'People Should Be Able to Dissent or Else...': Ex-Ambassador on Nepal Crisis
Puri explains the deeper frustrations that led to Nepal's crisis—from rising aspirations to limited opportunities.
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What began as protests in Nepal by the nation's youth, triggered by a social media ban, spiralled into nationwide unrest.
At least 22 people have been killed, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has resigned, the parliament and Supreme Court have been set on fire, and the military have been deployed onto the streets.
In an interview with The Quint, India's former ambassador to Nepal, Manjeev Singh Puri, explains the deeper frustrations that led to this crisis, such as rising aspirations, limited opportunities, and an unresponsive political system dominated by a few leaders.
He also discusses why Nepal is so crucial for India, lessons for us from the uprising, and how Nepal’s democratic challenges differ from India’s.
Edited excerpts from the interview below.
What are the key factors that led to such a large-scale uprising in Nepal?
We need to understand a lot of changes which have happened in Nepal over the last 20-30 years. Nepal, in a sense, is imbibing globalisation.
During the times of the monarchy, and in fact, right till the 1990s, passports were a rarity for Nepalese. So other than coming to India, Nepalese were going nowhere in the world. Today, 20 percent of Nepal's citizens are across the world, not just in India and the Gulf, but they are in America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, etc.
Globalisation, awareness of the world, and understanding the Western ideas has become, in a sense, internal. As you see the world doing well, aspirations of people rise. Nepal is a landlocked country. Abilities to be able to meet these kind of rising aspirations, especially for young people, are limited. The only avenue is migration. If you migrate, then good. And if you stay back, what do you do?
You vent. That happens even in our country, it happens in the United States, everywhere. For ordinary people, venting is important, and therefore this social media, these apps, etc are important for you to share them.
The fact is that whether they were unprepared or not, the Nepal police acted in a ham-handed manner. They killed at least 19 people. This is something that Nepalese in Kathmandu have never seen. You have individual incidents of police brutality, but you haven't seen the police opening fire on people.
You mentioned the aspirations and the frustration of the youth. Were the political elite really unaware of how much this had built up over the years?
The same three people have been prime ministers over the last 10 years. When you've been in power for so long, whether you like it or not, your understanding of the people's aspirations becomes a distant thing.
And do does you willingness to do anything to meet those aspirations. You start seeing criticism as being something which is extremely bad. This is a common thing, we see it in all developing countries. As you go higher up the ladder and you've been there longer, your skin becomes that much thinner.
In the last few years, we've seen similar uprising in India's neighbours in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and even some parts of Pakistan. Do you see these as isolated events or is there indeed a wider crisis that is affecting South Asian governance models?
Well, I won't say South Asian, but I would say that with the much better connectivity, people at the grassroots are feeling empowered. If nothing else, they're finding ways of venting their anger.
You saw this in Nepal and Sri Lanka too, was some kind of parallel. In Bangladesh, they again took the same line and let the protest happen, saying we can't defend this anymore. That's something that I think all political systems worldwide need to understand, that it's not just parliamentary systems, elections once every five years. You need to be aware of what the people want, and you need to keep your finger on their pulse. Being empathetic to the people is also important.
How has India, despite being so culturally and geographically close to these countries, so far avoided such mass unrest?
We are a very large country, and a very large society, and a very strong state apparatus. We vote, and we have internalised voting. Don't forget, after World War II and the first phase of decolonisation, there were only two countries in the world which retained multi-party democracy, which took to it from the beginning and retained it right throughout: India, and in our wake, Sri Lanka.
We have internalised democracy. We still have street protests and we have elections all the time in different states. People have this opportunity of venting what they are saying, and that's important.
But what are the lessons that you think India should take from such uprisings in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and our other neighbours?
India is a very different kind of society. Our sheer size, the size of our economy, the traditions that we have of democracy, makes us completely different.
But of course, one of the lessons, not only for India, but for everywhere in the world, is that avenues of dissent should always be available for people and the population, and they need to be taken into account.
Politicians need to have a degree of empathy, and those things are particularly important for all societies because communications have improved, and you can try your level best, but everyone knows what's happening not only in their neighbourhood, but also what's happening in the world, and their aspirations and understanding starts getting informed by all of that.
For us in India, democratic roots are deep. And that's something which is our greatest asset. That's what we are proud of, isn't it?
How do you see the developments of Nepal affect India's internal and external interests?
Nepal is, very, very, very important for India, because it defines India's hegemony. You and I, if we say we are Vishwagurus, in the end, people ask you, so what about in your neighbourhood? And the country by which they will judge you is Nepal.
It's important for us is to continue to have strong relations with the people's level at Nepal.
How do you see the situation unfolding in Nepal over the next few years? Do you think it will be able to rebuild itself and have a stable government?
Unlike in most other countries in the world, where the kings fled and went somewhere else, the former raja lives in Nepal, he's very much there in Kathmandu, so it's a very different kind of society which accepts a lot of these particular things.
In terms of rebuilding, I don't actually think any de-building has taken place. It will just be tough to get out of their economic situation. It's a landlocked country, the opportunities are limited, and they have this identity complex with India, which is really the country which is easiest for them to do business in.
Watch the full interview.