The cabinet of Prachanda recently decided to include a map on its new banknotes that depicts portions of the Indian state of Uttarakhand as part of its territory. Nepal shares a border of over 1,850 km with five Indian states – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The disputed areas include Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura, and Kalapani in the Rs 100 denomination bank notes. It has drawn sharp objections from New Delhi. It is seen as a deliberate and provocative act by Nepal.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has stated that such unilateral measures are not going to change the reality on the ground.
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Together, the three disputed areas cover about 370 sq km. The strategic Lipulekh pass connects the Indian state of Uttarakhand with the Tibet region. The Kalapani area is strategically significant in South Asian diplomacy as it is at the tri-junction between India, China, and Nepal. Nepal has claimed that these areas belong to it.
In 2020, India inaugurated the 80 kilometres road to facilitate pilgrims visiting Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet in China, which is around 90 kilometres from the Lipulekh pass. Lipulekh is a strip of land on the northwestern edge of Nepal, lodged between Nepal, India, and Tibet. It is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India. The road has strategic value for India as it will be the first to provide connectivity to the Indian troops deployed on the Line of Actual Control with China in Uttarakhand.
The map was adopted by consensus in Nepal’s Parliament four years ago. The Prime Ministers of India and Nepal have agreed to examine the border issue and settle it through diplomatic means and channels. Following Nepal’s cabinet decision, Jaishankar said that discussions regarding the border issues are going on through established platforms. However, it appears that Nepal is not running at the same pace as India in this matter. Unlike in 2020, when the new map was adopted, the May 2 decision to put it on the currency note has met with scepticism and criticism.
The fissures in the bilateral relations of India and Nepal emerged when the well placed 2005-2014 relations between India and Nepal, when Nepal witnessed a transition in its secular and federal features vanished into thin air in 2015 after the Maoists flat refused the suggestion of New Delhi that Nepal’s constitution should be delayed until the concerns of the Terai parties are addressed.
The 134-day blockade of Nepal that began in 2015 created a major trust deficit against India. K.P. Sharma Ali who took over as PM of Nepal in 2015, quickly shifted his allegiance towards China. In 2018, Oli returned as PM again. In 2020, he built the consensus in Parliament for Nepal’s new map that included the disputed regions. India strongly objected to such acts.
The said issue needs to be resolved with evidence and diplomatic routes. Notably, the cabinet decision on printing new notes has come in just two months after Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Lenninist) CPN (UML) joined the ruling coalition in Nepal. His party’s manifesto clearly promises to bring the contested areas into Nepal.
The country has slowly drifted apart from India, and China has moved in to fill the vacuum with investments, aid, and loans. China’s charm offensive in Nepal might be veering the Himalayan country away from India. China considers Nepal a key partner in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and wants to invest in Nepal’s infrastructure as part of its grand plans to boost global trade.
It has been reported that in 2022, China offered Nepal a Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network created by blasting tunnels through the mountainous Tibetan plateau under its flagship Belt and Road Initiative. But the project has been marred by delays over finance.
China has already constructed Pokhara International Airport, but India continues to deny permission to fly overhead to flights heading to the Chinese-built airport. This means that the airport remains inactive.
India has also has squandered away its goodwill bank in the country, as its new recruitment scheme cut out the Nepalese Gurkhas from getting recruited in its Gurkha regiments. It has been nearly three years, and not a single Nepali Gurkha has joined the Indian Army, denting century-old ties.
There has been a change within Nepal as to how they compare the 2020 and 2024 issue. Unlike in 2020, when the new map adored by Nepal, there is no visible consensus on the current decision by putting up the map on the currency notes. It is being believed that the decision is perceived as unwise.
Many in Nepal believe that the issue should be settled through diplomacy and dialogue without any cascading consequences, which compels India to play the hardball vis a vis the Himalayan country. The Nepalese government is however, taking it lightly and believes that it can improve its chances by shaking hands with China.
As India is currently undergoing its national elections, the new government will have its work cut out to seriously recalibrate its approach towards its neighbourhood policies. Despite having in-principle agreements on the resolution of the tedious border issues, both India and Nepal have to set a time-bound framework to fix the tangible issue of disputed territories and restore the non-tangible historical ties.
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