King told Manmohan he won’t sack Deuba

Like former Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who learnt about his dismissal from TV channels, the Indian Government too was caught b...

Like former Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who learnt about his dismissal from TV channels, the Indian Government too was caught by surprise by the February 1 Royal coup in the Himalayan Kingdom. And this was not due to Intelligence failure, as is being widely held, but because Delhi had been assured by King Gyanendra that there was no plan to dismiss the government.

Two weeks before the coup, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had spoken to the King after Intelligence feedback coming in that he may resort to such an action. The King is believed to have assured the PM that he had no such plans up his sleeve.

The King followed up his assurance by sending an emissary to Delhi. He reinforced what the King had told the PM. This was just a couple of days before the King struck.

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‘‘This was not a case of being caught napping; it was a case of deliberate disinformation,’’ remarked a senior functionary in Government. Of course, a stunned India made its displeasure evident. On day one, it reacted by issuing a strong statement. The Prime Minister followed it up by cancelling his trip to Dhaka for the SAARC summit. India, which is the largest supplier of weapons to Nepal, has stopped shipment of ammunitions to its Himalayan neighbour.

To get the backing for his actions, the PM had lost no time in taking the UPA allies, the Left parties and the NDA into confidence.

It goes without saying that the Nepal developments could have far reaching implications for India because of the spillover effect and the impact on the extremist groups here. As it is, Delhi has been worried about the ‘‘corridor thesis’’ and the nexus the Maoists in Nepal have built with the MCC and PWG here.

To step up pressure on Nepal, the Left has called for a national convention on February 24 for the restoration of democracy in Nepal. The Left parties have forged a front of all the non-NDA, non-Congress groups — including the RJD, SP, SJP, CPI(ML) — in fact all those groups who mounted an offensive for multi-party democracy in Nepal in 1989.