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Point Out indo nepal NEPAL: MODI STRIKES A CHORD 40 August <strong>2014</strong>
»» SURYA GANGADHARAN The most striking image of Prime Minister NarendraModi on his Nepal visit: Greeting Nepalis on the streets of Kathmandu, and clad in saffron robes ahead of his puja in the sacred precincts of the Pashupatinath Temple. 41 It was good going for an Indian Prime Minister, more so one on an official visit there after 17 years. Makes you think what has gone wrong with Indian foreign policy that a visit to a neighboring country becomes such a chore. It underscores the impression that they are not important to Big Brother India. It was an impression Modi wanted to dispel. Therefore the very visible effort to reach out to Nepal’s political elite during his address to their Constituent Assembly- Parliament in which he said, "I thought I should hit Nepal. Then I thought you would feel bad. But when I talk of hitting Nepal, I mean H-I-T. Highways, Infoways and Transways. You too would want this kind of a hit quickly.” He hit in other ways with a clutch of agreements: One billion dollar line of credit from India along with the vow: "You decide what needs to be done, India will stand by you.” The idea is to build on Nepal’s untapped hydropower potential, which Modi said, could well transform Nepal’s economy. He also promised to complete all those unfulfilled projects that have come to symbolize Kathmandu’s disenchantment and distance from New Delhi. In meetings with Nepali leaders across the political spectrum, Modi refused to play the ethnic card when he met Madhesi leaders and fobbed off requests that he meet deposed King Gyanendra, whose cause was pushed by various Hindu groups . It paid off, the political capital that accrued to Modi and India cannot be calculated: Witness Communist leader BauramBhattarai, India’s most bitter critic, insisting that there was no reason for Nepal to play off India against China. “Both countries are good neighbours of Nepal,” he said contradicting statements made in the past. But one swallow doesn’t make a summer and Modi knows the challenge is to deliver and deliver soon. One there’s a problem of capital, India doesn’t have enough of it and will need to work out some financial model perhaps bringing in international lending institutions. That would be complicated and will take time. “Then there’s our own capacity to implement,” said a senior Indian diplomat who served there. “Projects of this kind require a level of inter ministerial coordination lacking in India. Ideally, the MEA, Finance and other ministries involved should work together especially their bureaucracies. ” There’s also the issue of land acquisition which has become very sensitive in Nepal. Many Indian development projects involving roads for instance, are stuck because of that. Internal Nepali politics are another issue. The communists and royalists are on the margins now but they retain considerable nuisance value. What about the China factor? “It’s not so much about countering China or seeking to limit China’s influence,” said the diplomat. “The fact is China is driven by the need to end Tibet’s landlocked status and Nepal is a natural outlet. Nepal is also landlocked and the only access to the sea is through India. ” The implication is obvious, India will be the natural beneficiary of China’s trade through Nepal. If you go back to the last century, Bengal was a major supplier of fruits and vegetables to Tibet. China’s plan to build a railway line from Shigatse in Tibet to Kyirong in northern Nepal has trade and commerce written all over it. It will enable quick movement of Chinese goods and bring down prices. There are similar plans for a railway line running to Yatung in the Chumbi Valley between Sikkim and Bhutan. There is already a highway running all along India’s Line of Actual Control. Beijing expects commerce will expand markets for Chinese goods, improve the standard of living in Tibet and bring tourists into a desolate region. Better quality of living, China hopes, will reduce simmering resentment among Tibetans over China’s hold over their land. This is not to ignore the military strategic implications of China’s moves. There is no doubt China is concern over India beefing up its border infrastructure and modernizing its military. It will seek advantage wherever it can, and therefore the focus on Nepal. But no matter what China does, India and Nepal are bound together by ethnic, cultural and religious ties. Thousands of Nepalis live and work in India, they are part and parcel of this land. China cannot counter that.
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