Nepal, A Model Of Modi's Neighbourhood Policy

Nepal goes 'secular'. But India fumes at the constitution's 'unfair' federal structure.

- Pranay Sharma

As for much of Nepal, September 20 should have been a day of celebration for India as well. As Nepal’s big neighbour, India had played the chief facilitator and guarantor’s role in the peace process from 2006 to ultimately help bring Maoist insurgents and major political players together to write a new constitution. Yet, on Sunday, when it was finally adopted by an overwhelm­ ing majority in Nepal’s constituent assembly, after years of waiting, it hardly brought forth any cheer from India. A terse MEA statement, bereft of the customary congratulatory homi­ lies, only ‘noted’ the momentous event. If India expected the constitution—Nepal’s seventh in 65 years—to help the nation emerge as a modern and federal republic, it was hugely disappointed. A secular framework was chosen for the constitution, but an essential one pertai­ning to ‘federalism’—if not in letter, then at least in spirit—was missing from it.

Policy planners in India say the consti­tution could have given Nepal the required glue to bring together disparate sections of its society in nation­building. Instead, its adoption last week has once again brought to surface the deep fissures within Nepali society. At the same time, developments there have also posed serious challenges for India. The two countries share a 1,751 km open border. Violence and instability in Nepal, like that witnessed in past weeks in southern Nepal, could easily spill over into India.