Nepal PM's India visit was exactly what Modi needed

Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was in India on his maiden foreign trip after assuming charge, underscoring the importance Kathmandu is placing in restoring normalcy to its ties with Delhi.

This was the first bilateral visit by a Nepali PM to New Delhi since Baburam Bhattarai's visit in October 2011. Oli was accompanied by a high-level delegation - deputy PM Kamal Thapa, finance minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel and home minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet, among others.

Mission

Oli was explicit that his main mission behind this bilateral visit to India was to "clear the misunderstanding" and take ties between the two countries to the same level as in 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Nepal. And after his discussions with Modi, Oli said, "The misunderstanding that persisted in the last few months is no longer there. I believe our relationship will greatly benefit from our discussions. It is high time to look at India-Nepal relations with a forward-looking approach in the interest of the two countries and their people."

The two nations also signed nine agreements, ranging from infrastructure to rail and road transit.

This visit assumes great significance as the India-Nepal ties had been strained in the wake of agitation by the communities opposing Nepal's Constitution, saying it failed to address their concerns over representation and homeland.

The protesters had blocked the trading points for almost four months, crippling supply of petroleum products, medicines and other commodities. Oli's government had accused India of imposing an unofficial blockade to support the Madhesis and there were even suggestions that the PM might visit Beijing first instead of New Delhi, thereby breaking a longstanding tradition.

But after the blockade ended earlier this month, Oli reached out to India. Before his visit to India, Oli tried to allay Indian concerns by suggesting that his government wanted close ties with both New Delhi and Beijing and that he didn't believe in using one neighbour against another.

India had raised concerns over Nepal's Constitution through backchannels to avoid being accused of interfering with the process. There was a sense that Nepali parties ignored the concerns, along with a suggestion to delay promulgation for a few days in view of protests. India conveyed a list of seven amendments to make the Constitution amenable for alienated groups living mostly in the Terai region bordering India. The Nepali government argued that "Nepal's Constitution is better than the Indian Constitution" and "the most progressive in South Asia".

Blockade

Communist leaders in Nepal have taken a strong anti-India stand, underlining that the new Constitution's promulgation is a "matter of conscience and self-respect" for their people and "any act from anywhere that amounts to undermining our sovereignty is not acceptable to the Nepalis".

The India-Nepal relations have taken a nosedive with Kathmandu blaming Delhi for growing fuel shortages, implying that India had imposed an informal blockade by not allowing fuel trucks to cross the border into Nepal.

Delhi blamed this disruption on the mass protests. Nepal imports almost all its oil from India, and road links to China through the Himalayas have been blocked since last year's earthquake. As tensions with India mounted, China reopened its border with Nepal in Tibet.

The disruptions underscore the Himalayan state's profound economic vulnerability, further inflaming anti-India passions. China is likely to be a beneficiary of this turmoil in India's periphery.

Uncertainty

Historically, Nepal has had close ties with India. The political uncertainty in Nepal has fuelled anti-Indian sentiments, allowing China to increase its presence and even offer financial assistance for drafting the Constitution. China overtook India as Nepal's biggest foreign investor in 2013 with its funding of a $1.6bn hydropower project - one of country's biggest outside investments.

Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Modi made Nepal a priority. He visited in August 2014 and also pledged $1bn for reconstruction after the earthquake. It was the first bilateral visit to Nepal by an Indian prime minister in 17 years.

Nepali polity, cutting across party lines, had welcomed the assumption of power by Modi, with most expressing hope that Nepal would be a beneficiary of his developmental agenda.

The Nepali Parliament invited Modi for an address, the first by a foreign head of state to that body since 1990, and the Nepalis gave him a rousing welcome.

Modi's speech was a graceful reflection on the trials and turbulence that have shaped India-Nepal ties in recent years with a promise of a change of course. Now, with India welcoming the amendment of the Constitution to accommodate the demands of Madhesis and the lifting of the blockade, the Modi government has another opportunity to reshape the contours of New Delhi's relations with Kathmandu, especially at a time when India seems to be losing ground in Nepal to China.

The Nepali prime minister has reached out to India and India reciprocated well. The challenge will be to ensure that this momentum is not lost in the coming years.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)