New Delhi: Madheshi people at a time when the country had just adopted its new constitution was the main factor that pushed Nepal towards China, two foreign policy experts told ETV Bharat, adding that Indian authorities later failed to engage with Nepal's leadership and its people to address the anti-Indian sentiments which further aggravated the problem.
“Earlier in 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Nepal and addressed their Parliament, Nepalis were very pleased. But in 2015 when Nepalese were drafting their constitution, they found that India was unnecessarily interfering,” said Professor SD Muni, a New Delhi based former diplomat and expert on India-Nepal relations.
Professor SD Muni, who taught diplomacy and foreign affairs for nearly four decades at Jawaharlal Nehru University and was also India’s ambassador to Lao People's Democratic Republic, said that India wanted Nepalese authorities to address the concern of the people in Nepal's Tarai region.
Nepal’s Tarai region accounts for less than a quarter of the country’s area but it is home to nearly half of the nation’s population of over 28 million people. A large number of these people, also known as Madheshis, mostly have Indian ancestry and have settled in the country since the 18th century.
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“India sent an envoy to tell them that they should not have a new constitution and also that the new constitution should not have the word 'secular', it was even after they had drafted and adopted the new constitution in their constituent assembly,” Professor Muni stated.
“After Nepal did not accept our interference then we imposed an economic blockade on Nepal which continued for five months.”
Though the government of Nepal blamed India for enforcing the unofficial blockade of the country, the Indian government blamed local Madheshi protestors for disrupting the supplies. “The supply of several essential items including petroleum products did not reach there and Nepalese people faced great hardships. It created a lot of bad blood among the Nepalese and Nepalese nationalism has become anti-Indian,” Professor SD Muni noted.
K Yhome, a senior fellow at New Delhi based foreign policy think-tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF), stated that Nepalese leadership already had a feeling that India was not treating them as an equal sovereign nation and Nepal’s blockade in 2015 enforced this perception. “My reading is that Nepalese had a feeling that India had a big brotherly attitude, a bullying attitude,” K Yhome told ETV Bharat, adding, "They had a perception that India was not treating them as equals. When the blockade happened, it enforced this perception."
Nepal's drift towards China gathered pace after 2015
Professor Muni said that as Nepal’s relationship with India strained, the Himalayan nation started to drift towards its eastern neighbour China which had fought a bloody war with India in 1962 over the territorial dispute.
“They started moving towards China even at a greater speed, a large number of agreements were signed with China after 2015. The relationship with India has become strained,” said SD Muni.
The developments provided an opportunity to the communist giant to encircle India as it has already been working towards strategic encirclement of the country by building military and dual-use bases in India’s neighbourhood.
Under its string of pearls policy, China has already set up its military and commercial facilities and ports in several countries in India's neighbourhood including Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Indian authorities realised the gravity of the situation when Nepal's cabinet approved a new political map of the country last month which showed Lipulekh pass, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas as its territory.
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Nepal's cabinet approved the new political map on May 18 after the news of scuffle between Indian and Chinese soldiers had already become public. And both the houses of Nepal’s Parliament passed the new map this month when Indian Army was engaged in its bloodiest confrontation with Chinese PLA since 1975 which resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers in a violent face-off.
The first sign of trouble came last month when Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh opened a new 80 kilometres long road in the state of Uttarakhand on May 8 that connected Lipulekh pass located at the tri-junction of India, Nepal and China.
Nepal’s protest to the opening of the new road prompted Indian Army Chief General MM Narvane to observe that perhaps an external influence was behind Nepal’s protest.
India’s Foreign Ministry also rejected approval of the new political map by Nepal this month, saying that it was an ‘artificial enlargement of territorial claims’.
India-Nepal relations – the road ahead
Professor Muni also said that though the leadership of both countries have had bilateral meetings, Nepalese authorities have a feeling that India is not willing to resolve the outstanding issues despite a request from Nepal. He said that a group of eminent people of both the nations was created which prepared a report but it has not been officially submitted and India has not taken any official position on the report.
“Modi Ji has tried to resolve several issues. Earlier petrol and diesel were supplied to Nepal through trucks but now India has laid a pipeline. But the relationship which was once spoiled in 2015 has not been completely repaired,” Professor Muni maintained.
“Old methods of dealing with Nepal will not work. It's a new Nepal and it's a new India as well. Unless we are sensitive to their nationalism and their idiosyncrasies it will be difficult to find a solution,” he added.
Professor Muni said that India has its own facts in rejecting the Nepalese claims over Kalapani area as Nepal did not object to the inclusion of Lipulekh pass in the joint agreement signed between India and China in 1954 which listed Lipulekh as one of the passes through which India-China trade was allowed. “Both the countries should show their facts to convince each other if they can not be convinced then find a political solution. There are so many possible solutions, but they should engage with each other,” he told ETV Bharat.
(Article by Krishnanand Tripathi)
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