By making Bhutan his first foreign visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has demonstrated that firming up troubled or neglected relationships will be a major priority of his regime, a point emphasised by inviting the heads of all SAARC countries and Mauritius to his oath-taking ceremony on May 26. The other Himalayan country he is expected to visit in the near future is Nepal, where tentative dates have been set for August. From a geo-strategic perspective, the Prime Minister’s visit is a soft counter to China’s ambitions to enhance its engagement with Bhutan to full diplomatic status. Beijing is also actively engaged with Nepal.
As Prime Minister Modi slowly unveils his ambitions to economically link up with the entire Asian neighbourhood (including China and Japan) for collective development and prosperity, a new chapter in India’s economic revival may also unfold. Expectedly, all eyes are now on the forthcoming Union Budget.
With Bhutan, however, returns can be immediate, in sectors like hydropower, tourism, horticulture, education and agro-processing. Given its high unemployment and rising national debt, Bhutan is said to be keen on ICT and ICT enabled services. India has promised to expedite six hydropower projects, three of which are under construction; offered to double scholarships for Bhutanese students in India, and fast track an e-library of two million books and periodicals.
Narendra Modi’s urgency to visit Thimpu before its border talks with Beijing in July, aim at undoing the neglect of this vital country by the previous Congress-led government, which enabled Beijing to walk into the vacuum. China’s wishes to enter the Chumbi Valley by staking claims on Bhutan’s western boundary, which will impact the Siliguri corridor which is India’s sole access to its north-eastern states.
Beijing disputes Bhutan’s northern borders, the western part of which borders Sikkim and the eastern part Arunachal Pradesh. Sources say Thimpu is willing to cede China’s claims in this region to settle the central part of the border with China, which has implications for New Delhi in both Siliguri and Tawang.
But there are other tensions simmering below the surface of what is touted as the world’s happiest nation. In 2013, on the eve of elections to the Himalayan nation, the UPA regime suspended the supply of subsidised LPG and kerosene to Thimpu on expiry of the Indo-Bhutan Trade Protocol on June 30, 2013. Sources say that the palace suggested that the agreement be renewed by the new government after the election in July, and agreed to lifting the subsidy till then.
Of course, New Delhi need not have rushed to withdraw the subsidy, but the result was that the ruling Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) led by Jigmi Y Thinley lost to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which had won just two seats in the election of 2008, when the transition to democracy took place. There is widespread belief that the palace worked quietly for the victory of the PDP.
An unstated aspect of the India-Bhutan equation is Nepal. As part of a natural historical movement of peoples, many Nepali-speaking Hindus settled in Bhutan as Gorkhas, a movement that can be historically traced back to at least 1624 AD. In 1958, these Nepali-speaking people were officially designated as Lhotshampas, Bhutanese citizens living in the southern part of the country. The first organised census of Bhutan was held in 1964, a prelude to its admission to the United Nations. The second census took place in 1977 and distributed Citizenship Identity Cards to all Bhutanese nationals in 1981.
Abruptly, however, the Bhutan government promulgated the Citizenship Act of 1985, under which a person could be qualified as a Bhutanese national only if both parents were Bhutanese. The old criterion of fatherhood was abolished and the Act given retroactive implementation. All children born between 1958 and 1988 to non-Bhutanese mothers were declared illegal immigrants. Worse, the 1988 census listed families that could not furnish land tax receipts of 1958 as illegal immigrants. The Ministry of Home Affairs seized their citizenship identity documents and effectively disenfranchised several thousands of Bhutanese citizens. As the Act continues to operate, over 80,000 southern Bhutanese inside Bhutan suffer without citizenship rights.
Over one lakh Nepali-speaking citizens were squeezed out of the country, and languish in refugee camps in Nepal under the protection of the UN High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR). Bilateral negotiations between Nepal and Bhutan failed to resolve the humanitarian crisis, largely because of the disinterest of the Congress-led UPA in New Delhi. As a result, as many as 60,000 Bhutanese have been settled in western countries, mainly against their wishes, because the UN can no longer sustain the funding of the camps and the refugees cannot return to their homesteads.
There is little doubt that the 1985 Citizenship Act is arbitrary and has been aimed at excluding a specific group which is not part of the dominant ethnic group, from citizenship. The Act needs to be scrapped or reformed and made to conform to the 1958 Nationality Law and 1977 Citizenship Act. Above all, the citizenship of those unjustly deprived must be restored.
The Nepali-speaking citizens are descendants of Hindu mothers and revere the Hindu deities of Nepal. Although Bhutan is mainly a Buddhist country, its patronage of a peculiarly monotheistic faith rooted in a particular ethnicity is contrary to the Asian ethos of diversity and tolerance. Thus, Article 4 and 7 of the Constitution of Bhutan do not acknowledge the country’s cultural diversity and deny non-dominant communities the Right to equal protection of culture, costume and tradition. The scripts and languages of the various linguistic communities are not accorded equality with the dzongkhag language of the majority. It is pertinent that as a member of the UN, Bhutan is bound to respect and uphold these under Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Although the Constitution urges separation of religion and politics, the Drukpa Kajugpa sect of the palace enjoys primacy and other traditional religions such as Nyingmapa (a Mahayana Buddhist sect introduced by Guru Padmasambhava in the seventh century AD) and Hinduism suffer neglect and discrimination. There are many religious-political prisoners in the country, who deserve to be released. Refugees from the country claim that people like in fear, without rights and freedoms.
As India enhances its engagement with the region, it will not be able to ignore these festering problems. It is just as well that Prime Minister Narendra Modi met all stakeholders in the nation, including the Leader of Opposition. During his visit to Nepal, he should find time to meet with the leadership of the exiled groups who are anxious to return to Bhutan with honour.
Niticentral.com, 16 June 2014
http://www.niticentral.com/2014/06/16/narendra-modi-in-bhutan-firming-up-the-frontier-231711.html