The Indian establishment’s familiarity with the visiting prime minister of Nepal, Girija Prasad Koirala, should not obscure a simple new reality. The ageing Koirala today represents a Nepal that is very different from the one we have known all these decades.

Steeled in the fire of a successful pro-democracy movement, the Himalayan Kingdom is now in the middle of a complex transition to a republic in all but name. While Koirala needs all the help he can get from India, the last thing he needs is a display of New Delhi’s instinctive paternalism. New Delhi will have to demonstrably shed that attitude if it needs to construct a successful policy towards Nepal in the coming days. The old ‘hegemon-protectorate’ relationship is no longer sustainable between New Delhi and Kathmandu. Nepal has changed irrevocably in the 19 days of the pro-democracy agitation. That the Nepalese stood up bravely against the shoot-at-sight orders of King Gyanendra and refused to compromise with the monarchy despite the advice from India and the international community, has injected a new sense of self-confidence in Kathmandu.

Under intense popular pressure the restored Nepalese parliament has quickly cut the monarchy to size, converted the nation into a secular state and, yesterday, it declared untouchability and caste discrimination illegal. These decisions reflect the demands for a fundamental reorganisation of the 200-odd years old Nepali state. And the new leaders of Nepal seem confident that they can write their own future. As the age of feudalism and upper caste control in Nepal unravels, India’s own policy towards Kathmandu can no longer rest on a small trans-border Thakur fraternity, or a manipulation of the bilateral relationship by a small elite across the border.

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