Kathmandu is firmly on India’s diplomatic radar. Following the visit of Army Chief General M.M. Naravane a few days ago, Foreign Secretary Harshvardhan Shringla is headed to Kathmandu later this month (November 26-27).
Earlier in October, head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Samant Kumar Goel had visited, and while meeting Nepal prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli, stated that India would not allow an interruption in the friendly bilateral relations.
Shringla’s Kathmandu visit is the first he will be making to the Himalayan nation ever since he took over. The last foreign secretaries meeting was in March 2019, when Vijay Gokhale had visited.
Observers feel that Kathmandu is an important area for India to focus its diplomacy on right now, given that the ruling Nepal Communist Party has a distinct Beijing tilt. Given the intrinsically enmeshed relations―geographical, cultural and economic―it is important to ensure that Kathmandu doesn’t begin slipping away. Ties with the Himalayan country had dipped to a low over the summer, with a string of actions from the Nepalese side aimed against India. The most drastic of these was Nepal actually amending its constitution to legalise a new map, which includes the disputed territory of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyudhara.
Nepal has subsequently been setting up armed border posts all along the open border with India. India shares a border of 1,770 km with Nepal, most of which is peaceful and only 2 per cent of which is disputed. Nepal also tried obstructing flood prevention plans in Bihar. Utterances from leading members from Nepal government about India, such as blaming India for rising COVID-19 cases in Nepal or stating that the “roti-beta rishta” is passe haven’t helped with good diplomatic optics either. In fact, Nepal is also in the process of amending its citizenship rules, making it more difficult for foreign brides (15 years) before they can get citizenship. The move mainly targets India, given the large number of cross-border marriages that take place.
The move, however, was criticised by various stakeholders within Nepal itself as being anti-women and there hasn’t been much progress on the subject.
India maintained a studied silence even as Nepal raved and ranted all year, only saying that it was up to Nepal to create conditions conducive for talks. In fact, India continued with its pandemic outreach, sending aid and equipment and conducted technical training sessions. Recent efforts, it shows, are aimed at creating these conditions. Nepal toned down its anti-India rhetoric and even pulled out a textbook which detailed Nepal’s boundary, with specific focus on the Kalapani region. Ostensibly, it is said that there were too many factual errors in that book, but pulling out the book has also sent a positive signal across the border, even though it doesn’t resolve the territorial issue.
The first sign of resumption to becoming talking neighbours again was when Indian ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kawatra held a virtual meeting with Nepal foreign secretary Shankar Das Bairagi in August to review all the ongoing development work in Nepal with Indian assistance.
More recently, Oli removed Ishwar Pokhrel from the post of defence minister, a fortnight before Naravane’s visit, and is handling this important portfolio himself. Pokhrel was particularly vocal against Indian policies.
However, the biggest gesture has been the reception Nepal gave Naravane when he made the visit to accept the honorary rank of general in the Nepal army. Both countries have the tradition of bequeathing the rank of honorary general in their armies to each other’s army chiefs. Naravane was the target of much of Nepal’s ire during the summer when he suggested Nepal was protesting the road through Lipulekh to Mansarovar “at the behest of someone else”. The Nepalese are trying to underplay his visit as “routine” though it is clearly an indication of a willingness to keep the bilateral on good footing. “Nepal may be a small country but it has a big heart,”' said Bishnu Rijal, a senior member of the politburo.