New Delhi:The high-voltage diplomatic conundrum between India-Nepal ties continues to remain a flashpoint after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to extend the road in the Lipulekh region provoking outrage in Nepal including its top leaders who branded this construction “illegal”. It is pertinent to note here that a few days back, Nepal’s CPN (Maoist Centre) pledged to fight for the protection of disputed lands including Kalapani, Limpiyadhura, and Lipulekh with India.
It is hardly a secret that the internal tussle between the political parties of Nepal, after the collapse of the KP Sharma Oli government and the constant intervention of China’s footprints into the land-locked Himalayan region are the major factors behind these diplomatic tensions.
Similarly, former PM of Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal, leader of CPN-Unified Socialist (CPN-US), issued a statement on Monday in which he has underscored that India’s latest move to widen the road in the Lipulekh territory is completely illegal as that road falls under Nepal’s territory.
“The attention of our party is drawn to the recent statement by the Indian Prime Minister that the road being illegally built in the Nepalese territory of Lipulekh will be further widened,” the statement read.
“The Indian government knows very well that the area of Lipulekh, Kalapani, and Limiyadhura are the sovereign territories of Nepal. Any development activity conducted there without consultation with the Nepalese government is totally illegal and it is a flagrant violation of our territorial integrity and national sovereignty,” the statement added.
Amid these rising tensions, Dr. Nishchal N. Pandey, Director, Centre for South Asian Studies, Kathmandu, speaking to ETV Bharat from Kathmandu said, “The new political map of Nepal and Kalapani is likely to be an election issue in Nepal. It is not clear whether elections are to be held very soon but some political parties are likely to exploit this issue for their electoral gains.”
This could be analyzed in the context when the bilateral ties between India and Nepal witnessed the greatest lows after Nepal released a new map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani, and Limpiyadhura as its own territories to which New Delhi responded that such artificial enlargement or territorial gains will not be acceptable to it.