A Nepal-India win-win

A Nepal-India win-win

Context:

• With the Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli sworn as Prime Minster of Nepal, he is tasked today to reset the relationship with India at a new normal.

Background:

• India became progressively interventionist as Nepal got engaged in internal crisis during and after the Maoist ‘people’s war’, and as the hill-plain polarisation escalated during the constitution-writing.
• While there are numerous domestic factors, a key reason for political instability in Nepal has been India’s overt and covert intercessions.
• Meanwhile, Indian analysts fail to appreciate how political stability in Nepal can deliver economic bounty to the bordering Indian States on its three sides.

A fresh start for India-Nepal:

• Tagging the Prime Minister of Nepal as ‘anti-Indian’ is not sensible, for being ‘pro-Nepal’ does not ipso facto mean animosity towards India.
• And India may be surprised to find that Nepal is more than willing to reciprocate its overtures, providing reassurance that Kathmandu will never act against India’s security interests.
• The central socio-political task is to ensure inclusion in governance, giving the Janjati ethnicities as well as the Madhesi plains people and others a feeling of ownership of the state.
• While seeking to restore Nepal’s position internationally, the Prime Minster has to implement the connectivity agreements he signed with Beijing in 2015, while lifting the relationship with India above the patron-supplicant status.
• Prime Minster Mr. Oli’s primary preoccupation will be managing the government’s relationship with the opposition.
• He must reach out to build a working relationship with the NC and the Madhesbaadi plains-based parties, also because hundreds of new laws need to be urgently drafted under the Constitution.
• He will have his hands full trying to raise employment through tourism, industry, agroforestry and agriculture, ensuring energy self-sufficiency through hydro projects and rescuing the post-earthquake reconstruction effort.
• The Prime Minister’s immediate challenge, however, has to do with Pushpa Kamal Dahal (‘Prachanda’), his Maoist partner in the Left Alliance.