Nepal communist party chief Puspa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda has raised the issue of the review of the historical 1950 Indo –Nepal treaty, rippling the political wave in India and Nepal.

In his interview during a popular programme of NDTV, the top Maoist leader said, “Our people have put forward this concern that they feel that the treaty lacks in equality and that it is not beneficial for Nepal. We thus want to review all the points of the 1950 treaty and want to revise it according to new necessity.”

The Indo Nepal treaty, a treaty of peace and friendship signed at Katmandu on 31 July 1950 between Chandreshwar Prasad Narain Sing, ambassador of India in Nepal on behalf of the Government of India and Mohan Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, Maharaja, Prime Minister and Supreme Commander in Chief of Nepal has ten articles that describe the condition of the friendship of both countries. Now-a-days, it has become a debatable issue in both countries, India and Nepal.

The issue of the abrogation of the treaty has brought about a lot of reaction among Indian Nepalese including the Gorkhas. Most of the Indian Gorkhas feel that 1950 is the stain for them as 1950 treaty’s article ‘7’ has not clearly mentioned about the status of Indian origin Gorkhas and Nepalese.

The treaty’s article ‘7’ reads:” the Government of India and Nepal agree to grant , on a reciprocal basis, to the nationals of one county in the territories of the other the same privileges in the matter of residence, ownership of property, participation in trade and commerce, movement and other privileges of a similar nature”

The Gorkhas feel that based on this very treaty they are allegedly migrants from Nepal. Mr. R.B. Rai, ex-M.P. and a veteran leader of Darjeeling also says that the treaty has become the weapon of assault against Indian origin Gorkhas. On the issue of revision of the treaty, he further said that though it is India and Nepal’s political business, the issue touches the Indian Gorkhas also. He also wants an abrogation of the treaty thereby making an effective mechanism to check the influx of foreign Nepalese into India.” If such a system was made, there will be a record of the population of Gorkhas of Indian origin and Nepalese who come from Nepal. This record will also be an evidence of our being Indian and the day will come when nobody can call us migrants.”

Gorkha Jana Muckti Morcha chief Mr. Bimal Gurung also agrees that there should be a revision of the 1950 treaty but he did not clarify the reason as to why it should be reviewed. He has not said his party taken any decision on it yet.

However, Madan Tamang, one of the veteran leaders has other views. He said the revision of 1950 treaty has nothing to do with Indian Gorkhas. “Our citizenship (the citizenship of Indian Gorkhas) is never challenged by anybody in India. So there is no interest for us to talk about the treaty” adding that only Nepal origin Nepalese who come here for labour and drudgery are humiliated by being called ‘migrants’.

On the abrogation of the treaty, he holds the view that this would rather hamper the economy of Indian Gorkhas who are more than fifty thousand in number in Nepal working in different schools. They will have to come back to India quitting their job, if there was abrogation of the treaty.

Similarly, in the same line as Madan Tamang, Mr. R. Moktan, an advocate of Sikkim –Darjeeling merger, opines that the abrogation of the Indo- Nepal treaty is not at all concerned with identity issue of Indian Gorkhas. For, Indian Gorkhas have already started clamouring for the Gorkhaland issue which will be a strong identity for Gorkhas in the country ultimately, he says.

On the other hand, some Non-Gorkha people are also demanding for the abrogation of the treaty. Mr. Ashru Kumar Sikdar, an academician and writer from Siliguri, said that the Indo- Nepal border is being used by people from the neighboring country to settle in several areas of Darjeeling district, particularly Siliguri. The only way to control this problem is to abrogate the Indo-Nepal Friendship treaty immediately.”

However, Mr. Mahendra P. Lama, a prominent intellectual of South Asia and Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University, thinks that the abrogation of the Indo Nepal treaty is the demand of some elite sections of Nepalese. He writes: “There has been a protracted demand by some sections of the Nepalese elite for abrogation of the treaty on various grounds. They have used this to demonstrate India’s ‘big brotherly’ attitude and attempt to erode and usurp sovereignty.”

On the demand of Indian Gorkhas for the abrogation of the treaty he says: Interestingly the 10 million –odd Indian Gorkhas living in various parts of India have also been demanding for the abrogation of the treaty and the closing down of the border. This is because their identity is being diluted by the floating population from Nepal who come to India seeking their livelihood. As a result, Indian Gorkhas are dubbed as foreigners in states like Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya.

He also suggests three critical options in determining the future of this treaty. First, let this treaty be drastically rewritten, incorporating likely future needs, second, this treaty could be abrogated forthwith after a kind of referendum, and third, this treaty could be abrogated and several new agreements like the modalities of open border, movement of people, recruitment of Nepalese citizens in the Indian army and management of non-traditional security issues could be signed.

It is just as well for Nepal that Prachanda at least could dare to raise the issue which has been lying dormant for more than 58 years and not being discussed. But given the political situation of Nepal and other factors, there is little possibility of revision in the treaty.

They (Maoist) know the abrogation of the treaty would not be beneficial to Nepal for her sustainable economy. It may be recalled that in 1990 when India clamped down the blockade of fuel for Nepal, there was hue and cry in Nepal. Nepal tried to bring in the fuel from China, but this was not successful as the cost of the fuel was double that of India.

Not only this, the age-old cultural, religious and emotional ties between the people of the two nations would also be affected. Mr. Lama says, “Given the very nature, topography and age-old cross border exchanges and interactions, the closing down of borders-like with Pakistan-will be impossible, untenable and impractical. It could, at most, be regulated through substantial increase in the number of official crossing points to help make the transition more people friendly.”

Besides this, Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, a strong ally of the Prachanda Government is supposedly not in favour of abrogation of the treaty and influence of pro-Indian lobby. Because of this, Prachanda can not force India to abrogate the treaty as this will create a fear of losing of MJF support for the Prachanda Government.
But India has agreed to review the treaty. During the India visit of Upendra Yadav, foreign minister of Nepal, the Indian Foreign Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee told him that India is ready to sit with Nepal and review the 1950 Indo Nepal Friendship Treaty.
India agrees that Nepal always makes the 1950 treaty an issue, alleging that the treaty is completely in favour of India and she wants to make Nepal another Bhutan with the support of the treaty. So in response of it and to bring back the good image of India in Nepal, India might have accepted the proposal of Nepal.
Therefore, there will be bouts of roundtable talks between the leaders in Delhi and Katmandu, but the treaty will remain in status-quo. At best, this may all end up in just the construction of some schools and hospitals in the name of India –Nepal friendship treaty; that’s all.