move to handover power to political parties and described it as a step in right direction. Indian official news agency PTI quoted Dr. Singh as saying that there should be a government in place which exercises all the executive powers. “The process has begun,” he added.
In the Indian city of Kolkata, politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechuri, said on Saturday that Maoists should not be excluded from the consolidation of the democratic process in Nepal. “Maoists in Nepal have very strong political influence and their inclusion in the consolidation of the democratic process will have an impact on Maoists in India,” Yechuri, who is also the convenor of the Indo-Nepal solidarity committee, said, “Excluding the Maoists will be a great disservice to the movement in Nepal.”
“Integration of the Maoists in the democratic process in Nepal would have a “salutary effect” in India it as would be difficult for ultra Left groups here not to participate in democracy. The king should not be allowed to exclude the Maoists citing the 1990 Nepalese Constitution which kept away Maoists from the democratic process. We should not fall into that trap,” Indian Express newspaper quoted Yechuri as saying. nepalnews.com by Apr 23 06