The argument of historical ownership often carries with it the grievances toward those who snatched a territory from its rightful owner. Such grievances can trigger domestic support and gain international legitimacy
Like two tigers hunting in pairs, the Akhanda Bharat dispute and climate change have sent the political as well as physical temperature shooting up in Nepal as never before. The rise in this political temperature has been caused by the display of a wall mural in the newly constructed Parliament Building of India showing Kapilbastu and Lumbini in the Indian fold. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi very recently amidst the boycott of 20 opposition parties, including the mammoth Indian Congress.
It had raised a hornet's nest already in Nepal prior to the visit of Prachanda to India with the request to raise Nepal's concern. Prachanda said that it figured in the talk with Prime Minister Modi and was portrayed as a cultural map and not a political one by the Indian side. This version of the Indian Government has been reiterated by its Minister for Foreign Affairs S Jaishankar, which is hard to believe given its display in the Parliament which is a political icon. This is such a serious issue that it would still raise controversy had it been posted in a cultural hub like the Opera Building.
It has hurt naturally the sentiment of the Nepali people because of such an improbable act, that too by India with whom it shares the closest of people-to-people cultural and religious relations, often described as those of the bread and daughter, the kind of which cannot be seen in the whole of the world. Prime Minister Modi himself had declared that India has not fought any war without the participation of Nepali Gurkha soldiers, and here parts of Nepal have been included in India in the so-called Akhanda, or undivided, India belonging to Ashoka times, devaluing the blood of the Nepali soldiers shed in the Indian wars.
The historical accounts of Ashoka period are not very clear. However, Kapilbastu and Lumbini do not seem to be under the regime of Emperor Ashok then. Had it been the case, the blood-thirsty Emperor, who became an ardent follower of the Buddha later on after the Kalinga War, would not have to fight against Kirat ruler Sthunko before erecting the Ashoka Pillar in Lumbini in the year 249 BC. It is said that the local chieftain Sthunko could not face the mighty army of the Emperor, and neither could he stop the erection of the pillar. But he is said to have removed the horse capital after the Emperor returned home.
Some historians have said that Man Dev honoured Sthunko for this deed of opposing the foreigner mighty Emperor Ashoka in the form of a dwarf incarnation of Vishnu in his image installed in the year 466 at Lajimpat inside a temple. It is said that the horse capital was seen by the Chinese traveler, Huen Tsang, in the seventh century lying on the ground, although it is not available now. Even though the inscription describes the freeing and lowering of taxes by Emperor Ashoka in addition to declaring it as the birth place of the Buddha as if it was under his rule, the very occurrence of a swiftly fought battle indicates to the contrary.
It is natural that such an indiscriminate act would fuel opposition in Nepal. Accordingly, the general secretary of the Nepali Congress, the major partner of the coalition government of Nepal, responded by saying that it could instigate Nepal to publish the map of Greater Nepal. Barely had he uttered these words than Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City responded by inscribing the map of Greater Nepal in its office wall, which includes Kangada in the west and Tista in the east as described in the national song written by late Madhav Prasad Ghimire, the National Poet of Nepal. Yet another Mayor of Dharan Municipality Harka Raj Rai has declared that he will follow suit by engraving the Greater Nepal map on his office wall soon.
This competition of pasting the map on the walls of the offices in Nepal following its beginning in the parliament building of India will only sour the sweet relation existing between India and Nepal. Though India is to be blamed in this regard for initiating this unwarranted mural competition, Nepal is not far behind in view of the pointed map that it published after making many but still inadequate consultation with India. This may as well be the tit for tat reaction of India with respect to the publication of the pointed map by Nepal.
Both these acts are indicative of the historical occupation of the territories by either country. The argument of historical ownership often carries with it the grievances toward those who snatched a territory from its rightful owner. Such grievances can trigger domestic support and gain international legitimacy. Thus, historical ownership makes a particularly attractive justification for a territorial claim and hence the occurrence of such events in India and Nepal.
A study was made in China by Songying Fang et al by generating a few hypotheses. It was found that the historical ownership treatment does result in a significant increase in the number of respondents who developed a belief in territory indivisibility. Moreover, those who held such a belief were more likely to favour economic sanctions and military solutions to the dispute and much less likely to support bilateral negotiation and international organisation arbitration.
The author Fang himself has admitted that it needs to be researched further regarding its efficacy in other countries. Given the people-to-people relation existing between India and Nepal, situations will never boil down to the aforementioned pass. But responsible countries like India, which has put the first neighbourhood policy at the top of its foreign policy, and persons like party secretaries and mayors should not jump into impulsive acts. This will only add more tensions in the bilateral relations, which a country like Nepal can least afford in the wake of the economic turmoil encountered in Sri Lanka.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 13, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
