The first envoy of Nepal’s new government Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa met with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Delhi to day in an attempt to resolve their twin concerns over making Nepal’s constitution more inclusive, and easing the blockage of more than 2,500 trucks at the India-Nepal border that has led to weeks of chronic fuel, food and medicine shortages inside that country.
Mr. Thapa is expected to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday morning before he returns to Kathmandu, and both sides are expected to issue a joint statement, officials said.
According to officials, India’s main concern during the talks was to seek details over how the new government of PM K.P. Oli would proceed with talks on the Madhesi agitation over the constitution. “EAM Sushma Swaraj made it clear that peace and reconciliation in Nepal will help create an environment conducive to taking forward India Nepal ties,” an official told The Hindu .
In response, Mr. Thapa is said to have given details of PM Oli’s call for talks with Madhesi and Tharu groups and others on the constitution. Addressing the Nepal parliament on October 15, Mr. Oli said he was seen as a hypernationalist or “intolerant leader” said he would show “with his actions” that he was “intent on reconciliation”. At a cabinet meeting, he reportedly appointed a special committee to hold talks with the protesting groups, and has agreed to discussing two key constitutional amendments that were cleared by his predecessor Sushil Koirala’s cabinet two weeks ago. The amendments deal with proportional representation and the delineation of electoral constituencies which have to be ratified in parliament and the provincial assemblies. “Mr. Thapa assured Ms. Swaraj that the government would take steps towards dialogue as early as possible,” a source present at the meeting between the two delegations said, adding that India would wait to see whether the statements were “actioned upon or merely lipservice.”
Mr. Thapa, whose delegation included Nepal’s commerce and civil supplies secretary, made an appeal to Ms. Swaraj on easing the blockage of trucks on the Indian side of the border at Raxaul in Bihar, which is the main crossing point. In particular, Mr. Thapa said that 300 trucks belonging to the Nepal Oil Corporation should be expedited at the earliest, as the fuel shortages inside Nepal are the most crippling, particularly given this is the festival season of Dashain or Vijaya Dashmi.
Officials said India would “examine the feasibility of re-routing the NOC trucks through other crossing points,” while Ms. Swaraj maintained that India had “no intention of stopping supplies.” While neither side spoke of a breakthrough in the meetings, officials said the Nepal Deputy PM had not accused India of enforcing “a blockade” as the government had done in the past. Describing the atmosphere as “positive”, Nepali officials told The Hindu they were hopeful “all issues would be resolved, and talks were going in that direction.”
The choice of Mr. Thapa who is both Deputy PM and the Foreign Minister as the first minister of the new government to visit New Delhi is significant, as he is known for his close ties with Bharatiya Janata Party leadership. After meeting with Ms. Swaraj, Mr. Thapa, who is the Chairperson of the royalist Rashtriya Prajatantra Party Nepal (RPPN), and a proponent of Nepal’s return to a “Hindu state”, also met with Home Minister Rajnath Singh. In a tweet Mr. Singh said that the two leaders had discussed India-Nepal relations. “India and Nepal have always been committed to work closely together to advance stability, peace and prosperity in the South Asian region,” Mr. Singh tweeted.
