Nepal is hardening its stance. On June 9, its lower house, or House of Representatives is likely to clear its second Constitution amendment bill, through which the newly-drawn map of Nepal, that includes territory in dispute with India, as part of Nepal, will get closer to being legalised. The bill was presented in the house by law minister Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe on May 31.
Tomorrow, the law minister will present the bill to the full session of the house for 'Bichar Gariyos' (deliberation) and debate. If the house accepts the bill, the parliamentarians will be given 72 hours to make changes to it. But, if there is no objection, then the process can be cut short and passed the very same day.
It appears as if the house is keen to clear the bill within a day itself, and fast-track the process. For the bill to be passed, it needs to be voted for by two-thirds of the house. Of the 275 seats in the house, the ruling Nepal Communist Party holds 174 and the main opposition, the Nepal Congress, has 63 seats. Given the Nepal Congress has supported the amendment, 237 votes seem to be favour of the amendment for sure.
The same process will be followed in the Upper House, next.
However, also on the agenda is the budget. If the budget does not get passed tomorrow, the map bill might take another day to go through.
Nepal decided to redraw its maps when defence minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a new route to Kailash Mansarovar from Pithoragarh. Nepal alleges that 19 km of this road passes through its sovereign territory. The map, which was released in mid-May, shows Limpiyudhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani areas, which India claims as its own, to be under Nepal.
This act of defiance from Nepal means that any talks with Kathmandu do not seem possible anytime soon. India had earlier said that it was up to Nepal to create the right environment to hold talks. Nepal, however, has not done much to create a conducive diplomatic environment in recent times. Shortly after Singh inaugurated the road, Nepal's foreign office summoned the Indian envoy Vinay Mohan Kwatra to express their resentment to the development.
Subsequently, prime minister K.P.S. Oli has made below-the-belt comments about India's emblem in Parliament.
Nepal, it is learnt is peeved that India has had time to hold border talks with China in Ladakh, and also a full virtual bilateral summit with Australia in the past few days, but says that talks with Kathmandu will happen once the corona pandemic has been dealt with. A belligerent Nepal says that getting the redrawn map legalised should not come in the way of talks with India on the border issue. Don't India and China have regular talks though they have disputed territory, and claim the same chunks of land in their respective maps?
"We should sit together on the table to resolve our disputes, We are confident that we will be able to convince our Indian friends that Limpiyudhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani belong to Nepal, because we have sufficient documents, maps and letters to prove it,'' says Bishnu Rijal, deputy chief of foreign affairs and member, Central Party Committee of the Nepal Communist Party.
However, observers in India say that Nepal is making it very difficult for itself with this overt, provoking action.
The border issue with Nepal has been largely resolved, only two sections, the Kalapani area in Uttarakhand and Susta region in Bihar, are disputed. Earlier, there was an agreement for talks at the foreign secretary-level, but these have not yet been held.
And while Oli has always had a difficult relationship with India, this time around, the map issue has united the entire country—political parties from opposite sides have joined forces, as have students, NGOs and civil societies. The map revision is an assertion of Nepal's new and confident identity. Will this new Nepal be able to create the right atmosphere that New Delhi has asked for—so that talks may be held?