In his whirlwind visit to Nepal, India’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Salman Khushid advised our politicians to hold elections on time and pledged support in the form of election paraphernalia including 764 vehicles to help monitor polls. A week earlier, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi came to Nepal for a few hours with the same message. Our neighbours’ positive stance towards elections is welcome, even reassuring. But our political parties, the reason behind these diplomatic visits, have let everyone down.
The way our leaders queued up to meet Khurshid shredded every notion of diplomatic protocol. According to official sources, Khurshid’s visit was not centred on politics but on strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries. There was no reason for them to line up outside his hotel and later Khurshid even admitted he had never asked them to come.
Khurshid is one of India’s senior ministers and it is not surprising that politicians want to meet him. But there are rules that need to be followed. Our leaders know from experience that former prime ministers don’t break lines to meet a visiting minister, but they chose to ignore this. Pushpa Kamal Dahal even cut his Singapore trip short and flew back to Kathmandu. Former prime ministers Baburam Bhattarai, Sher Bahadur Deuba, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhal Nath Khanal acted as if they had never seen an Indian diplomat. Narayan Kaji Sherstha, who harps on the importance of protocol, acted as if he had never heard the word.
Our leaders may think what’s wrong with meeting a foreign dignitary? Some even made excuses about security and lack of time. But this is not a technical issue and this has happened many times before. When India’s President Pranab Mukherjee came to Nepal, Madhav Nepal and other leaders refused to go when they were invited. That they rushed to be first in line this time shows what has become of Nepali diplomacy. We must not blame our guests in such circumstances, it is we who should draw the line.