First, the Communist regime in Nepal soured Indo-Nepal ties by ratcheting irredentism and showing Indian territories of Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani in Nepal’s revised political map, then Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli also damaged people-to-people ties by blaming India for bringing the Wuhan virus to Nepal. Such anti-India, hate speeches also led to Nepalese Police firing on unarmed Indian citizens. And now the Nepal government is behaving as if India were an enemy country.
Recent reports are rather disturbing- Nepal’s FM Radio stations close to the Indo-Nepal border are airing anti-India content. These FM Radio stations located close to the Indo-Nepal border can be heard in India’s Dharchula, Baluakot, Jauljibi and Kalika towns in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand.
Shalu Datal, a resident of Dantu village in the Dharchula Sub-division of the Pithoragarh district said, “As people on both sides of the border listen to Nepali songs, they also hear the anti-India speeches delivered by Nepalese leaders in between them.”
She added, “Some old channels like Mallikarjun Radio and a website named annapurna.online are also broadcasting reports depicting Kalapani as Nepalese territory.”
The main radio stations broadcasting anti-India content are Naya Nepal and Kalapani Radio. They are located at Chabrigar near the district headquarters in Darchula, Nepal.
Since these FM radio stations have an effective range of three kilometres, they can be heard in India’s border areas as well.
In an attempt that is both unoriginal and provocative, Nepal is also airing weather updates of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura. A prominent Rung community leader, Krishna Garbiyal from Dharchula also disclosed that the Nepalese radio stations were also releasing weather bulletins of the Indian territories.
Actually, Nepal is not even trying to be original, as it was only in the first week of May that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) made a significant move by adding Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan in its weather forecast. Reports stated that IMD has started referring its meteorological sub-division of Jammu and Kashmir as “Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Muzaffarabad”.
The district administration is not yet aware of the Nepalese propaganda, and Pithoragarh Superintendent of Police Preeti Priyadarshini said, “We have no feedback from our intelligence units on the subject.”
Dharchula Circle Officer VK Acharya said, “Our intelligence units have not yet spoken about any such anti-India propaganda by Nepal.”
But locals want the authorities to take cognisance of the anti-India propaganda being relentlessly broadcast by the Nepalese radio stations. Ashok Nabiyal, a social activist from Dharchula’s Vyans Valley said, “Nepalese propaganda is clearly aimed at influencing locals on this side of the border and strengthening their claims, but our authorities are yet to take any pro-active measure to counter this propaganda and misinformation.”
PM Oli has managed to get the Constitutional Amendment, artificially enlarging Kathmandu’s territorial claims through a revised political map, passed. And now PM Oli is trying to brainwash Nepalese living on the bordering areas. Border issues can be emotive and thus a China-backed PM Oli is trying to create a new security threat for India by instigating people living close to the India border in Nepal.
This explains why the FM radio stations close to the Indo-Nepal border are suddenly airing anti-India content. The Indian locals have exposed PM Oli’s nefarious designs and this makes a strong case for the Indian security agencies to consider harsher measures including shutting the international border in order to avert a security threat that Kathmandu’s ruling Communist regime is trying to create.