India is unlikely to hold boundary talks with Nepal until it amends the Oli government’s unilateral step of changing the country’s map to include areas which India claims as its own. This was the message given to Nepalese foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali during his meetings with the Indian government last week.
“Nepal wants the bilateral relationship to go on as if nothing has happened. That cannot happen,” said government sources. India would engage Nepal on development, connectivity, trade and other issues, but it would not be business as usual, they said. However, Gyawali’s visit was an indication that the bilateral relationship was back on track after last year’s turmoil. India took a much more accommodative stance on Covid vaccines, promising to send the first lot in a matter of weeks.
Unusually, Gyawali left without a call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, though defence minister Rajnath Singh met him on Saturday. While the official reason given was Modi’s preoccupation with the vaccine rollout, the Indian leadership did not want to be seen taking sides at a time of political uncertainty and internal dissensions in Nepal which could have the unfortunate effect of drawing India into its domestic situation.
The Indian snub is important because Nepalese PM K P Sharma Oli had made the boundary talks the prime reason for the Gyawali visit. Gyawali stressed the importance of resolving the boundary issue twice - in a public address and in a breakfast interaction with journalists. Refuting the charge of unilateralism, he said the Nepal action came after India issued its political map in November 2019.
The Indian side has also steered clear of the ongoing political crisis in Nepal. “The Chinese are doing what India used to do in earlier years,” said sources here. Despite Gyawali’s assertion about not allowing foreign interference, there is no explanation for the fact that a high level Chinese political delegation had been in Kathmandu for over three days last month to persuade the feuding Communist leadership to come back together.
