Editorial: Churning in the neighbourhood

New Delhi will have to keep an eye on the policy decisions that the Prachanda-Oli duo would take in the coming days in a competitive geopolitical landscape

The dramatic political developments in Nepal, culminating in Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda’s return to power for the third time, are bound to have an impact on bilateral relations with India, given his tilt towards China. Capping a prolonged power struggle marked by ego clashes, Kathmandu is witnessing the formation of a new government by an alliance comprising the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) of which Prachanda is a leader, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), which is led by K P Sharma Oli, and a number of smaller parties. On his way to capturing power, Prachanda ditched the pre-election five-party alliance led by former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba’s Nepali Congress and joined hands with his once bitter rival Oli. The tiny Himalayan nation has been witnessing power politics being reduced to a game of musical chairs. New Delhi will have to keep an eye on the policy decisions that the Prachanda-Oli duo would take in the coming days in a competitive geopolitical landscape, with Beijing ever ready to expand its influence in the politics of the Himalayan nation. It must be pointed out that both Prachanda and Oli had deployed anti-Indian rhetoric in the past as a tool for domestic politicking. However, Prachanda is credited with having a pragmatic streak compared to his ideological fellow traveller Oli who wears ultra-nationalism on his sleeve. It was the Oli government in the past which raked up a territorial dispute by pushing a new map that marked some Indian territories as that of Nepal.

China, which played a key role in bringing the two Communist parties together in 2017, has repeated the mediation act this time too. There are reports that Beijing will now push for reviving and fast-tracking China-backed projects which were paused by the Deuba government. One of the immediate concerns for India is the fate of the West Seti hydropower project. The project was awarded to India by the earlier Deuba government but was opposed by Oli. Notwithstanding the ups and downs in bilateral relations and the occasional friction, India must never change its friendly policies towards the people of Nepal, like recruitment of its citizens into the Indian Army and unrestricted work policies for them. The civilisational ties between the people of the two countries are far too deeper to be adversely affected by diplomatic irritants. Despite the tensions over certain bilateral issues, India is seen by the people in Nepal as a reliable neighbour. The Indo-Nepal ties are founded on a strong cultural bond between the people of the two nations and this must be leveraged to broaden the bilateral engagement. There is no denying the fact that Kathmandu has, over time, moved closer to Beijing with the latter helping in setting up mega infrastructure projects.