As part of his
agenda of reviving stagnant relationships with neighboring countries, PM Modi
has chosen Nepal as his second foreign destination and will be arriving in
Kathmandu tomorrow. The last bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister was
when IK Gujral visited Nepal in 1997.
The two day
state visit will formally being tomorrow and PM Modi return to India on Monday
evening.
India’s
relationship with Nepal hit an all time low during the UPA regime. UPA was
instrumental in helping pro China Maoist rebels sign a 12 point accord in Delhi
with principal opposition parties of Nepal in November 2005, which gave way to terminating
a pro India monarchy, ushering in balkanization schema by removing its status
as the world’s only Hindu kingdom, opposition to Nepali as the national
language and an onslaught of missionary works under the guise of social works
of I/NGOs
Nepal has a
historic relationship with India based on a shared history, culture &
religion. Relationship started deteriorating under Rajiv Gandhi in 1989, when
the Indian government imposed a 13 month blockade which crippled the Nepalese
economy. Since then, the relationship between the two countries has been
strained with only PM Gujral & PM Vajpayee making efforts to correct policy
lapses vis-à-vis Nepal.
Nepal shares
more than 1400 kilometers of open border with Nepal, which brings its own share
of problems to India. Pakistan uses Nepal as a transit point in bringing in
fake currencies, drugs & cross border terrorists use Nepal to easily enter
India. Since 2004, the Nepal border area has also seen mushrooming of Madrasas,
which is used by Islamist fundamentalists and ISI to instigate trouble in
India.
UPA completely
isolated Hindu Nepal while promoting regionalism in the Terai regions,
bordering Bihar, UP & West Bengal & mollycoddling pro China Maoist
insurgents contrary to India’s regional security interests. The principle
challenge for PM Modi will be to rectify the problems escalated by the UPA
government & to ensure reversing growing suspicion & hatred of India.
The scheduled
visit has already garnered a lot of goodwill in Nepal, where the capital has
been decked in welcoming arches for the PM. Streets have been swept clean and a
two day government holiday has been announced. Common Nepalese are hopeful PM
Modi will announce a slew of economic aid & investments, which will
jumpstart the stagnant Nepalese economy.
Prime Minister
Modi is scheduled to meet his Nepalese counterpart, Sushil Koirala & will
also deliver a keynote address to the Constituent Assembly members, becoming
the first international leader to address the Nepalese Parliament.
Author: Ekta Patro
No comments:
Post a Comment