New Delhi will have to keep a close eye on the policy decisions the Prachanda-Oli duo make in the coming days in a contested geopolitical landscape
Release Date – 12:30 AM, Thu – 29 December 22

New Delhi will have to keep a close eye on the policy decisions the Prachanda-Oli duo make in the coming days in a contested geopolitical landscape
Dramatic political developments in Nepal culminated in Maoist leader Prachanda’s return to power for the third time, which is bound to have an impact on Nepal’s bilateral relations with India given his preference for China. Ending a long-term power struggle marked by ego conflicts, Kathmandu is witnessing a new government formed by a coalition of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), of which Prachanda is the leader, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxism-Leninism), led by KP Sharma Oli and some smaller party leaders. On the road to power, Prachanda broke away from the pre-election five-party coalition led by the Nepalese parliament led by former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, and joined forces with his former rival Oli. The tiny Himalayan nation has been watching power politics degenerate into a game of grabbing chairs. New Delhi will have to keep a close eye on the policy decisions the Prachanda-Oli duo make in the coming days in a highly contested geopolitical landscape, with Beijing poised to expand its influence in the Himalayan nation’s politics. It must be noted that both Prachanda and Oli have used anti-India rhetoric as a tool of domestic political campaigns in the past. However, Prachanda is seen as having a pragmatic temperament compared with his ideological counterpart Oli, who wears extreme nationalism on his sleeve. It used to be the Oli government that stirred up territorial disputes by rolling out new maps that marked some Indian territory as Nepalese territory.
China, which played a key role in bringing the two parties together in 2017, has repeated mediation efforts this time. Reports suggest that Beijing will now push to resume and fast-track the China-backed projects suspended by the Deuba government. One of India’s biggest concerns is the fate of the West Seti hydropower project. The project was awarded to India by the earlier Deuba government but was opposed by Oli. Despite the ups and downs and frictions in bilateral relations, India must not change its friendly policies towards the Nepalese people, such as the recruitment of Nepalese citizens into the army and the unrestricted work policy. The civilizational ties between the two peoples are too deep to be adversely affected by diplomatic provocations. Despite tensions on some bilateral issues, India is considered a reliable neighbor by the people of Nepal. Indonesian relations are built on strong cultural ties between the two peoples, and this must be leveraged to expand bilateral engagement. It cannot be denied that over time Kathmandu has grown closer to Beijing, which has helped build major infrastructure projects.