After escalating bilateral tensions with India for the better part of the last one month, the Nepalese government has finally come to its senses. According to news reports, Nepal is insisting on foreign secretary-level talks with India to address the Kalapani border issue and has been asking for dates to hold the talks. While the change of tune was welcomed by India, the Ministry of External affairs stressed that Nepal needs to create an environment of trust and confidence for the dialogue to resume. This comes in the backdrop of several provocative actions and statements made by the members of the Nepalese government.
The discussions to amend the constitution for updating the Controversial Nepal map have been put on the back burner as opposition political parties in Nepal have sought national consensus on the matter.
Unlike KP Sharma Oli and his communist party, the opposition Congress party is wary that updating the map with the Indian Territory could have serious consequences and it might even break the chances of future reconciliation talks and therefore the support has been eked away from Oli.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesman Anurag Srivastava said India had noted that this matter was receiving “careful consideration” in Nepal. He further commented “India is open to engaging with all its neighbors on the basis of mutual sensitivity and mutual respect, in an environment of trust and confidence. This is a continuous process and requires constructive and positive efforts,”
It all started when the Nepalese government started hampering India’s security interests by aligning with the vile Chinese. Nepal, at the behest of China, raked up the minor Kalapani border dispute after India inaugurated the Dharchula-Lipulekh road close to the Sino-India border.
The Communist agent planted by China as the PM of Nepal has been acting as a minion of China and hence he started spewing venom towards India. In what can be termed as one of his brainfade moments, the Nepalese PM had commented that the people who were entering Nepal illegally through India were responsible for spreading the coronavirus in the country and said that “Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian now”.
After KP Oli made the distasteful remarks, it was the turn of Nepal’s Defence Minister Ishwor Pokhrel to take the centre stage and further parrot China’s line. He went a step further than Oli by provoking the Gorkhas against the Indian Army.
Reacting to the Indian Army Chief Manoj Naravane’s remark about Nepal raking up a minor border dispute with India at someone’s behest (Read: China), Pokhrel said that the Army Chief’s remarks were “condemnable”.
He added, “With this, the Indian Chief of the Army Staff has also hurt the sentiments of the Nepali Gorkha army personnel who lay down their lives to protect India. It must now be difficult for them to stand tall in front of the Gorkha forces.”
Evoking the Gorkhas who have been long guarding the Indian borders and its people was a highly provocative statement that received immediate backlash from all quarters.
Heavily inebriated under Chinese ‘communist’ influence, the Himalayan neighbor of India is looking to sabotage the centuries-old relationship with India that traverses religious, cultural, and familial ties. If it wasn’t for New Delhi’s maturity and statesmanship, these statements would have already landed Nepal in a pickle.
At the center of Kathmandu’s fresh hostility towards India is a strategic road link that connects Dharchula and Lipulekh in the Pithoragarh district of India’s Uttarakhand state. The road link that gives India a vantage point at an altitude of 17,060 feet above sea level, and only 4 kilometres away from the LAC with China was inaugurated earlier this month.
Naturally, the fickle Chinese had to intervene and they sought the use of Nepal to push its sinister motives. Oli who is a hard-core communist quickly warmed up to the Chinese and went about sabotaging the relationship.
Meanwhile, China simultaneously tried intruding in the eastern part of Ladakh. But after India did not budge or cowered down to Beijing’s scare-tactics, the PLA troops retreated rather timidly.
After China was given the solid treatment, the Nepalese government had a moment of awakening and therefore they are now scurrying around asking for the sates to hold the talks.
The false narrative of “India is looking to annex its neighbor’s territories” is being weaved by China and paraded through Pakistan and Nepal. The false skirmishes of China have only backfired as the government in New Delhi anticipated the posturing tactics of China, well in advance.
As for Kathmandu, the road has been cleared, all it needs to do now is give up the Chinese line of the border dispute and come clean. The Union government is more than willing to walk together with Nepal.
Despite Nepal’s rhetoric’s in the last one month, India did not close the borders and ensured an unimpeded supply of essential items including medicine in the wake of Coronavirus pandemic. Goes to show how important India considers Nepal in its foreign policy’s scheme of things.