The Nepal police opened fire near the Bihar border to prevent Madhesi protesters from capturing a bridge demarcating the Raxaule-Birgunge border between India and Nepal. A 19 year old student from Bihar was killed in the skirmish. The Madhesis have been agitating against the Nepal Constitution which, according to them, has not met their demands. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up his counterpart in Nepal, K.P Oli seeking details of the incident. He has expressed shock and condemned the unfortunate killing. Modi assured Oli that there was no obstacle to India offering fuel and other essentials to Nepal. But he insisted on an urgent solution of the Madhesi crisis. The issues involved were political and could not be settled by force, said an official of India’s external affairs ministry. Around 500 Madhesis have assembled on the bridge. It appears that Narendra Modi’s supposedly radical neighbourhood policy draws on the failed paradigm of Rajiv Gandhi. India’s policy continues to be guided by the maxim of carrot and stick. New Delhi rushing relief to Nepal after the earthquake is followed by what is perhaps an exaggerated concern about the Madhesi issue. It ignores the fundamental geocentric reality of China digging its heels in Nepal. India has a long-standing relationship with Nepal based on civilizational and people to people ties. Its interference with the political problems of Nepal can only pave the way for Chinese intrusions into the country. It has to be noted that China has already supplied one third of the 1000 metric tonnes of petroleum to fuel- starved Nepal. The clashes on the Raxaul-Birgunj border are said to have disrupted India’s supply of fuel to its northern neighbour.
The standoff with Nepal seems of a piece with setbacks to India’s neighbourhood policy elsewhere. India has stood by as the Maldives jump into a political limbo. New Delhi’s relations with Islamabad are rocky. Bangladesh continues to complain of cooperation from West Bengal in counter-terrorism operations. Ties with Sri Lanka need to be strengthened. India’s Nepal policy seems to have given way to the dictates of Hindutva politicians. The killing of an Indian teenager is tragic but should not be allowed to snowball into a confrontation between Delhi and Kathmandu.
