गोर्खा भर्तीः नेपालको राष्ट्रिय कलंक

(यही वर्ष झलक सुवेदीको ब्रिटिश साम्राज्यका नेपाली मोहराः गोर्खा भर्तीको नालीबेली भन्ने पुस्तक निस्क्यो । साथै यसै वर्षको चलचित्र महोत्सव किम्फमा केशाङ शेतेन निर्देशित हु विल बी अ गुर्खा  नामक वृत्तचित्रले उत्कृष्ट वृत्तचित्रको रुपमा दोहोरो पुरस्कार जित्यो । संयोगबश यो शुक्रवारदेखि उल्लेखित वृत्तचित्र काठमाडौंका मल्टिप्लेक्स हलहरुमा आम रुपमा प्रदर्शनमा आउँदै रहेछ । पुस्तक, वृत्तचित्र र सम्बन्धित एउटा बहसमा उठेका कुरालाई समेटेर यस ब्लगमा द गुर्खा लिगेसीः नेपाल्स नेस्नल शेम शीर्षकको लेख प्रकाशित भयो । अंग्रेजीमा पढ्न असहज मान्ने पाठकहरुका लागि गोर्खा भर्तीसम्बन्धी उक्त लेखका मुख्य मुख्य दाबी, तर्कहरु र विश्लेषणलाई समेटेर यो छोटो लेखमा बुँदागत रुपमा प्रस्तुत गरिनेछ ।)

शुरुवातः
म आफ्नो राष्ट्रवादी छविमा सम्म गौरव गर्न रुचाउँदिन त्यसैले यहाँ अति वा अन्ध राष्ट्रवादको प्रश्न उठ्दैन । साथै कुनै बेला सर्वहारा अधिनायकवादको सपना देख्ने गरे पनि अब त्यो अवस्था नरहेकाले मैले गर्ने विश्लेषणमा अन्य आलोचकलाई गोर्खा भर्तीको विषयमा आरोप लगाउने गरिएझैं कर्मकाण्डीय साम्यवादको चस्मा लगाएर विश्लेषण गरेको भन्न पनि मिल्दैन । तेस्रो, गोर्खा भर्ती शुरु गर्ने र शताब्दीभर त्यसलाई निरन्तरता दिने क्रममा त्यो प्रक्रियाबाट अकूत फाइदा लिने पक्षहरुको कडा आलोचना गर्दै रहँदा  बाध्यता, रहर र भ्रमको चक्रमा परेर त्यो प्रक्रियामा होमिन पुगेका नेपाली युवाहरुप्रति व्यक्तिगत रुपमा मेरो असीम सहानुभुति छ ।

वृत्तचित्रका कुराः
हु विल बी अ गुर्खा मा केशाङको उत्कृष्ट कलाचेतले काम गरेको छ र अझै पनि भर्ती भएर बेलायत जाने सपना देख्ने हजारौं युवाको मनस्थिति उतार्न वृत्तचित्र सफल छ । तर मेरो चिन्ता के हो भने रुख देखाएर झाडी बिर्साउने भनेझैं अहिले एक दिनको यथार्थ उतारेर कतै यो वृत्तचित्रले चाहेर वा नचाहेर गोर्खा भर्तीसँग जोडिएका सान्दर्भिक ऐतिहासिक प्रश्नहरुलाई थप पृष्ठभुमिमा धकेल्ने त हैन? वृत्तचित्रमा गोर्खा भर्तीका ऐतिहासिक पाटाहरु नअटाउनुको कारण निर्देशकको विधागत सीमा थियो वा पोखराको भर्ती डिपोभित्र निर्बाध खिच्न अनुमति पाएबापत ब्रिटिश पक्षप्रति जनाइएको कृतज्ञता? छोटै सही, वृत्तचित्रको शुरुका केही मिनेटमा गोर्खा भर्तीसम्बन्धी खासगरी विश्वयुद्धका लागि जर्बवस्ती लगिएका नेपाली युवाहरुको संख्या र मृत्यू, गम्भीर चोट र बेपत्ता गरी तिनका भोगाइलाई आँकडाबद्ध गरेर राखेको भए के त्यो वृत्तचित्रले अहिलेको जस्तो संदेश दिन्थ्यो?

पुस्तक र बहसः
अन्तर्निहित सन्देशका हिसाबले केशाङको वृत्तचित्र भन्दा ठीक विपरीत चरित्र बोकेको पुस्तक हो झलक सुवेदीको ब्रिटिश साम्रज्यका नेपाली मोहराः गोर्खा भर्तीको नालीबेली । किम्फकै दौरानमा भएको र सुवेदी पनि उपस्थित एउटा बहसमा दर्शक दीर्घाबाट एउटा लम्बेतान भाषण आएको थियो गोर्खा भर्तीको निरन्तरताको पक्षमाः युवाहरुलाई भोक मेट्न खाडीमा धकेल्नु (वा बेच्नु) पर्ने यो देशमा आम्दानीको राम्रो श्रोत गोर्खा भर्ती किन बन्द गर्ने?

द गुर्खा लिगेसीः नेपाल्स नेस्नल शेम लेखमा तर्कको उठानः
उसो त अस्थिरता र संकटले ग्रस्त नेपालमा मानिसलाई चिन्ता लिने विषयहरुको खाँचो छैन र गोर्खा भर्ती पनि सामान्यतः  सीमित मानिसहरुको चासोको विषय रहँदै आएको छ । तर व्यक्तिगत भन्दा पनि समुदायको रुपमा नेपालीहरुको पहिचान, त्यसको ऐतिहासिक उठान र गोर्खा भर्तीजस्ता विषयले त्यसमा पारेको प्रभाव हाम्रो सामाजिक चेतनाका बिर्सन नहुने तत्वहरु हुन् । तिनमा बहस नहुनुको मतलब ती विषयमा बहसयोग्य तत्वहरु छैनन् भन्ने त छैन नै बहस नहुँदा ती विषयमा गलत धारणा वा बुझाइहरु कायम रहने अवस्था छ ।

बेलायतका लागि लड्ने नेपाली युवाहरुको हैसियत आम रुपमा अंग्रेजीमा मर्सिनरी भनेर चिनिने विशुद्ध पैसाका लागि काम गर्ने मानिसहरुभन्दा कति फरक छ भन्ने बहस चल्दै आए पनि हालैको एक घटनाले ती युवाहरुले बेलायतलाई प्रदान गर्ने सेवाको प्रकृतिबारे धेरै प्रश्नको जवाफ दिन्छ । अफगानिस्तानमा कम्व्याटका बेला तालिबान ठानिएको मानिसलाई मारेपछि त्यसको प्रमाणस्वरुप टाउको काटेर मालिकसामु ल्याएर आएको बर्बर घटनाले अपभ्रंश हुँदै गुर्खा भनिने गरिएका ती युवाहरुमा भर्तीपछाडि विकसित हुने मनस्थितिको आँकलन गर्न मदत पुर्याउँछ । सुबेदीको पुस्तकमा बिस्तार गरिएझैं ऐतिहासिक रुपमा बेलायतले नेपाली युवाहरुलाई भर्ती लिनुको कारण गत शताब्दीका ठूला युद्धहरुका लागि उसलाई अचानक ठूलो संख्यामा युवा सिपाहीहरुको आवश्यक पर्नु थियो । आधुनिक विश्वको सबैभन्दा पछिल्लो औपचारिक साम्राज्यका हिसाबले सामान्य मानवीय संवेदना भएका आम युवालाई लिएर संवेदनाविहीन लडाकु सिपाही बनाउने कलामा बेलायत विश्वका अरु धेरै शक्तिहरुभन्दा अगाडि भएको पनि उक्त घटनाले देखाउँछ ।

The Gurkha legacy: Nepal's National Shame

I believe soul-searching is very important, both in the lives of individuals as well as the societies. Arrogance and hypocrisy largely result from the fact that most people do not bother reflecting on their own deeds and keep themselves at the center of universe as an infallible entity. Nepal may be one of the least prosperous countries in the world but that per se has nothing to do with our dignity as citizens of this modern world. Foreign friends who have been helping Nepal financially deserve our sincere gratitude but by no means a voiceless servility. Moreover, while our individual identities are obviously significant, our collective identity as a people is no less significant. In this pretext, I intend to dissect the legacy of 'Gurkha recruitment', a process in which Nepali youths have been serving in the foreign armies for more than a century now.

First, I doubt even my nationalist credentials, let alone being a chauvinist or a jingoist. I am also one among large number of people who are highly skeptic of history in the conventional sense. But I abhor the notion of so called post modernists that history does not exist. Second, I know how it feels to dream of an ultimate utopia to be achieved through the proletariat revolution. But now that I am at safe distance from those romantic ideas, that matters little to my judgement. Third, I have enormous empathy to poor Nepalis who were forced into performing some of the worst and unwholesome jobs in the world and continue to do so till date. While I consistently blame the system and the institutions that benefited from it, I place no blame at persons who were either lured or forced into the arrangement to be discussed in this article. With this clarification, I intend to give a Nepali perspective of a process by which Nepali youths have been offering themselves for service in foreign armies. The immediate background of this article is a thought-provoking recent book in Nepali and I start the discussion with an reappraisal of a related documentary and a talk program that help us gauge the arguments on two sides of the debate.

Gurkhas advancing with tanks to clear the Japanese from Imphal-Kohima road [N.E. India] (captured between 8 March - 3 July 1944; source: Wikimedia Commons)

During this year's Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), 'Who will be a Gurkha', a documentary dealing with the recruitment of Nepali youth in British army and directed by Keshang Tseten won two awards: both from the jury as well as the audience. I was naturally disappointed; leaving scores of other films that had meticulously documented the triumphs and tragedies in people's lives even risking their own lives, this not-so-brilliant documentary had won the accolades. Flawlessly artistic and sophisticated film-making of Tseten apart, this documentary had the major flaw of veering dangerously close to playing an apologist role to the so called 'Gurkha Bharti' or the tradition in which the British army continues to recruit a limited number of Nepali youth to date. While capturing the psychology of thousands of Nepali youths who aspire to join the 'Gurkhas' in British army relatively well, this work naturally avoided the contentious historical issues related to the tradition (having got the permission/blessing to shoot inside the British army's recruitment center in Pokhara, it was impossible to be judgmental). Any artwork like this obviously risks helping people to miss the bush by pointing to the trees.

The book on Gurkha recruitment by Jhalak Subedi

The other day, the organizers of KIMFF had organized a talk program featuring Jhalak Subedi who has recently published a book in Nepali that nearly translates in English as 'British Empire's legacy in Nepal: Nitty-gritty of Gurkha recruitment'. While I missed most of the program, I could catch up a lengthy diatribe against those who want to end the trend of so called 'Gurkha recruitment' by a man from the audience who introduced himself as Nobel Kishor Rai (hope I spell it correctly). His grievance was that despite the fact that wealth worth billions of rupees has been brought to Nepal by those serving in the foreign armies (mainly British and Indian) and people's access to as basic amenities as drinking water has been ensured precisely because of that wealth in many regions of Nepal, the smearing of the recruitment tradition has not ended. He was aghast at the attempt of some of the communist parties in Nepal to abolish the tradition itself at a moment when millions of Nepali workers have to roam the deserts of Gulf, just to make a living.

In fact, today's Nepal has so many issues to ponder on that little matters to most of the people whether this particular legacy of imperial Britain remains or is abolished; even though it is an altogether different matter for teenagers who aspire to have a 'glorious' life after joining the British army, and their families. Some questions related to the collective fate of Nepalis as a society, its historical background and the larger implications of such a process to our collective identity, however, are worthy of serious contemplation.

To start with, a debate as to whether so called Gurkhas fighting for foreign army were/are mercenaries is largely redundant: one recent incident in which one extra-servile Gurkha soldier beheaded an Afghan after shooting him to bring his head to his British lord as a proof of his execution speaks more than a thousand words. As Subedi puts it meticulously in his book, the early wave of recruitment of Nepali youth in British army was result of the Britain's need to recruit large number of young men in times of wars, particularly over the first half of the last century. Today's recruitment (a mere ritual compared to massive recruitment before and during world wars) is as much the result of push factors in Nepal created by chronically stunted economy as the Brit's wish to somehow continue the tradition. This, however, does not change the fundamental nature of the relationship between the recruiters and the recruitees: through a process that combines harassment, humiliation, pestering and torment, a human being is converted into an army soldier. While this process is arguably universal among professional armies in the world, the British seem to have gained extra mastery in the realm of manufacturing brutal mercenaries from trivial young men as shown by the appalling behavior of the aforementioned Gurkha soldier in combat in Afghanistan. (It is noteworthy that even during the decade long brutal armed conflict in Nepal, such nauseating brutality was not reported from either side).

The argument that recruitment of Nepali youths should not be stopped as long as Nepal has to export labor to places with often dismal working conditions and a relatively slim remuneration is just ludicrous. The fact that the share of remittance from the youth employed in foreign armies is shrinking fast in Today's Nepal notwithstanding, selling labor can never be equated with swearing to kill and get killed for someone else's interest. Moreover, a recapitulation of a historical phenomenon cannot be done by sole focus on realities of one day. In retrospect, Subedi's book paints a very grim and often abominable picture of hundreds of thousands of poor Nepalis first lured/forced to join the British army in the eve of war and then sent home literally empty-handed. Glorification of such a recruitment process is possible only so long as the devastation brought about by the death, injury and disappearance of hundreds of thousands of Nepalis in world wars and then the subsequent castigation of large size of Nepali workforce which had wasted its most productive years in the service of British Queen, is forgotten.