In the first indication that the government is considering a softening of position after facing a pushback from Nepal and the Maldives, officials on Tuesday acknowledged that India “needs a balance” on the neighbourhood.
“We need to find ways of working with our neighbourhood by which they also feel their interests have been advanced and we also feel that our interests have been advanced.” In an explanation of India’s neighbourhood policy a senior official said, “If we have beliefs and interests and affinities, we need to abide by that. We can’t micromanage our neighbours, but we can’t ignore the issues either.”
The official was responding to questions over India’s handling of relations with the two countries that has come in for criticism in recent months. On Nepal, where India is accused of a blockade on fuel supplies after Nepal pushed through a Constitution that has provisions India believes would harm Madhesi interests, the official, who didn’t wish to be named said “getting the balance right has historically been the challenge for us. Sometimes when you are in the middle of things there is a sense you have gone too sharply in one direction, sometimes we have pushed too hard in the opposite direction.”
While denying that India interfered in the Nepal constitution process by pushing the Madhesi cause, the official said that India had spoken to leaders from across the political spectrum, with the objective “that all stakeholders should be taken along.” The official said that India’s main concerns over the Constitution: on proportional inclusion, constituency delimitation and provincial boundaries were being addressed by the new government in Nepal, and India was hopeful of a resolution of other issues. The statement signifies a softening of the Indian position that the Constitution in its present form is unacceptable.
The biggest development has been the turnaround in India’s position on the election of K.P. Sharma Oli, who was until last week seen as “anti-India” and “hypernationalist” by New Delhi, but now has been warmly feted, despite the fact that the government had hoped former PM Sushil Koirala would be re-elected. Shortly after the election on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Mr. Oli and “conveyed his hearty congratulations” on the “democratic and orderly elections.” The statement was a first, as in the past month all MEA statements on Nepal were full of concern and critical of the Constitution process.
