India and Nepal
The lecture on government which Mr. Nehru has despatched to the Prime Minister of Nepal is not likely to do the people of that State much good. The Indian Prime Minister has expressed his wish to see Nepal " independent, progressive and strong," implying that strength depends on progress, and that progress is to be measured by the development of elections, legislative assemblies and - so on. The Indian admonition, which was conveyed to the Nepalese Government in a memorandum early this month, has been received with outward politeness by the Prime Minister of Nepal, who promises some measure of constitutional reform before the end of the year. What relevance all the talk of constitutional reform has to the happiness of five million Himalayan peasants is not always obvious. The Nepalese have in the past been sometimes well and sometimes badly governed, according to whether their ruler was strong or weak. In the course of time, no doubt, the inventions of western constitutionalists will follow other inventions, such as the radio and the internal combustion engine, across the mountains, and create something of a popular demand for themselves. But there is no evidence that this stage of development has been reached, and for some time to come any Nepalese Government which is strong must be in a large measure personal and centralised. The struggle which has brought violence and unrest to Nepal is one between rival individuals and not between rival theories, and the Prime Minister of Nepal has significantly kept silence over that part of the Indian Government's memorandum which gave support to King Tribhuvana Bir Bikram, now in exile in India, in preference to the claims of his grandson, now installed in Katmandu, and his son, who is also in India but who constitutes a possible com- promise candidate. It is at present the dynastic difficulties which prevent India and Nepal from achieving the harmonious friendship which is essential to the security of both, and it would be disastrous if ideological contentions were allowed to make the resolution of these difficulties more difficult.
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