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FOREWARD
BY DR. B. PATTABHI SITARAMAYYA, PRESIDENT, INDIAN
NATIONAL CONGRESS
In the midst of
a flowing river in its freshes with its undulatory waves and their
ripples, with its whirling eddies and treacherous shoals, you find
here and there a few islets and islands, which, in every way,
present a glaring contrast to the rushing torrents of turbid waters
charged with alluvium from the mountains and forests traversed by
the full flooded streams. Even such was the contrast between Bharat
and the sovereign States carved out by the British. These 562 States
have now been effaced from the map of India and are no longer the
citadels of autocracy that they had been for a century and a
quarter. Not far removed from this category of islets in the vast
ocean flood of Bharat lies to the North a tiny little island nestled
on mountain heights 55,000 sq. miles in extent, with a population of
eight millions and a revenue of four crore rupees, largely derived
from agricultural land. Except that the King of Nepal is considered
His Majesty and that Ambassadors were accredited to the State, this
tiny island had presented for long and presents today the same
autocracy, the same limited number of Ranas who are of the favored
class and whose families not more than forty in number, are heaven
born dubbing every member a Colonel or General or Lt.General. These
are the members of the ruling class, judges without legal knowledge,
generals without military training and administrators without past
experience. The Prime Ministers place is as much a hereditary
fixture as that of the real king who is a figure-head like the Mul
Virat of the Hindu temples while the priests enjoying hereditary
rights are the heirs of all the privileges and
rulership.
Nepal is a
police State where law and order are maintained by arbitrary rule
and barbarous physical torture is extent as a form of punishment,
where civil liberties are unknown, popular and public life is
anathema, education is at a low ebb and pinhead organization
functions under sufferance. Nay, human intercourse between Nepal and
the outside world is virtually cut off so far as ingress is
concerned, and young men outside the pale royal patronage and family
oligarchy can look forward to no careers worth mentioning. There is
no ideology of freedom permitted to be propagated, and men and women
grow virtually as a sub-human race. Nepal is really an incongruity
and anachronism in the modern age. The wealth of the country-mineral
and the forest alike-is left unexplored. Outside Katmandu the law
prohibits even the building of pucca house with tiled roofing by a
non-rana without the permission of the authorities. Life and
property are unsafe. The bulk of the revenues go to the coffers of
the Prime Minister and his relations. Slavery was only abolished in
1923, but it really transformed and takes on the garb of a voluntary
agreement to the loss of one’s freedom by mortgaging
oneself.
British
diplomacy which had planted the Sultans of Malaya, the Shan states
of Burma and the Indian Princes-the same diplomacy succeeded in
reducing the king of Nepal to that of a nominal head (for he had
signed away his powers to the Rana family) and converting himself
into a prisoner in the palace, who is kept under the strictest
surveillance and not allowed
to exercise any power whatever. The heir-apparent’s position
is no better and one may live in Nepal for many years without seeing
or hearing of the king. Even into such a
n isolated and antediluvian land the call of freedom penetrated and
had its echoes and re-echoes in remote corners, its percussions and
re-percussions on the people all over. It was the outbreak of the
Second World War really that brought into being a Praja Parishad
(composed of some Nepalese youth) which had started operations at
Patna and later transferred them to Kathmandu. It was no small
achievement for the Parishad to be able to bring the young king of
the day to organization and secure his patronage for itself. Nevertheless its members
later faced the usual music of life or long term imprisonments,
while shooting and underground activities later came into being. The
shooting of two of the hanging of two others in the blood of the
martyrs which has since become the seed of the Church of Freedom.
Although the Praja Parishad met with an untimely end it had achieved
unique success in awakening the masses to had achieved unique
success in awakening the masses and creating them a spirit of revolt
against tyranny. Nepal has since taken to the pursuit of her task of
self-emancipation both from within and without. Nepal too has had
her reforms, but they perpetuate the absolute and personal rule in
the state. Economic reforms, university education and agricultural
improvement are still in the dreamland. As usual the popular
organization suffered internal division, but the task of Nepal
National Congress continued with the Praja Panchayat as a sister
body raising the banner of revolt inside Nepal.
Political
speeches and police notifications went apace. Satyagraha and
councils of action presently came into being. But divided councils
of action presently came into being. But divided counsels and
internecine differences here as elsewhere spoiled the prospect.
Although all was quiet that supervened on a period of stress and
strain, widespread awakening and deep-rooted self-consciousness. The
seeming silence of the people marks their sullenness, not their
satisfaction. Nepal cannot remain an autocracy while Bharat enjoys
the honor of a sovereign republic. Bharat has no designs upon Nepal
and casts no evil eye upon its navigable rivers, its abundant forest
wealth or its rich mineral resources, its oranges or sugar cane, its
jute and hessian, its rice and millet, its rye and maize or its
barley and potato. Nepal’s pure Aryan race and glorious and culture
constitute an inseparable link between Nepal and Bharat. Bharat's
interest in Nepal is no less and no more than her interest in Nepal
is no less and no more than her interest in other Asiatic countries.
But Nepal’s present state will not be allowed to continue without
disturbing Bharat’s feeling and mind.
The thanks of
public in general and of Nepal in particular and due to the author
Shree D. R. Regmi, for this account in lucid and fascinating style, of
the history and present position of Nepal. Where there is real
awakening of the
people, no one can resist their right to inherit what is theirs by
right and efforts
New
Delhi:
19-10-1949 (Sd) B. Pattabhi
Sitaramayyya
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