Today I watched the series "The forgotten Army". The main character Lieutenant Sodhi and his army fight for Indian Independence during World War II as part of the British Army. The journey and sacrifice of the Indian National Army from its soldiers' point of view is shown in the series.
So, I thoght to relate the this with our own history. We all Nepalase are proud that Nepal was never colonized but there are many bitter histories behind this. We have heard many stories about the brivary of Gurkhas but the stories about their pains have been untold. Though Nepal didn't take part in any of the world war, more than 2 lakhs of Nepalese were killed in those wars. These were the Gurkha soldiers, renowned worldwide for their bravery. But the history of Gurkha army itself is tragically inhuman and political.
When Britains got defeated in Sindhuligadi they came to know that even the outnumberd troops can be deadly. When Nepal got defeated and Amar Singh Thapa was compelled to sign Malaun Sandhi. Britain took the advantage of this treaty and start recruiting Gurkha Army.
The main reason for recruitment was cheap and quality manpower and they even didn't have considerable number of manpower of their own origin.
To supress the nations they had conquered and to fight the war they used armies from the local origin but this was not the good idea. So the most beneficial subject to them were the young farmers from the rural areas of Nepal who were unaware from such politics. They were unaware, straightforward and hardworking. At that time people were very poor due to Anglo Nepal war and British began calling Nepalese Villagers for recruitment. So, many youths joined them for economic relief. During the Rana resime, Ranas were always dependent in Birtish to sustain in power. Bir Shumsher made more easier for recruitment. After selling the Nepalese youth Ranas received the royality of 10 millions each year and the number of soldiers has doubled this time.
To supress the nations they had conquered and to fight the war they used armies from the local origin but this was not the good idea. So the most beneficial subject to them were the young farmers from the rural areas of Nepal who were unaware from such politics. They were unaware, straightforward and hardworking. At that time people were very poor due to Anglo Nepal war and British began calling Nepalese Villagers for recruitment. So, many youths joined them for economic relief. During the Rana resime, Ranas were always dependent in Birtish to sustain in power. Bir Shumsher made more easier for recruitment. After selling the Nepalese youth Ranas received the royality of 10 millions each year and the number of soldiers has doubled this time.
During first world war 1.5 lakhs soldiers and during second word war 4 lakhs were sent for the war. Britain had to face a huge number of casualties during WWl where about 50,000 Gurkhas had been killed but as Nepalese were primarily kept in front line this number increased to 70,000. But the number Brithish Embassy gave to Nepalese government was just 8000. Similarly the number of Nepalese killed in WWII was 1,46,000 but, the again the Britian only claimed 6000 kills. Apart from death, there is no account to casualties and suffering of Nepalese in the war.
Hiding the painful aspects of the war and spreading the story of its bravery and heroism is propaganda still today. Similarly another propaganda was present Nepalese as poor and military race. By claiming to provide employment to poor Nepalese. Britain pretend itself as a saviour. But, Nepal which was a country of farmers with fertile land was neither poor before recruitment nor was there any other purpose except to use them in war by Brithish. On the contrary, it was Gurkha soldier that rescued Britian. If the Gurkhas hadn't fought, Britians would have lost to Germany and Japan in WW2.
Even after the war was over, Britain sent thousands of Gurkha soldiers empty handed without any pension or without any facility given to war veterans. Gurkha soldiers have fought many wars for British but they have not received same rights as their native soldiers. This is the true story of Gurkja Brigade . It was a result of heavy strategic planning of Britain with many hidden agendas. Unless we know of history and learn, we will keep repeating the same mistake.
References: Gurkha's blue, Valor: The history of Gurkhas
Pramod Ghimire
