A TURBULENT TRIANGLE
There is no argument in India that Nepal is a part of the Indian subcontinent. In Nepal, though, the defining issue is of identity vis-à-vis India, with Nepali nationalism basically being anti-Indianism. The Nepali intelligentsia longs for alternate geographies, no matter the overwhelming reality. Amish Raj Mulmi’s All Roads Lead North is a serious contemporary contribution in that direction with nearly 45 pages of footnotes following 222 pages of closeset text. It is also timely with much of the news from Nepal last year having been about the Chinese ascendance in that country.
Mulmi, who is from Nepal but lived for years in India, has strongly grounded his work in the historical and societal dynamics around Nepal’s northern areas, with the de-emphasising of India being intrinsic to the construct, even though he himself notes that “the modern history of Nepal-China relations is equally a story about the triangle between Nepal, India and China”. He is incensed that “binary and outlandish views dominate and because of India’s overwhelming global influence in shaping the South
Asian narrative, the Nepali perspective is lost amidst the cacophony of Indian news channels and the assumption of quasi-imperial notions on how the rest of the subcontinent should respond to India”. On the other hand, the role and, indeed, significant place of the US, particularly vis-à-vis Tibet related activities, in Nepal stands foregrounded.
The book is a must-read for both the expert and the lay reader. Nepal-Tibet/ China history is juxtaposed against a certain contemporariness through conversations with people in the northern areas of Nepal. For a lay reader, the book clearly drives home the fact that Nepal also shares a border with Tibet/ China and has long had cross-border relations to its north. Given the sheer might of the Chinese and Nepalese inadequacies, maintaining tranquility along that border is an imperative for Nepal, which is something that is often lost in the Indian understanding of Nepal.
Indian big brotherliness and avarice in Nepalese politics are normally seen as providing segues for the rise of China in Nepal. Mulmi acknowledges this but rigorously argues that the pull to the north is underpinned by a connect at the level of the people plus the new connectivity across the border. Though the north clearly beckons for him, many would contest this compulsion is not a yearning. His narrative also avoids commonplace facts of Chinese strong-arm actions in the border areas both in Nepalese territory as well as with Nepalese who cross over.
The book offers a fascinating account of the Nepal/ Tibet wars of 1792 and 1855, cross-relating these to Chinese claims of suzerainty over Tibet. It also anecdotally deals with the Tibetan exodus and Nepal’s significant place in the Tibetan diaspora, plus related matters including the escape of the Karmapa through Nepal.
Interestingly, Mulmi has spotlighted Dr K.I. Singh, known as the Robin Hood of Nepal, who is the only Nepalese politician to have sought refuge in China. This is a fact lost in the general lore of Nepalese politicians, including Communists and Maoists, escaping to India during the monarchy. Dr K.I. Singh went over in 1952 catching the Chinese off-guard. After returning in 1955, he was appointed prime minister by King Mahendra in July 1957 only to be “casually” dismissed barely four months later.
King Prithvi Narayan Shah, the founder of modern Nepal, said that his country was the yam between two boulders, referring to China and India. ‘A Fine Balance’ (the title of the introduction to the book) between its two neighbours has been integral to Nepalese policy with the general view that contestation between the two provided Nepal with a certain beneficial space. Amish, though, feels that “the old dictum of being a yam between two boulders will come to haunt Nepal once again as tension between India and China rise”. He concludes the book by pointing to the one big-time ask, just before the Anglo-Gorkha war of 1815, when Nepal sought China’s help and was rebuffed. The future, of course, is still to unfold.