Nepal’s new map claiming Indian territory approved amid concern over Chinese influence

By Naz Asghar

June 18, 2020

New Delhi/Kathmandu: Nepal’s Parliament on Thursday cleared a Constitution amendment bill for the implementation of the new map incorporating the territories of Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani, which India says fall in its territory.

The Bill was passsed amids increasing concern among the Madhesi people, those living in plains area or terai region of the state, over the deteriotating relations between the two neighbours.

The Bill later received Presidential approval, Himalayan Times reported.The Lower House, the House of Representatives, had already passed the Bill on Saturday

Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Shivamaya Tumbahangphe presented the bill in the upper House, the National Assembly after clause-wise discussion after which, 57 (of 58) NA lawmakers voted in favour of the bill.

India has already expressed its opposition to the chanage in Nepal’s map. In response to media queries on the passing of Constitutional Amendment Bill revising the Coat of Arms of Nepal by the House of Representatives, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said,

” We have noted that the House of Representatives of Nepal has passed a constitution amendment bill for changing the map of Nepal to include parts of Indian territory. We have already made our position clear on this matter.

This artificial enlargement of claims is not based on historical fact or evidence and is not tenable. It is also violative of our current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues,” he said.

Of late, Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has been asserting that Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belong to Nepal and his country will “reclaim” them from India.

The ties between the two neighbours came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8, which evoked a strong objection from Nepal. The Himalayan state said that the road passed through Nepalese territory.

Veteran Nepali politician and leader of the Janata Samajwadi Party Rajendra Mahto told Indian News Stream over phone  that since both the countries were laying claims to the territory, the matter should be resolved through talks. His party, and  all other opposition parties also supported the Bill.

” We have supported the Bill, but we want now that the two countries should now sit round the table and resolve the issue,” Mahto said.

We do not want our relations with India to deteriorate as these relations are ties of bread and blood (Beti aur Roti ke sambandh, as it is called in Hindi). These relations have developed over centuries and

have to be preserved,” he said

There is a strong feeling among the Madhesi people and political parties that the present communist Government led by KP Sharma Oli is  deeply under the Chinese influence, and Beijing is leaving no stone unturned to expand its sway over the tiny Himalayan state in order to put India under increased pressure.

Senior journalist Deepak Goel, who is a close watcher of developments in Nepal for the last 30 years, says India has been complascent about the Chinese activities in the Himalayan state.

” We just took solace in the fact that Nepal was land locked, or ”India locked” and Beijing was too far away. But in the last 15 years, China has built both political and  physical connectivity with Kathmandu

unheeded by India,”  Goel said.

—-India News Stream