MORE UPS THAN DOWNS

Nepalese Prime Minister Prachanda’s recent visit to India has given a big push to the India-Nepal bilateral relationship in the right direction

- SIMRAN SODHI

India and Nepal share a strong historical and civilizational link. Both neighbouring countries have always maintained close ties. Of late, with the strategic equations changing not just in Asia but globally, Nepal to has been caught in this change.

The rise of China, an aggressively strong economic and military powerhouse, has the world today.

Prachanda visit

The recent visit of Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda” to India was described by Prachanda himself as an ‘astounding success’, on his return to Kathmandu. The four-day visit took place from May 31 to June 3 and significantly was Prachanda’s first visit abroad since he became PM in December last year. There were of course some apprehensions that he might choose to go to China first and that would signal his tilt towards China. His visit to India first has laid these worries to rest and it seems that both India and Nepal are working towards a closer embrace.

Economics over politics 

The India-Nepal relationship is an old one, but in keeping with the changing political scenarios and in a world dominated as much by economics, we see a shift during Prachanda’s visit where economics seems to have trumped over politics. It can also be interpreted that some of the political issues like the territorial ones are cumbersome and a solution hard to find. So, while politics is a point of divergence sometimes, economics can prove to be a greater point of convergence.