India on Thursday tore into Nepal’s promise to provide security to Indian truckers, and said the blockade on the border and the resultant fuel crisis are prompted by a section of the Nepalis.
“Indian Oil Corporation was unable to transport fuel on October 7 due to border obstruction on the Nepali side. The obstruction is due to the fact that a part of the population is not happy with the Constitution that Nepal has passed recently and they are asking for changes in that constitution,” said Vikas Swarup, Spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry.
Earlier, Nepal’s Ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyay had told The Hindu that Nepal had given guarantees of physical safety to the truckers. “We have furnished all kinds of assurances of foolproof security to the government. We will escort every truck once it enters Nepal. So where is the problem?”
But Thursday’s verbal outpouring by Mr. Swarup shows that bilateral ties are not moving ahead. Swarup indicated that the blockade against the movement of trucks carrying commodities and petroleum products will continue until a political solution is found to the disaffection and alienation of the Madhesi people who share deep cultural links with India.
The verbal spat and the blockade have nearly wrecked the BBIN (Banglades-Bhutan-India-Nepal) Motor Vehicles Agreement which was perceived to be an initiative of the Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar.
India, which was the leading player in the BBIN initiative, showcased the agreement as a sign of SAARC moving forward without Pakistan. Devi Prasad Tripathi of Nationalist Congress Party, who played a key role in firming up the Nepal-India ties since the arrival of the NDA government in May 2014, told The Hindu that India’s fight with Nepal is hurting the image of India as a South Asian power.
“Ever since the NDA came to power, we pushed for a consensus-based Constitution in Nepal. We also pushed the Nepali political parties to come closer and resolve their differences. We know that the Constitution does not satisfy all sides. But they can improve upon it later. We should act in a mature manner and give Nepal the space that it needs to sort its own domestic affairs.”
