HM’s India visit : An objective overview



Their Majesties the King and Queen have returned home upon completion of avery fruitful six-day state visit to India, the first visit abroad after the King’s accession to the throne last year. It must be underscored that King Gyanendra is no stranger in New Delhi as he has many friends with whom the personal relations enjoyed have been exceptional and have been cultivated over the years. Former Foreign Secretary Ramesh Bhandari while speaking to one of the Internet news websites states, "let me tell you something from my personal knowledge. Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi, before he (Rajiv) became prime minister, visited Nepal as guests of Prince Gyanendra." Hence, as the visit provided an opportunity to renew contacts, it also highlighted resembled two important aspects-" continuation and consolidation" of the Nepalese monarchy which in the words of President K R Narayanan, "has performed a wise and important role in the democratic development of Nepal, has provided stability and constitutional focus for multi-party democracy and has earned honour in the entire world."

The acquiescent ramifications of the present King’s choice of our close southern neighbour for his first foreign visit has been much analysed and evaluated. Apart from the regrettable episode of the late eighties, the relations between India’s top leaders and the Nepalese royal family, in fact, have always been warm and amiable. His late Majesty King Birendra himself was given the honour of a chief guest during the golden jubilee functions of India’s independence. At the same time, a major characteristic of the present visit was the importance and deep respect shown by the Indian side to the visiting Nepali monarch. Prime Minister Vajpayee hosted a private dinner in honour of King Gyanendra, a rare gesture quite unheard of. In an interview given to the Doordarshan television prior to his visit HM King Gyanendra said likewise, "the fact that I am visiting India is, I think a reality, a significant reality more than anything else. And I personally feel that this is not something, which I want or don’t want to, it is the question of what the Nepalese people expect of me to do more than anything else". Elaborating on the importance of his visit, His Majesty said, "the significance there is I think day-to-day contact of our peoples on the borders. That is a reality. Also we have an open border, so much closeness that this has to be viewed from the point of view of realism more than anything less. This is the way I view it."

During the interactions of the King with top Indian leaders including President Narayanan, Prime Minister Vajpayee and Defence Minister George Fernandes India showed a staunch solidarity with Nepal’s crusade against mindless Maoist violence, another facet of the visit. According to The Asian Age of 25th June, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, in an audience that lasted over an hour, informed His Majesty "India was willing to offer military equipment as well as share intelligence data with Nepal to crush terrorism". President Narayanan too remarked in his banquet address, "Nepal will overcome grave challenges through the concerted effort of all the forces of its state mechanism and develop as a stable and prosperous nation." He additionally revealed, "Indian policy is to see Nepal as an independent, modern, prosperous and peaceful nation."

It is this spirit of togetherness and mutuality that the visit has highlighted- the weight and importance both Delhi and Kathmandu have come to attach and understand. A prosperous India that is progressing tremendously in scientific, trained human resources and other fields can only be an advantage for smaller neighbours while an unstable, chaotic and politically confused Nepal can never be in India’s interest. Although, a constitutional monarch, the present political crisis invests His Majesty with a crucial role that he alone can play to safeguard multi-party democracy and also guarantee that the vital interests of trusted neighbours are not jeopardised inside and via Nepalese territory.

The temples of Nepal are a retreat of religious pilgrimage for Hindus in India and vice versa. It seems that religious tourism may have flourished between our two countries even before the world knew about the very concept of tourism. While it is customary for Nepalese to visit four main religious dhams in India, the darshan of Kedarnath temple in northern India is regarded to be incomplete without a subsequent darshan of Pashupatinath in Kathmandu. Their Majesties visited the Kamaru Kamakhya Devi temple in Assam on the last leg of the visit. The Kamakhya Temple is one of the most venerated Shakti shrines in India and is filled with scores of prejudices, horrors, thrills and mysteries.

Minister in waiting Purna Bahadur Khadka upon completion of the visit detailed that the visit has been successful in further strengthening the age-old ties between the two neighbours. The two task forces set up for mutual cooperation in the fields of water resources and tourism development is indeed a pioneering attempt between the two business chambers that could chart out tangible ways to augment both the economies. But on the whole, even with the success and the visible results of the visit, the need to follow-up and set up definite mechanisms to take maximum advantage from the outcomes of the visit is, without doubt, the prime need of the hour.