July 12, 2024
KATHMANDU – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently come under fire, both in India and abroad, for hugging Russian President Vladimir Putin even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows no sign of ceasing. As expected, among the fiercest critics of the infamous hug is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who called it a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts”. As Putin continues to be made a pariah by the Western world for his continued attack on Ukraine, India under Modi has made it clear that the world’s largest democracy cares more about the India-Russia military-industrial complex than international humanitarian concerns.
Ordinary Indians do not seem to care about the intricacies of the Modi-Putin deal for arms trade. But they certainly do about the fact that Modi has convinced Putin to return the Indians who have been fighting Russia’s war against Ukraine. Like Nepalis, Indians, too, have been lured into joining the Russian Army. Like the Nepalis, Indian recruits have realised that the war is no walk in the park, that their agents sold them false dreams, and they now want to return home. Like the Nepalis, the Indians, too, have been killed in the senseless war, although in lesser numbers. According to Indian media, at least four Indians have been killed, while between 30 and 40 others are serving in the Russian Army. In contrast, a staggering 35 Nepalis have been killed in the war, while around 150 are still on the battlefield, waiting for the Nepali state to intervene and ensure their homecoming.
Apart from returning those alive, Russia has also offered to expedite compensation to the families of the deceased Indian recruits. This is in sharp contrast to the fate of the deceased Nepalis, whose families have yet to receive any compensation. It has been months since the families of the fallen Nepalis started lobbying, demonstrating and organising sit-ins to put pressure on the government to take up the matter with its Russian counterpart. Government officials, including various foreign ministers, have claimed to be coordinating with Russian officials to repatriate the Nepali recruits. But the results are for all to see: Russia has turned a deaf ear to all such pleas.
Notably, the recent agreement between Modi and Putin, which has yet to be made public, is the result of continuous homework by Indian government officials rather than just an outcome of Modi’s dinnertime charm offensive with Putin. The Indian Embassy in Moscow was consistently raising this issue. Likewise, Foreign minister S. Jaishankar was making a strong case for it in his meeting with the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Astana, Kazakhstan, last week. This shows how the Indian government has been using multiple channels to ensure the repatriation of its citizens. Having faced almost 10 times the number of Indian casualties, Nepal’s plight is comparatively more dire. Nepal must, therefore, double up its efforts by putting diplomatic pressure, even using Russia’s allies, including India, to expedite the return of the Nepalis.
First, Nepal must again summon the Russian ambassador to Nepal, Aleksei Novikov, and make him answerable for Russia’s failure to repatriate Nepali citizens becoming collateral damages in its senseless war with Ukraine. Of course, we don’t expect Pushpa Kamal Dahal and his government to wield the kind of diplomatic clout of Modi and his country, the fifth largest economy in the world. What galls is that the Nepali state has been unable to harness even its limited diplomatic apparatus for such a noble and urgent cause.