(Business Standard, New Delhi Nov 6) —Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah today held a meeting with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leadership to discuss the Nepal crisis. The meeting came on a day that Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli criticised the blockade of transit routes on India-Nepal border as more inhuman than war and also slammed New Delhi for raking up the alleged rights abuse of Madhesis in Nepal at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
BJP President Shah, RSS deputy Krishna Gopal and Sangh’s Nepal head Ved Prakash, among others attended the meeting. The meeting comes at a time of much criticism of current government’s handling of India-Nepal relations after the Madhesis, the Indian origin inhabitants of the Terai region, protested the new Constitution.
In Kathmandu, the Nepal PM criticized the blockade of transit routes by Madhesi protesters as an “imported agenda carried by certain elements” and termed it an “unofficial blockade”. Oli also expressed dissatisfaction at New Delhi targeting Nepal at the UNHRC.
“Neighbouring country is bullying us on one hand and raising issues of impunity on the other,” Oli said. He said the blockade has awakened nationalism among the people of Nepal, but said the government will resolve the problems by holding talks with the agitating groups in Terai.
On Wednesday, India called on Nepal at the UNHRC to consolidate Constitution building by accommodating “all sections” and emphasised that problems facing it cannot be resolved through force. In its statement at the second Universal Periodic Review of Nepal, India also urged the Himalayan nation to investigate and take credible measures to prevent recurrence of “incidents of violence, extra-judicial killings and ethnic discrimination in the country”.
Oli also said that Nepal was looking at alternative routes to bring in the essential supplies. Today, Nepal and China agreed to open seven more border points.
(Written with Agency reports)