NEW DELHI: India’s message to visiting Nepal deputy prime minister and foreign minister Kamal Thapa was that disruptions in fuel and food supplies would fully normalize only after Kathmandu leadership met aspirations of the agitated Madheshis by bringing in the constitutional amendments and starting a “credible” dialogue.
In the first high level visit after the new government took over, Thapa had a two-hour long discussion with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and met with home minister Rajnath Singh. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and foreign secretary S Jaishankar also called on him.
He will be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday morning, following which a press statement will be released.
As per sources, Thapa had asked for India as an immediate relief for the Dashain celebrations to re-route 300 fuel tankers waiting at Raxaul to other border points.
Swaraj has promised to help as possible, but there were constraints in terms of border agreements. Nepal has promised to apply for permission for these tankers to go through other border points to India, who have assured fast track approval.
However, considering the terrain and bureaucratic delays, there is not much optimism that even the majority of the fuel trucks will reach Nepal on time before the festival this week.
Incidentally after talks with Swaraj, Nepal embassy in Delhi released a short press release. It was notable that the language was reconciliatory, with no use of the word ‘blockade’, which new Nepal PM had claimed India had imposed informally.
“They discussed about easing of obstruction on movement of cargo vehicles to Nepal . Hon. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mr. Thapa requested for the Government of India’s assistance in facilitating the movement of cargo traffic at Nepal-India border points,” said the press statement.
The message from all interlocutors was that Kathmandu should understand the seriousness of the situation in Terai as Madheshis were not in any mood to relent and stop their agitation. Any effort to make an hollow gesture like electing yet another Madheshi leader to the Presidency this week, will not help matter, as the anger was too deep, felt India.
If the two constitutional amendments, which was part of eight-point ruling coalition agreement, were passed at the earliest since they were “low hanging fruits” – Madheshis would call off street protests and come to the table, felt Indian officials.
This, in turn, would allow for the situation at the border to ease so that the main trade points Raxaul and Birgunj could operate at their optimum pace.
During discussions, Thapa did not give a timeline on when the government will bring the constitutional amendment before the parliament, but said that some technical hurdles were being sorted out.
India told Thapa that cargo movement was taking place at the border, with five or six border points always in use, though Raxaul and Birgunj were the worst affected with kilometres-long queue.
However, India noted that Nepal’s suggestion that cargo traffic can be diverted to other border points where no agitation was taking place, was not pratical since Madheshis can easily shift their protests too.
Therefore, New Delhi’s bottomline to Thapa was that the solution to the current crisis lay only in Nepal.