India's view of itself in the world has been well articulated around the ‘India at 60' celebrations of last year that projected India as a soft power. Its strength lies in the three Ds — democracy, diversity and demographics — and what it wants to showcase is how it has strengthened its democracy by celebrating its diversity while drawing on the enormous demographic capital of its young workforce. Such an India wants to be known more through its movies and cuisine than exercise of power per se. It wants to bring prosperity in its region by letting its economy become the locomotive for growth and reap the peace and security dividend that the end of poverty brings.

To do all this it is necessary to bury some of the miscalculations (no matter how unintentional) of the past. The main thrust of India's Nepal policy has till now been to call for democratic rule under a constitutional monarchy. That monarchy has liquidated itself through its own ineptitude and worse. India also gave extensive help to the Royal Nepal Army to go after Maoist insurgents, who were brothers to Indian Maoists. Today Nepal's Maoists, after making their own pace with "competitive" democracy, have scored a massive electoral victory and are set to abolish monarchy. Meanwhile, India's best friends, the Nepali Congress, has been severely set back electorally. On the economic front, India did not do itself any good by being the purveyor of shoddy goods and builder of terrible roads. China, on the other hand, gave its best to Nepal.

For its part, Nepal under the Maoists has to give up what Nepal under the Shahs did quite well — waved the China card at India whenever it felt the need. This is because India's old insecurities vis-à-vis China are gone. India and China are now engaged in confidence-building measures and slowly opening up border trade. China with its massive trade surplus and sovereign wealth fund is busy strutting the global arena and has neither the time nor the inclination to make trouble for India in Nepal. Instead it is busy rebuilding bridges with till now estranged neighbours, most recently Japan. Today, Nepal's leaders speak a different language. The Maoists want India and China to together support a republican democracy in Nepal. A Nepal minister recently articulated that they want to stop being a buffer between India and Nepal and become a bridge.

In the past India cribbed that Nepal was a conduit to feed the starved Indian consumer's craving for foreign goods. Today, not only can all that be bought off the shelf in India, better off Indians meet their desire for more and better stuff through their shopping during their regular holidays around the world.

Once both sides realise what needs to be buried with the past, attention needs to focus on defining the future. Renegotiating or replacing the treaty is a high priority with not just the Maoists, who are the new rulers, but also most educated Nepalese. Indian officialdom and those close to it have often maintained that the treaty is not that good for India either as Indians do not get national treatment in Nepal the way they ought to under the treaty. The Nepalese feel the same way about India. If nobody thinks the treaty is of much use, it should be easy to get rid of. The real challenge is what to replace it with — what one or several new treaties should contain.

A few irreducible needs of both sides can mark out the territory within which further negotiations can take place. Land- locked Nepal needs easy and guaranteed access to the sea. India needs to feel that Nepal is not a haven for terrorists whose eyes are set on disrupting India and vice versa for Nepal. The key point for India to realise is that Naxalite-Maoist activity in India is mostly indigenous and the only long-term cure for it is ending poverty. If Nepal can harness its hydro power, with Indian help, and sell it to energy-starved India then it will be a boon for both. The cooperation needs to be extended to flood control in a manner that is beneficial to both. More than one Indian expert has articulated that there is enormous scope for cooperation in areas like human and drug trafficking and working against climate change. This ties up with what most Indians look for in Nepal, a lovely place to go for holidays which is at peace with itself and not destroying its hills and forests.

subir.roy@bsmail.in