Former diplomat KV Rajan analyses Nepal’s distrust and suspicion of India in his new book

My consultations with Nepalese political elders – Ganesh Man Singh, Manmohan Adhikari, Girija Prasad Koirala, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Surya Bahadur Thapa – yielded new insights into Nepal’s turbulent politics as well as its relations with India. They spoke with a historical perspective stretching back over several decades, and despite their political and individual differences, it was clear that they converged on the importance of strong India-Nepal relations for Nepal’s well-being.

Ganesh Man Singh, possibly Nepal’s tallest political figure, revered for his courageous leadership against the monarchy during the pro-democracy agitation, and his refusal to accept the prime ministership in the first democratic government that came into being in 1990, felt that Nepal’s democracy could be consolidated provided India resisted the temptation to run Nepal’s internal affairs.

This was a fairly explicit reference to the damage done by (in the Nepalese perception) the blatantly intrusive role of some Indian ambassadors since CPN Singh; he also referred to India’s propensity to play favourites with Nepalese political actors (an implicit reference to the perceived partisanship shown to Koirala in recent years). He was by now in very poor health, speaking in barely audible whispers. I could make out that despite his reservations about some aberrations...

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