A Foreign Minister's Period-specific Memoir

Since the practice of formally naming a foreign minister came into being in Nepal after the epochal political and systemic change of 1951, two things have remained particularly noteworthy in our context. First, many prime ministers have either handled the portfolio with or without a ceremonial minister of state as a cosmetic exercise or taken direct interest, forcing their foreign ministers either to play second fiddle or stay worklessly comfortable or humiliated, as the case may be, as mere silent spectators.

While there is less evidence of any qualitative strength on the part of holders of the post of chief executive to directly look after foreign affairs, there is a conjecture that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Zhou Enlai, who remained inaugural foreign ministers as well in their respective countries, with different orientations but common traits of being efficient foreign policy hands, might have inspired our people to follow the same course. Second, the appointment of an independent foreign minister typically selects the most educated and enlightened individuals from the pool. However, this practice has faced significant challenges recently, especially in the aftermath of 1990, when prime ministers began to show greater interest in foreign affairs or appointed virtually dummy foreign ministers, regardless of their merit or orientation.

 Belonging to a different party in the coalition further erodes the authority of a foreign minister. Dr Arzu Rana Deuba may be an exception in this connection.

Over the years, we have found that some academics, too, handle foreign affairs. This included people of the strength and profile of Matrika Prasad Koirala, Dr Dilli Raman Regmi, Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, Rishikesh Shaha, Pashupati Shumshere, Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani, Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat and Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai, etc., with some of them handling foreign affairs only for a few days.

Only a few foreign ministers have published stories of their tenures. Among them, Dr Regmi and Shaha, sharing a closer friendship, have been prolific writers, but their works pertain more to history than memoirs, even though Shaha has depicted some aspects of his ministerial role in his writings. 

Foreign ministers who have penned memoirs include Surya Bahadur Thapa (posthumous) and Dr Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, incidentally using a common writer, Hari Bahadur Thapa, to serve as what can be called a de facto ghostwriter. Another beautiful book by a foreign minister is from Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay in English with an intriguing title, Tryst with Diplomacy. 

It is, therefore, quite admirable that Kamal Thapa has brought out a book and filled a gap in the sense that it provides a cogent description of what went wrong in inspiring India to impose recurrent embargoes against Nepali people. There is absolutely no doubt that he is among the few people in the post-1990 era and all the more so in the republican order who can be taken as one with appropriate acumen for the position of foreign minister.

The other plus point is that Thapa is perhaps among the very few people who have enjoyed political responsibilities for a long spell. He is the only person to become foreign minister three times in three political dispensations. It is an entirely different matter that in the Nepali context, any demarcation based on political creed or ideology tends to be badly blurred, inviting accusations of rank opportunism, a factor even involving Thapa for his supposed political gyrations in terms of seeking positions. On the most personal side, we have known Kamal Thapa for a long time and consider him a keen sportsman, sober gentleman, and strict disciplinarian in conduct.

The book has a self-explaining title, NAKABANDI RA BHURAJNITI: Kutnitima Mero Anubhab Ra Anubhuti, that can roughly be translated as 'Embargo and Geo-politics: My Experiences and Reflections in Diplomacy'. With six broad chapters and 60 sub-chapters, the book has a comprehensive pictorial gallery depicting involvements in the foreign policy process. One significant attribute is that it has a longer prologue of 18 pages.

While the book tends to discuss a broad range of things associated with diplomacy in a rather passing manner, the crux of the matter pertains to the domain of Nepal-India relations, as indicated by the very title. While people may contest the points and arguments raised by Thapa depending on their political orientations and approaches, there is absolutely no doubt that the book gives a fantastic survey of bilateral relations and their thorns, both geopolitical and man-made.

It also deals with the styles of work of political leaders and even Ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyaya, who had two short terms as Nepal's top representative to New Delhi. First relieved by the government, Upadhyaya was re-appointed but sought premature termination to contest elections. He created a record in our diplomatic history by being his own successor within a brief gap of vacancy, a trend repeated by one of his successors, Dr. Shankar Prasad Sharma, in New Delhi in the recent period.

The book lays bare vacillating stances of our political leadership and lack of scruples and principles in dealing with major policy issues triggering various problems of far-reaching repercussions. Besides Nepal-India relations, the book gives an account of how Nepal and China signed agreements pertaining to alternate transit facilities to Nepal, an area generally interpreted by Indian leadership as utterly anti-Indian. It also exposes India's lack of cogent and consistent thought in dealing with Nepal unnecessarily throwing spanners and barriers in the context of smooth ties of friendship and cooperation that should have been the guiding strand of our mutually friendly relations from time immemorial.

One major departure in the book is that it does not carry any introductory passage from dignitaries, as is the general trend. The author also falls short of making concluding observations, possibly taking cues from two veteran Russian diplomats, Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (1909-1989) and Anatoli Dobrynin (1919-2010), as both seemed to have anathema with the word 'conclusion' in writing their memoirs. 

One lacuna of the book is a plethora of proof mistakes, including some factual errors that have crept into the text, but they don't affect the usefulness of the work.  In a nutshell, it is an admirable endeavour in the field of literature relating to our diplomacy. Thapa truly deserves sincere appreciation and congratulations.

(Dr. Bhattarai is a former foreign secretary, ambassador and author. kutniti@gmail.com)